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Ismail II and Mirza Makhdum Sharifi: An Interlude in Safavid History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2009

Shohreh Gholsorkhi
Shohreh Gholsorkhi
Affiliation:
Ph.D. candidate at the Near Eastern Studies Department, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J. 08540, U.S.A.
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Extract

Approximately three-quarters of a century passed between the rise, in 1501, of the Safavid state of Iran under Shah Ismail I and the coming to power of his grandson Ismail II in 1576. The first Ismail had decreed that the Ithna-ʿashari Shiʿi form of Islam and the Jaʿfarī system of law be formally established in the country. When the victorious founder of the new dynasty entered Tabriz, he ordered that the phrase containing the name of Imam ʿAli (the true successor to the Prophet Muhammad according to the Twelver Shiʿi belief) be included in the call to prayer chanted from the minarets of the mosques. Shiʿism was consolidated, especially during the long reign of the intervening monarch, Shah Tahmasb (1524–76), thanks in part to the activities of a powerful mujtahid, ʿAli ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAli al-Karaki (d. 1534). However, according to the majority of the contemporary Safavid sources, when Ismail II came to power, he seems to have had second thoughts about Shiʿism and to have exhibited a proclivity for Sunnism. The Sunni ideas of Ismail II may have been fostered by another politicoreligious figure, a certain Mirza Makhdum Sharifi. The inclination Ismail II had toward Sunnism resulted in a curious episode that is recounted by Safavid historians in detail and in various versions.

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Articles
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International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , August 1994 , pp. 477 - 488
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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References

NOTES

Author's note: The idea for this study was originally suggested to me by the late Professor Martin B. Dickson. A shorter version of this paper was presented at the twenty-fifth annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association of North America in November of 1991. I thank Professor H. Modarressi and M. A. Cook of Princeton University and Professor Michel M. Mazzaoui of the University of Utah for reading and commenting on this paper.

1 On Shiʿism in Iran before the rise of the Safavids, see Mazzaoui, Michel M., The Origins of the Ṣafavids: Šiʿism, Sūfīsrn and the Gulat (Wiesbaden, 1972)Google Scholar.

2 There is no full-scale study of Karaki's role in the Shiʿi transformation. Beeson's, Caroline Ph.D. dissertation, “The Origins of Conflict in the Safawi Religious Institution” (Princeton University, 1982), deals with some aspects of the life and activities of this controversial figureGoogle Scholar.

3 This treatise remains in manuscript form. For the present study, I have relied on the copy of al-Nawāqiḍ fī ʿal-radd ʿalā al-rawāfiḍ at the Yahuda Collection at Princeton University Library, ms. no. 2629, as described in Mach, Rudolf, Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts in the Garrett Collection (Princeton, N.J., 1977), 255Google Scholar. I was unable, however, to compare this copy with other copies of the manuscript. Makhdum's work has been summarized by ʿAbd al-Rasūl Barzanji (ibid., no. 2630). On Barzanji, see Mudarris, Muḥammad ʿAlī, Rayḥānat al-adab fī tarājim al-maʿrūfīn bi-al-kunya wa-al-laqab, 3 vols. (Tabriz, 1945), 1:246Google Scholar.

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6 The office of ṣadr did not maintain its importance throughout Safavid rule. For more information on this office, see Minorsky, Vladimir, ed., Tadhkirat al-Mulūk (London, 1943), 42–43, 111Google Scholar; Savory, Roger M., “The Principal Offices of the Safawid State during the Reign of Ismaʾil (907–301/1501–24)” and “The Principal Offices of the Safawid State during the Reign of Tahmasp I (930–84/1524–76)” in Studies on the History of Ṣafawid Iran, Variorum Collected Studies Series (London, 1987), 65–85, 91–105Google Scholar; Munshī, , Tārīkh, 1:144Google Scholar; see also, Beeson, , “Origins of Conflict.”Google Scholar

7 On Shah, ʿInayat Allah Naqib, see Munshī, Tārīkh, 1:207, 149Google Scholar; al-Qummī, Qāḍī Aḥmad, Khulāṣat al-Tawārīkh, 2 vols., ed. Ishrāqī, Iḥsān (Tehran, 1984), 2:648Google Scholar. See also, Astarābādī, Sayyid Ḥasan Ḥusaynī, Az Shaykh Ṣafī tā Shāh Ṣafī (Tehran, 1985), 97Google Scholar. According to Minorsky, “Qāḍī-ʿaskar acted as the Sharīʿat adviser to the Dīvān-begī,” Tadhkirat, 112, 43Google Scholar.

