Safaviya (sufi order)

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The Fourteen Infallibles Muhammad � Fatimah The Twelve Imams Ali � Hasan � Husayn al-Sajjad � al-Baqir � al-Sadiq al-Kadhim � al-Rida � al-Taqi al-Hadi � al-Askari � al-Mahdi
Concepts Fourteen Infallibles Occultation (Minor � Major) Akhbar � Usul � Ijtihad Taqleed � 'Aql � Irfan Mahdaviat
Principles Monotheism Judgement Day � Justice Prophethood � Imamate
Practices Prayer � Fasting � Pilgrimage Charity � Taxes � Jihad Command Justice � Forbid Evil Love the family of Muhammad Dissociate from their Enemies
Holy cities Mecca � Medina � Jerusalem Najaf � Karbala � Mashhad Samarra � Kadhimayn
Groups Usuli � Akhbari � Shaykhi Nimatullahi � Safaviya Qizilbash � Alevism � Alawism Bektashi � Tabarie
Scholarship Marja � Ayatollah � Allamah Hojatoleslam � Mujtahid List of marjas � List of Ayatollahs
Hadith collections Peak of Eloquence � The Pslams of Islam � Book of Fundamentals � The Book in Scholar's Lieu � Civilization of Laws � The Certainty � Book of Sulaym ibn Qays � Oceans of Light � Wasael ush-Shia � Reality of Certainty � Keys of Paradise
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The Safaviyya (Persian: صفویه) was a Sufi order founded by the Persian mystic Sheikh Safi al-Din of Ardabil (1252-1334). It held a prominent place in the society and politics of northwestern Iran in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but today it is best known for having given rise to the Safavid dynasty.

Safi al-Din grew up in Ardabil, but left it, for lack of adequate teachers, and travelled to Shiraz and then Gilan. In Gilan he became the disciple of Sheikh Zahid, leader of the Zahidi Sufi order. He eventually became Sheikh Zahid's chief disciple and married his daughter. Upon Zahid's death, The Zahidiyya came under Safi al-Din's leadership and was renamed the Safaviyya.

Safi al-Din's importance is attested in two letters by Rashid al-Din. In one, Rashid al-Din pledges an annual offering of foodstuffs. In the other, Rashid al-Din writes to his son, the governor of Ardabil, advising him to show proper consideration to the sheikh.^[1]

After Safi al-Din's death, leadership of the order passed to his son Sadr al-Din, and subsequently passed down from father to son. In the mid-fifteenth century the Safaviyya changed in character and became militant under the sheikhs Junayd and Haydar, launching jihads against the Christians of Georgia. Haydar's grandson, Isma'il, further altered the nature of the order when he founded the Safavid empire in 1501 and proclaimed Twelver Shi'ism the state religion. The Safaviyya order had previously been Sunni.

[] See also

• Safavid dynasty
• Msha'sha'iya, a rival Shi'a sect

[] Notes

1. ^ G. E. Browne, Literary History of Persia, vol. 4, 33-4

Part of a series on Shī'ah Islam Twelvers
The Fourteen Infallibles Muhammad � Fatimah The Twelve Imams Ali � Hasan � Husayn al-Sajjad � al-Baqir � al-Sadiq al-Kadhim � al-Rida � al-Taqi al-Hadi � al-Askari � al-Mahdi
Concepts Fourteen Infallibles Occultation (Minor � Major) Akhbar � Usul � Ijtihad Taqleed � 'Aql � Irfan Mahdaviat
Principles Monotheism Judgement Day � Justice Prophethood � Imamate
Practices Prayer � Fasting � Pilgrimage Charity � Taxes � Jihad Command Justice � Forbid Evil Love the family of Muhammad Dissociate from their Enemies
Holy cities Mecca � Medina � Jerusalem Najaf � Karbala � Mashhad Samarra � Kadhimayn
Groups Usuli � Akhbari � Shaykhi Nimatullahi � Safaviya Qizilbash � Alevism � Alawism Bektashi � Tabarie
Scholarship Marja � Ayatollah � Allamah Hojatoleslam � Mujtahid List of marjas � List of Ayatollahs
Hadith collections Peak of Eloquence � The Pslams of Islam � Book of Fundamentals � The Book in Scholar's Lieu � Civilization of Laws � The Certainty � Book of Sulaym ibn Qays � Oceans of Light � Wasael ush-Shia � Reality of Certainty � Keys of Paradise
This box: view - talk - edit

The Safaviyya (Persian: صفویه) was a Sufi order founded by the Persian mystic Sheikh Safi al-Din of Ardabil (1252-1334). It held a prominent place in the society and politics of northwestern Iran in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but today it is best known for having given rise to the Safavid dynasty.

Safi al-Din grew up in Ardabil, but left it, for lack of adequate teachers, and travelled to Shiraz and then Gilan. In Gilan he became the disciple of Sheikh Zahid, leader of the Zahidi Sufi order. He eventually became Sheikh Zahid's chief disciple and married his daughter. Upon Zahid's death, The Zahidiyya came under Safi al-Din's leadership and was renamed the Safaviyya.

Safi al-Din's importance is attested in two letters by Rashid al-Din. In one, Rashid al-Din pledges an annual offering of foodstuffs. In the other, Rashid al-Din writes to his son, the governor of Ardabil, advising him to show proper consideration to the sheikh.^[1]

After Safi al-Din's death, leadership of the order passed to his son Sadr al-Din, and subsequently passed down from father to son. In the mid-fifteenth century the Safaviyya changed in character and became militant under the sheikhs Junayd and Haydar, launching jihads against the Christians of Georgia. Haydar's grandson, Isma'il, further altered the nature of the order when he founded the Safavid empire in 1501 and proclaimed Twelver Shi'ism the state religion. The Safaviyya order had previously been Sunni.

[] See also

• Safavid dynasty
• Msha'sha'iya, a rival Shi'a sect

[] Notes

1. ^ G. E. Browne, Literary History of Persia, vol. 4, 33-4