Back إسماعيل الصفوي Arabic اسماعيل الصفوى ARZ I İsmayıl Azerbaijani بیرینجی شاه اسماعیل AZB Исмәғил I Bashkir Ісмаіл I Byelorussian Исмаил I Bulgarian শাহ ইসমাঈল সাফাভী Bengali/Bangla Ismaïl I Catalan شا ئیسماعیلی یەکەم CKB
| Ismail I اسماعیل یکم | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||
| Shah of Iran | |||||||||
| Reign | 22 December 1501 – 23 May 1524 | ||||||||
| Successor | Tahmasp I | ||||||||
| Viziers | |||||||||
| 8th Sheikh of the Safavid order | |||||||||
| In office 1494 – 23 May 1524 | |||||||||
| Preceded by | Ali Mirza Safavi | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Tahmasp I | ||||||||
| Born | 17 July 1487 Ardabil, Aq Qoyunlu | ||||||||
| Died | 23 May 1524 (aged 36) Near Tabriz, Safavid Iran | ||||||||
| Burial | |||||||||
| 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 | ||||||||
| Military career | |||||||||
| Battles / wars | Treelike list
| ||||||||
Ismail I (Persian: اسماعیل, romanized: Ismāʿīl; 17 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 one of the most vital in the history of Iran,[2] and the Safavid period is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history.[3] Under Ismail, Iran was unified under native rule for the first time since the Islamic conquest of the country eight-and-a-half centuries earlier.[2]
Ismail inherited leadership of the Safavid Sufi order from his brother as a child. His predecessors had transformed the religious order into a military movement supported by the Qizilbash (mainly Turkoman Shiite groups). The Safavids took control of Azerbaijan, and in 1501 Ismail was crowned as king (padshah). In the following years, Ismail conquered the rest of Iran and other neighboring territories. His expansion into Eastern Anatolia brought him into conflict with the Ottoman Empire. In 1514, the Ottomans decisively defeated the Safavids at the Battle of Chaldiran, which brought an end to Ismail's conquests. Ismail fell into depression and heavy drinking after this defeat and died in 1524. He was succeeded by his eldest son Tahmasp I.
One of Ismail's first actions was the proclamation of the Twelver denomination of Shia Islam as the official religion of the Safavid state,[4] marking one of the most important turning points in the history of Islam,[5] which had major consequences for the ensuing history of Iran.[6] 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.[4]
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, and Iraq, as well as parts of modern-day Turkey, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.[7][8][9][10] It also reasserted Iranian identity in large parts of Greater Iran.[6][11] The legacy of the Safavid Empire was also the revival of Iran as an economic stronghold between East and West, the establishment of a bureaucratic state, its architectural innovations, and patronage for fine arts.[6]
Ismail I was also a prolific poet who under the pen name Khata'i (Persian/Azerbaijani: خطائی, lit. 'the Cathayan'[12] or 'Sinner')[13] contributed greatly to the literary development of the Azerbaijani language.[14] He also contributed to Persian literature, though few of his Persian writings survive.[15]
- ^ Casale 2023, p. 34.
- ^ a b Savory & Karamustafa 1998, pp. 628–636.
- ^ Matthee 2008.
- ^ a b Masters 2009, p. 71.
- ^ Savory 2012.
- ^ a b c Matthee 2008.
- ^ Metz 1989, p. 313.
- ^ Bogle 1998, p. 145.
- ^ Shaw 1976, p. 77.
- ^ Newman 2008.
- ^ Savory 2007, p. 3: "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?"
- ^ Amanat 2017, p. 60: "A book of Turkish poetry, under the curious pen name Khata'i (presumably someone from "Cathay", today's China), was most likely composed by Isma'il for his Turkmen followers as inspirational literature".
- ^ Minorsky 1942, p. 1028a.
- ^ Doerfer 1988.
- ^ Savory & Karamustafa 1998.