8 Munshī, , Tārākh, 1:217Google Scholar; Qummī, , Khulāṣat al-Tawārīkh, 2:648Google Scholar.

9 On the Qizilbash, see Savory, , “The Qizilbash, Education and the Arts” in Studies on the History of ṣafawid Iran, Variorum Collected Studies Series (London, 1987), 168–76Google Scholar.

10 Among the sources consulted here, the year 1586 seems to be the most widely accepted date for Makhdum's death.

11 Allāh, Qāḍī Nūr, Kitāb maṣāʾib al-nawāṣib, ms. 2063Google Scholar, University of Chicago Library. This is a Persian translation of Shushtarī's work, by Muhammad Taqi al-Husayni. See also, Rizvi, Saiyid Athar Abbas, A Socio-Intellectual History of the Ithna ʿAshari Shiʿis in India, 2 vols. (Canberra, 1986), 1:350–51Google Scholar. For a Persian summary of Shushtari's work, see Chahārdihī, , Kitāb maṣāʾibGoogle Scholar.

12 According to the leading Safavid historian, Iskandar Beg Munshi, Ismail was imprisoned for nineteen years, six months, and twenty-one days. See Munshī, , Tārīkh, 1:199, 1:32–33Google Scholar. For other views on this subject see, Riyāḍ al-firdaws, ms., Royal Asiatic Society; ms. 137Google Scholar; and Kitābdār, Ṣādiqī, Tazkirah, 11Google Scholar; Bidlīsī, Sharafkhān Ibn Shams al-Dīn, Kitāb-i sharaf nāmah, 2 vols. (St. Petersburg, 1862), 2:209Google Scholar; Shīrāzī, ʿAbdī Bay, Takmilat al-akhbār, ed. Navāʾī, ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn (Tehran, 1369), 111Google Scholar; anonymous, ʿĀlam-ārā-yi Shāh Tahmāsb, ed. Afshār, Īrāj (Tehran, 1370), 349–53Google Scholar; and Mazzaoui, Michel M., “The Religious Policy Of Safavid Shah Ismail II,” in Intellectual Studies on Islam: Essays Written in Honor of Martin B. Dickson, ed. Mazzaoui, Michel M. and Moreen, Vera B. (Salt Lake City, 1990), 49–56Google Scholar.

13 See Munsh–, , Tārīkh, 1:199Google Scholar. On Qahqaha, see Ishrāqī, Iḥsān, “Chishm-Andāzī bi-qalʿah hā-yi Istakhr Va-Qahqaha dar rūzigār-i Ṣafavīyyah,” Hunar va-mardum, 12, 142 (1974): 16–23Google Scholar. See also, Mazzaoui, , “Religious Policy,” 49–56Google Scholar.

14 For more details on this fascinating scheme—from the day of Tahmasb's death and the unfolding of the plot at the court, to Ismail II's long, calculated journey from Qahqaha to the capital—see Qummī, Qāḍi, Khulāṣat al-tawārīkh, ed. Ishrāqī, I. (Tehran, 1984), 1:600–609, 2:615–21Google Scholar; Rūmlū, Ḥasan Beg, Aḥsan al-tawārīkh, ed. Navāʾī, H. (Tehran, 1970), 600–615Google Scholar; Rīyāḍ al-firdaws, Royal Asiatic Society, ms. 136, fols. 333–37Google Scholar, Munshī, Tārīkh, 1:192–201Google Scholar; Astarābādī, Az shaykh, 94–95Google Scholar; Bidl+sī, Kitāb-i sharaf nāmah, 2:247–51Google Scholar; Shāmlū, Walī Qulī, Qiṣaṣ al-khāqānī, ed. Nāṣīrī, Sayyid Ḥusayn Sādāt (Tehran, 1371), 96–97Google Scholar; Afṣaḥ al-akhbār, British Museum Library, Or. 138, fols. 415a–416bGoogle Scholar.

15 Pari Khan Khanum was one of the most influential women in the Safavid court. In the mid-19th century, Namik Kemal, a well-known Ottoman writer, wrote a historical novel with Pari Khan Khanum as a major character; see Kemāl, Namik, Cezmi (Istanbul, 1971)Google Scholar.

