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

maintaining the communication and network between sufis and the center, taking care of
the young Shah, etc., and were permanent residents nearby Ismail. 802
Tribal affiliation of these āmirs is also confusing in sources. Masashi Haneda,
who studied the Safavid chronicles in a comparative manner, arrives at the following
conclusion: Husayn Beg Lala was from the Shamlu tribe, Abdal Ali Beg Dede from
Dulkadir tribe, Hadim Beg Khulafa from the Talish tribe, Rüstem and Bayram Begs
from the Karaman tribe, Đlyas Beg Aykutoğlu from the Hınıs tribe 803 , Qara Pīrī Beg from
the Qajar tribe. 804 So, five of these seven most prominent leaders of the qizilbash
movement were of Anatolian (including one from northern Syria) origin. 805
All the members of the ahl-i ihtisas occupied eminent posts of the Safavid state
during her early period, especially until 1508. 806 Especially Husayn Beg Lala, Abdal Ali
Beg Dede, Hadim Beg Khalifa, Abdi Beg Shamlu, and Bayram Beg Karamanlu
exercised excessive influence during the premier years of Ismail’s reign. They were,
indeed, to a certain extent, the founder of the state and the ones most responsible for
shaping the Safavid mysticism during the transformation period from Junayd to Ismail.
In Aubin’s words,
Ce sont de vieux dévoués de la fraction chiite extrémiste qu’ont greffée sur
l’ordre des soufis d’Ardabil Seyx Jonayd, le grand-père, et écrasé, ils ont
maintenu, depuis leur refuge du Gilan, par leur émissaires clandestines,
l’attentisme des fidèles. Et plus tard, des cinq, trois sinon quatre, tomberont au
802
For an analysis of the sources in this issue see Aubin, “Sufis of Lāhejān”, pp. 2-3; Masashi Haneda, Le
Châh et les Qizilbâs. Le système militaire safavide, Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1987, pp. 68-78.
803
Also see Sümer, Safevî Devletinin Kuruluşu, p. 53.
804
See Haneda, pp. 72-78.
805
A brief account of Turkoman oymaqs that constituted the Safavid army will be provided below.
806
For example, following Ismail’s ascendance to the throne in Tabriz in 1501, Husayn Beg Lala became
wākil, the lieutenant of the Shah, and emiru’l-ümera, the head of the army; Abdal Ali Beg Dede became
the head of the Special Forces (kurçi başı), Hadim Beg Khulafa became halifetu’l-hulefa, the head of the
sufi organization of qizilbashes; Bayram Berg Qaramanlu became amir-i divan; and Abdi Beg became
tovacı-başı. See Aubin, “Sufis of Lāhejān”, pp. 4-5; Haneda, Le Châh et les Qizilbâs, pp. 72-77; Roger M.
Savory, “The Principal Offices of the Safawid State during the Reign of Ismā’īl (907-30/1501-24)”,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, XXIII, London, 1960, pp. 93-101.
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