Amir’s Reviews > Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals > Status Update
Amir
is 21% done
“Colonization and population transfers formed an integral part of Ottoman expansion policy. Orkhan forcibly deported a group of Turkmen nomads to populate the new Ottoman possessions in Europe. His son Sulayman deported the Christian military population from the new territories and sent them to Anatolia. These deportations became a pattern for Ottoman policy throughout the entire period of expansion.”
— Apr 30, 2024 01:08AM
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Amir’s Previous Updates
Amir
is 63% done
“The paucity of battles during a century of steady Mughal expansion indicates that their opponents avoided offering battle because they expected to lose. ”
— Jul 07, 2024 04:37PM
Amir
is 49% done
“Shii thought changed considerably in Safavid times. The doctrine that Shii ulama capable of independent legal reasoning (ijtihad; the ulama were mujtahids) should exercise the religious and judicial authority of the Hidden Imam gained acceptance during the sixteenth century, though it was developed in Lebanon rather than Iran.”
— May 27, 2024 09:02PM
Amir
is 48% done
“The imposition of Twelver Shiism in the lands of the Safavid Empire created a national identity that overlay the distinction between Turk and Tajik. Before the Safavid era, the majority of Persian speakers were not Shii, and the majority of Shiis did not speak Persian. The Safavid effort to impose uniformity bore durable fruit.”
— May 27, 2024 04:07PM
Amir
is 41% done
“Majlisi “revived the power of the ulama and promulgated a ‘missionary’ Shi’ism of a public devotional character.”... It is unclear to what extent his policies actually led to forced conversion; it is possible that Majlisi’s anti-Sunni policies provoked the Afghan uprising which led to the collapse of the regime.”
— May 11, 2024 04:24PM
Amir
is 41% done
“The need for experts in Shii theology and jurisprudence led to the establishment of a second class of ulama, with narrow expertise in Shii learning. Most came from outside Safavid territory, primarily from the Jabal Amil in contemporary south Lebanon or from Bahrain, and all, at first, had neither landed wealth nor hereditary association with official positions.”
— May 10, 2024 05:43PM
Amir
is 40% done
“The sources do not disclose the rationale for the imposition of Twelver Shiism decision and historians do not agree on an explanation. The standard argument, that the Safavids imposed Twelver Shiism in order to create a sharp distinction between themselves and the Sunni Ottomans and Uzbeks and to establish a national identity is both teleological and anachronistic.”
— May 10, 2024 05:36PM
Amir
is 40% done
“The decision to impose Twelver Shiism as the sovereign faith of what had become the Safavid principality did not facilitate gaining popular support, since Shiis were a distinct minority in Azerbaijan and the rest of the areas the Safavids conquered. It was, not, apparently, planned in advance, but it must have had an ideological purpose.”
— May 10, 2024 05:33PM
Amir
is 39% done
“Sulayman’s most significant action was the appointment of Muhammad Baqir Majlisi as the empire’s chief religious official. Majlisi sought to transform Safavid society into an entirely Shii environment and called for the forced conversion of all non-Shiis. There is little information about the enforcement of this policy on the ground.”
— May 08, 2024 06:34PM
Amir
is 35% done
“The establishment of Twelver Shiism dominated the social, religious, and cultural history of the Safavid period. Earlier dynasties frequently had Shii tendencies or preferences; none in the post-Mongol era had made Shiism a political platform or sought to impose it. The Safavid imposition of Shiism broke precedent and began the pattern of confessionalization.”
— May 05, 2024 01:56PM
Amir
is 34% done
“The Safavid regime relied not on broad agricultural prosperity or control of major trade networks but on the export of a single commodity: ...silk. The Safavid polity thus became a gunpowder empire because of the increase in global trade in the sixteenth century. Otherwise, the Safavid Empire, in all probability, would have remained a tribal confederation...”
— May 05, 2024 01:47PM