16 According to Afūshtahʾi, Ismail II ruled for only sixteen months and sixteen days; see Naṭanzī, Muḥammad Afūshtahʾī, Naqāwat al-āthār fī dhikr al-akhyār, ed. Ishrāqī, I. (Tehran, 1971), 61Google Scholar.

17 See Browne, E. G., A Literary History of Persia, 4 vols. (Cambridge, 1924), 4:98–99;Google ScholarMalcolm, John, History of Persia, 2 vols. (London, 1829), 1:338; and Mazzaoui, “Religious Policy”Google Scholar.

18 See, for instance, Afūshtahʾī, , Naqāwat, 56–58Google Scholar; Rūmlū, Aḥsan, 623Google Scholar; Qummī, Khulāṣat altawārīkh, 2:654Google Scholar; Ṣādiqī Kitābdār, Tazkirah, 11Google Scholar.

19 The author of Fawāʾīd al-Ṣafawiyya mockingly suggests that the term ẓalimī (oppressor) was more appropriate for Ismail II. See Qazwīnī, Abū al-Ḥasan, Fawāʾīd al-Ṣafawīyya, ed. Aḥmadī, Maryam Mīr (Tehran, 1989), 34Google Scholar.

20 See A Narrative of Italian Travels in Persia, in the 15th and 16th Centuries, trans, and ed. Grey, Charles, Hakluyt Society Series, vol. 49 (London, 1873), 215Google Scholar.

21 Munshī, Tārākh, 1:272–75Google Scholar; Shāmlū, Qiṣaṣ al-Khāqānī, 109–11Google Scholar; Savory, “A Curious Episode in Safavid History,” in Studies on the History of Ṣafawid Iran, 461–73Google Scholar.

22 Munshi, Tārīkh, 1:213–17Google Scholar.

23 Munshī, Tārīkh; Savory trans., 1:317Google Scholar.

24 Ibid., 1:319.

25 Ibid., 1:320.

26 Munshī, Tārīkh, 1:214; my translationGoogle Scholar.

27 Munshī, Tārikh, 1:213–17Google Scholar.

28 See al-Nawāqiญ, fols. 79a-b and 3a ff.

29 Contemporary Safavid historians—such as Rumlu, Qummi, Afushtahʾi, and Munshi—give no account of Ismail's relationship with Makhdum Sharifi. Several later Safavid historians, however, portray Makhdum as Ismail's teacher and a major influence over him.

30 Qummi, Khulāṣat, 1:607Google Scholar.

31 Al-Nawāqiḍ, fols. 51a–b.

32 Al-Nawāqiḍ contains a long section entitled “Kashf al-maqāl,” on the hafawāt (errors) of Shiʿi; see ibid., fols. 44b–93b.

33 Ibid., fols. 51a–b.

34 Munshī, Tārīkh, 1:208–12Google Scholar.

35 Haydar—a brother of Ismail, not his son—was killed during the struggle for succession before Ismail reached Qazvin. Either Makhdum is confused or it was an error on the part of the copyist. See al-Nawaqid, fol. 68a.

36 Ibid., fol. 71a; see also Falsafī, Zindigānī-i Shāh ƬAbbās, 3:31.

37 For more information on the Qūrchi, see Minorsky, Tadhkirat al-Mulūk, 72–73Google Scholar; Savory, “Principal Offices of the Safavid State,” 101Google Scholar.

38 Munshī, Tārīkh; Savory trans., 1:319Google Scholar.

39 See Munshī, Tārīkh, 1:215; and Savory trans., 1:320Google Scholar.

40 Al-Nawāqiḍ, fols. 75a–76a.

41 Ibid. If Makhdum wrote such a risāla, it must belong with the other books he claimed to have lost while escaping from the country. Another risāla—al-Yusr Baʿd al-ʿUsr (Prosperity after destitution)— which describes Makhdum's problems in Iran and his escape to Ottoman territory, appears also to have been lost. In his al-Nawāqiḍ, Makhdum makes several references to this risāla.

42 Munshī, Tārīkh, 1:213–14; Savory trans., 1:318Google Scholar.

43 Biographical dictionaries are filled with references to ʿAli ibn al-Husayn ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAli al- Karaki. For example, see al-Baḥrani, al-Shaykh Yݫsuf, Luʾluʾat al-baḥrāin fi al-ijāzāt wa-tarājim rijāl al-ḥadīth (Najaf, 1966), 151–59Google Scholar; Khawānsārī, Muḥammad Bāqir, Rawḍat al-jannāt fi aḥvāl al-ʿulamā wa-al-sādāt, ed. Ismaīlian, (Qum, 1970), 4:360–75Google Scholar.

