Mamluk and Safavid Movements

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The emergence of the Safavid movement founded by Shaykh Safi al-Din in the fifteenth century marks a resurgence of Islam as a tool of governance in the face of oppressive military slave states such as the Ottoman empire. In time, however, the Safavids dominated the territory of Iran and the emergence of a new dynastic power in the region. In order to reduce factionalism and increase the power of the central administration Shah Isma'il and his most prominent successor Abbas I implemented religious, political, administrative, military and cultural systems which fostered loyalty to a central power. The Safavid state relied on a conceptualization of, and association with, a resurgent and purified Islam which allowed the Safavid rulers a means with which to assert legitimacy but also general ideological unity. Isma'il and Abbas attempted to centralize the Safavid state through the use of Shi'a Islam and the legitimacy it brought their respective reigns, allowing them the opportunity to create systems of administrative rule which reflected the unique circumstances of the time and space they occupied.
Isma'il represents the beginning of the territorial Safavid empire with the capture of Tabriz in 1501 and his subsequent assumption of the title of Shah. Shah Isma'il was responsible for the foundations of a new identity within the Safavid empire which inextricably linked Iran with Shi'a Islam.1 Isma'il proclaimed himself the hidden Imam and the reincarnation of Ali, a created genealogical association which allotted him religious authority by virtue of his explicit association with the house of Ali in conjunction with temporal authority from the assumption in the title of Shah.2 Moreover, at the time of his proclamation of divine impetus ...

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...efinitive break in the aura of divine invincibility which surrounded Isma'il.17 Tabriz was captured as a result and Isma'il's authority over the Qezelbash declined as his divine status became increasingly suspect. Factionalism which Isma'il had been working to control increased as the Qezelbash began to intervene increasingly in political matters.18 Moreover, a decline in the central authority of Isma'il also meant a subsequent decline in the status of his appointed administrative offices.19Isma'il's most powerful allies in this way proved to be his biggest competitors as his divine aura eroded as his divine command was questioned. His failure to check the power of the Qezelbash leaders and instead indirectly increasing their authority through integration into the state apparatus meant that during Isma'il's reign a return to rampant factionalism was only a step away.

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