TURKOMANS BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES: THE ... - Bilkent University

Ismail stayed approximately four and a half years in Lāhijan under the protection
of Mirza Ali Karkiya. Until his death in 1497, Rüstem Beg on several occasions
demanded Sultan Ali Karkiya to surrender Ismail but received evasive replies. In
addition to his protection of the young prince, Sultan Ali Karkiya dealt with the
education and training of Ismail as well. He appointed Shams al-Dīn Lāhijī 796 to instruct
him in the Holy Qur’an and to teach him Persian and Arabic. 797 Furthermore, Āmir
Najm, the goldsmith of Rasht, who visited the young prince frequently, had certain
influence on the education of Ismail. 798
On the other hand, during this period the famous qizilbash āmirs, known as
Sūfiyān-i Lāhijān, were always nearby their young shaykh, whose education and military
training was mostly under their custody. 799 These seven men, who were selected by
Sultan Ali just before his death and whom Safavid sources used to call ‘sūfiyān-ı
Lāhijān’ or ‘ehl-i ihtisas’, were among the prominent generals of Shaykh Junayd and
Haydar and fulfilled important military functions under them, as well as under Sultan
Ali. With the death of Sultan Ali they became the protectors and tutors of young Ismail.
Thus they played a very eminent role in maintaining the network between the disciples
and the center of the order, in the education of Ismail, and in establishing the nucleus of
796 When Ismail ascended the throne in 1501, he became the first sadr, the head of Shi’ite-religious clergy
and the highest responsible for religious affairs, of the Safavid state. But it seems that neither Ismail nor
him were prepared for such a mission, the mission of transforming the country into shi’ism, that he could
find only the book of Ibn al-Mutahhar al-Hillī, Qawā’īd al Islām, among shi’ite literature to consult. See
Jean Aubin, “Etudes safavides I. Šāh Ismā’īl et les notables de l’Iraq Persan”, Journal of the Economic
and Social History of the Orient, 2:1, 1959, p. 53; For further reading on the office of sadārat and early
sadrs see Roger M. Savory, Savory, Roger M., “The Principal Offices of the Safavid State during the
Reign of Isma’īl I (907-30/1501-24)”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, XXIII,
London, 1960, pp. 103-105.
797 Rooss Anonymous, p. 288; HR, p. 11; AA, p. 41; Sarwar, p. 32.
798 See Ross Anonymous, p. 288; HR, pp. 11-12.
799 HT, p. 171.
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