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

such as Muhammad Han Ustaclu, Abdi Beg Shamlu, Div Ali Rumlu, Nur Ali Khalifa
Rumlu gradually increased while the absolute superiority of the sufis of Lāhijan eroded.
It suffices to indicate the augmenting eminence of tribal qizilbash leaders saying that
Shah Ismail married his three sisters; these being the three most powerful qizilbash tribal
leaders: Muhammad Han Ustaclu, Abdi Beg Shamlu, and Bayram Beg Karamanlu. 938
Especially by 1508, when Husayn Beg Lala was dismissed from the post of wākil, and in
the next year from the post of āmir al-umarā, 939 the influence of the ‘Sufis of Lāhijan’
reduced irreversibly in Safavid politics. 940 Instead, two other groups captured the
dominance in state affairs: the military was in the hands of tribal war-lords while the
bureaucracy and religious clergy shifted under the control of the Persian elites. 941
In sum, during the concealment period and early years of Ismail’s reign, the sufis
of Lāhijan were indisputably dominant in the decision making mechanism. As a natural
result of this fact, they occupied principal offices of the new state. But their power and
brilliant reputation did not last long; but they sooner lost their privileges. In Çaldıran, for
938 Haneda, Le Châh et les Qizilbāš, p. 93, 76. From the reign of Shah Ismail onwards, the kinship ties
between these tribal aristocracies and the Safavid dynasty always became an important part of Safavid
polity. For an exemplary study on the kinship ties between Tekelu tribe and the dynasty see, Maria
Szuppe, “Kinship Ties between the Dafavids and the Qizilbash Amirs in Late Sixteenth-Century Iran: a
Case Study of the Political Career of Members of the Sharaf al-Din Oghli Tekelu Family”, in Safavid
Persia, The History and Politics of an Islamic Society, ed., Charles Melville, London, New York, 1996,
79-104.
939 In the same year Abdal Ali Beg Dada was also dismissed from his post. After the conquest of Khorasan
in 1510, Husayn Beg Lala, Dad Beg, and Bayram Beg Qaramanlu were appointed governors of several
cities in the region: Husayn Beg Lala to Herat, Deded Beg to Marv, Bayram Beg to Balh. Needless to say,
this was a kind of exile for them. See Aubin, “Les soufis de Lâhejân”, pp. 15-19 ; Haneda, Le Châh et les
Qizilbāš, pp. 72-84.
940 Aubin, “Les soufis de Lâhejân”, pp. 9-15 ; Haneda, Le Châh et les Qizilbāš, p. 84. Haneda follows their
paternal and maternal lines through available sources and concludes that the descendants of the sufis of
Lāhijan could never play primary role neither in the military nor in politics. They are even scarcely
mentioned in the Safavid chronicles. As Haneda states, “Il est curieux, et il peut même sembler anormal,
que des mentions des descendants des soufis des Lajigan, qui avait travaillé avec tel dévouement pour la
fondation de l’Etat safavide, n’apparaissent ainsi peu dans les chroniques.” See I.b.i.d., pp. 82-3.
941 Aubin, “Les soufis de Lâhejân”, pp. 9-11 ; Haneda, Le Châh et les Qizilbāš, pp. 93-5. For the
increasing influence of Persian notables in the Safavid statecraft see especially 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, 37-81.
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