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

you what you wish, let what he gives bestow you with what you desire in your heart!’ 856
Shah Ismail rearranged the worship, in a contradicting manner to the application of the
Prophet Muhammed. Iranian people, in accordance to his orders, did no more respect;
rather they cursed them. It is inscribed on one side of his tokens that ‘Lā ilāhe illāllāhu
Muhammedün resulu’llāhi” and on the others side “Đsmailün halifetu’llāhi’. 857
The same source gives further details on the beliefs and religious practices of
Ismail’s adherents. After narrating how numerous nomadic Turks (yörüks) of Anatolia,
who are described as bandits, ran under the banner of Ismail our anonymous author talks
about their religious stand. The new and latitudinarian religion established by Ismail was
enthusiastically appropriated by these vagabond people. The freedom and indifference to
the strict rules of the religion reached such a degree that - contradicting to the Islamic
tradition - they even abandoned namaz and oruç. 858 The following argument put forward
by the anonymous author is quite interesting. He states, ‘put aside all the other factors, it
is due to this reason [laxity in religious affairs] that numerous people from the Ottoman
realm joined the ranks of Ismail. 859
At the beginning of the spring of 1500, having celebrated the festival of New
Year’s Day (Nevruz) in Arjuwan 860 , Ismail left that place for Ardabil by the way of
Gökçe Deniz. 861 After paying a short visit to Ardabil he proceeded to Erzincan. On his
way, Ismail spent a few days in the house of Sultan Husayn Bārānī, one of the grandsons
856
“Birine saadet temenni edilmek istendiğinde, ‘Şah arzunu yerine getirsin ve kalbindeki dileği ihsan
etsin!’ sözünden başka bir şey söylemeye gerek yoktu.” ANMH, p. 39.
857
ANMH, pp. 39-40.
858
ANMH, p. 45.
859
“Her şeyden önce bu sebepten dolayı Osmanlı vilāyetlerinden çok sayıda insan Şah Đsmail’in etrafında
toplandı.” ANMH, p. 45.
860
Ross Anonymous, p. 338.
861
During the winter of 1499 / 1500, attmpts by both Akkoyunlu rulers and Shirvanshah Farukhyasar to
seize or kill Ismail were made, but without success. See Savory, Iran under the Safavids, p. 25.
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