Amir’s Reviews > Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals > Status Update

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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...”

“Abbas transformed the Safavid polity from a tribal confederation into a bureaucratic empire. The primacy of the bureaucracy, with the tribes present but peripheral, survived until the rapid collapse of the empire in 1722.”