Global InformationIsmail I information
| Ismail I اسماعیل | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Portrait of Shah Ismail I. Inscribed "Ismael Sophy Rex Pers". Painted by the Italian painter Cristofano dell'Altissimo between 1552 and 1568. Housed at the Uffizi, Florence.[1] | |||||||||
| Shah of Iran | |||||||||
| Reign | 22 December 1501 – 23 May 1524 | ||||||||
| Successor | Tahmasp I | ||||||||
| Viziers | See list
| ||||||||
| Born | 17 July 1487 Ardabil, Aq Qoyunlu | ||||||||
| Died | 23 May 1524 (aged 36) Near Tabriz, Safavid Iran | ||||||||
| Burial | Sheikh Safi Shrine Ensemble, Ardabil, Iran | ||||||||
| Spouse | Tajlu Khanum Behruzeh Khanum | ||||||||
| Issue Among others | Tahmasp I Sam Mirza Alqas Mirza Bahram Mirza Parikhan Khanum Mahinbanu Khanum | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Dynasty | Safavid | ||||||||
| Father | Shaykh Haydar | ||||||||
| Mother | Halima Begum | ||||||||
| Religion | Twelver Shia Islam | ||||||||
Ismail I (Persian: اسماعیل یکم, romanized: Ismāʿīl; 14 July 1487 – 23 May 1524) was the founder and first shah of Safavid Iran, ruling from 1501 until his death in 1524. His reign is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history,[2] as well as one of the gunpowder empires.[3] The rule of Ismail I is one of the most vital in the history of Iran.[4] Before his accession in 1501, Iran, since its conquest by the Arabs eight-and-a-half centuries earlier, had not existed as a unified country under native Iranian rule. Although many Iranian dynasties rose to power amidst this whole period, it was only under the Buyids that a vast part of Iran properly returned to Iranian rule (945–1055).[5]
The dynasty founded by Ismail I would rule for over two centuries, being one of the greatest Iranian empires and at its height being amongst the most powerful empires of its time, ruling all of present-day Iran, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Armenia, most of Georgia, the North Caucasus, Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan, as well as parts of modern-day Syria, Turkey, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.[6][7][8][9] It also reasserted the Iranian identity in large parts of Greater Iran.[2][10] The legacy of the Safavid Empire was also the revival of Iran as an economic stronghold between East and West, the establishment of an efficient state and bureaucracy based upon "checks and balances", its architectural innovations, and patronage for fine arts.[2]
One of his first actions was the proclamation of the Twelver denomination of Shia Islam as the official religion of his newly-founded Persian Empire,[11] marking one of the most important turning points in the history of Islam,[4] which had major consequences for the ensuing history of Iran.[2] He caused sectarian tensions in the Middle East when he destroyed the tombs of the Abbasid caliphs, the Sunni Imam Abu Hanifa an-Nu'man, and the Sufi Muslim ascetic Abdul Qadir Gilani in 1508.[11] Furthermore, this drastic act also gave him a political benefit of separating the growing Safavid Empire from its Sunni neighbors—the Ottoman Empire to the west and the Uzbek Confederation to the east. However, it brought into the Iranian body politic the implied inevitability of consequent conflict between the Shah, the design of a "secular" state, and the religious leaders, who saw all secular states as unlawful and whose absolute ambition was a theocratic state.
Ismail I was also a prolific poet who under the pen name Khaṭāʾī (Arabic: خطائي, lit. 'the wrongful') contributed greatly to the literary development of the Azerbaijani language.[12] He also contributed to Persian literature, though few of his Persian writings survive.[13]
- ^ Casale, Sinem Arcak (2023). Gifts in the Age of Empire: Ottoman-Safavid Cultural Exchange, 1500–1639. University of Chicago Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-0226820422.
- ^ a b c d Matthee, Rudi (13 June 2017) [28 July 2008]. "Safavid Dynasty". Encyclopædia Iranica. New York: Columbia University. doi:10.1163/2330-4804_EIRO_COM_509. ISSN 2330-4804. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
- ^ Streusand, Douglas E., Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals (Boulder, Col : Westview Press, 2011) ("Streusand"), p. 135.
- ^ a b Savory, Roger (2012) [1995]. "Ṣafawids". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. J.; Heinrichs, W. P.; Lewis, B.; Pellat, Ch.; Schacht, J. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Vol. 8. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0964. ISBN 978-90-04-16121-4.
- ^ Savory 1998, pp. 628–636.
- ^ Helen Chapin Metz. Iran, a Country study. 1989. University of Michigan, p. 313.
- ^ Emory C. Bogle. Islam: Origin and Belief. University of Texas Press. 1989, p. 145.
- ^ Stanford Jay Shaw. History of the Ottoman Empire. Cambridge University Press. 1977, p. 77.
- ^ Andrew J. Newman, Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire, I.B. Tauris (2006).
- ^ Why is there such confusion about the origins of this important dynasty, which reasserted Iranian identity and established an independent Iranian state after eight and a half centuries of rule by foreign dynasties? RM Savory, Iran under the Safavids (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1980), p. 3.
- ^ a b Masters, Bruce (2009). "Baghdad". In Ágoston, Gábor; Masters, Bruce (eds.). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. New York: Facts On File. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-8160-6259-1. LCCN 2008020716. Archived from the original on 16 May 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
- ^ Doerfer, G. "Azeri Turkish". Encyclopaedia Iranica, viii, Online Edition. p. 246.
- ^ "Esmā ʿĪl I Ṣafawī – Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2014-10-15.