44 Mir Sayyid Husayn was the son of Muhaqqiq Karaki's daughter. On Sayyid Husayn Mujtahid (d. 1592), see also Khāwansāri, Rawǭat al-jannāt, 320–27Google Scholar; Afandi, , Riyāǭal-ʿulamāʾ, 2:62–75Google Scholar.

45 For a curious and interesting exchange of words between Mir Sayyid Husayn and Ismail II at the time of his accession to the throne, see Afūshtahʾī, Naqâwat, 41Google Scholar.

46 See Munshī, , Tārīkh, 1:154Google Scholar. He wrote a risāla on his debates with Makhdum Sharifi. For a biography of ʿAbd al-ƬAli al-Karaki, see Khawānsārī, Rawḍāt al-jannāt, 4:199–202Google Scholar; Mudarris, Rayḥānat al-adab, 3:489;Google ScholarBaḥrānī, Luʾluʾat, 134–35Google Scholar; Qazwܫnܫ, Fawāʾīd al-raḍawiyya, 232–33Google Scholar; Afandī, Riyāḍ al-ʿulamāʾ, 3:131–34Google Scholar.

47 Here it is not clear from the text whether the reference of Makhdum is to Tahmasb or to ʿAbd alʿꄀli. See al-Nawaqīḍ, fols. 40b-41a.

48 Munshī, Tārīkh, 1:216–17; Savory trans., 1:323.

49 Munshī, Tārīkh, 1:216Google Scholar; Savory trans., 1:322Google Scholar.

50 Al-Nawāqiḍ, fols. 75b-76a.

51 Ibid., fols. 3a ff.

52 Ibid., fols. 75b-76a.

53 ibid., fol. 76b.

54 Munshī, Tārīkh, 1:218Google Scholar; Savory trans., 1:325Google Scholar.

55 Munshī, Tārīkh, 1:218–19Google Scholar; Savory trans., 1:327Google Scholar. For different accounts of Ismail II's death, see Qummī, Khulāṣat, 2:652–53Google Scholar; Rūmlū, Aḥsan, 645–47Google Scholar; Afīshtahʾī, Naqāwat, 60–61Google Scholar; Burhān al-futūḥ, British Museum Library, Or. 1884, fol. 131aGoogle Scholar; Riyāḍ al-firdaws, Royal Asiatic Society, ms. 136, fol. 337Google Scholar; Astarābādi, Az shaykh, 100–101Google Scholar; Qazwīnī, Fawāʾīd al-ṣafawiyyah, 34Google Scholar; Khawānsārī, Rawḍāt aljannāt, 2:321Google Scholar; Makhdūm, al-Nawāqid, fol. 76b. Also, Pārīzī, Ibrāhīm Bāstānī, “Jazr va-madd va-siyīsat va-iqtiṣād dar Impirāṭūrī-i Ṣafaviyyah,” Yaghmā, 19, 8 (1966), pt. 2, 417–20Google Scholar; Don Juan of Persia: A Shiʾah Catholic, 1560–1604, trans, and ed. Strange, Guy Le (New York, 1926), 132Google Scholar; and Anonymous, A Chronicle of the Carmelite in Persia, 2 vols. (London, 1939), 1:57Google Scholar.

56 Some of the Safavid chronicles point to Makhdum Sharifi's amicable relations with Pari Khan Khanum, the powerful sister of Ismail II. According to Munshi, after the death of Ismail, it was Pari Khan Khanum who ordered the release of Makhdum Sharifi from jail. A similar account is given by Qummi. See Munshī, Tārikh, Savory trans., 1:148, 220Google Scholar; Qummi, Khulāṣat, 2:655–56Google Scholar.

57 Al-Nawāqiḍ, fols. 41b, 112a.

58 Ibid., fol. 112a.

59 Ibid., fol. 3b.

60 Ibid., fol. 77a; see also, al-Būrīnī, Tarājim, 52–57Google Scholar.

61 Al-Nawāqid, fol. 77a.

62 Ibid., fols. 79a–b.

63 See al-Būrīnī, Tarājim, 2:422.

64 Munshī, Tārīkh, 1:220.

65 Al-Nawāqiǭ, fols. 85a–b.