Latest / The Safavid Empire: Persia's Return to Greatness — Fexingo History
The Safavid Murshid-e-Kamil: Sufi Origins of a Shiite Empire
Before the Safavids turned Persia Twelver Shia, they were a Sufi order — the Safaviyya — led by a line of charismatic shaykhs who claimed descent from Imam Ali. Lucas and Luna trace the spiritual roots of the empire: how Sheikh Safi al-Din founded the order in Ardabil, how later shaykhs like Sheikh Junayd and Sheikh Haydar militarised the order and forged the fanatical Qizilbash warrior-disciples, and how Shah Ismail I weaponised this Sufi loyalty to conquer an empire. They explore the paradox: a Sufi order that persecuted Sufis once in power, the transformation of the murshid-e-kamil from…
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