Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam
Following their rise to power in Iran in the 16th century, the Safavid dynasty initiated a campaign of forced conversion against the Iranian populace, seeking to create a new demographic environment in which Shia Islam would replace Sunni Islam as the nation's religious majority. Over the course of the next three centuries, the Safavids (who were Twelver Shias) heavily persecuted Sunni Muslims, Jews, Christians, and other religious groups,[1][2][3][4] eventually transforming Iran into a spiritual bastion of Shia Islam. This process led to hostilities with Iran's Sunni-majority neighbours, most notably the Ottoman Empire. Additionally, the Safavid campaign sought to ensure Twelver dominance among Shia Muslims, particularly with regard to Zaydism and Ismaʿilism—each of which had previously experienced their own eras of sectarian dominance. Through their actions, the Safavids were able to establish the Shia sect as the official religion of their empire, marking a significant turning point in Islamic history, which had been universally dominated by the Sunni sect until that period. It also marked a significant turning point in Iranian history, having been the nation's first demographic change since the Muslim conquest of Persia in the 7th century.
As a direct result of the Safavid conversion campaign, the Shia sect of Islam remains dominant among the populations of Iran and Azerbaijan,[5] with the latter having the world's second-largest percentage of Shia Muslims behind Iran itself.[6]
Pre-Safavid Iran[edit]
Iran's population after the Arab conquest and conversion was mostly Sunni of the Shafi'i[7] and Hanafi legal schools until the triumph of the Safavids (who had initially been Shafi'i Sufis themselves).[8] Ironically, this was to the extent that up until the end of the 15th century the Ottoman Empire (the most powerful and prominent Sunni state and future arch-enemy of the Shia Safavids) used to send many of its Ulama (Islamic scholars) to Iran to further their education in Sunni Islam, due to a lack of Madrasahs (Islamic schools) within the Ottoman Empire itself.[9] Persia was also a seat of Sunni learning.[10] The Sunni Iranians had always held the family of Muhammad in high esteem.[11] In contrast, before the Safavid period, a minority of Iranians were Shia and there had been relatively few Shia Ulama in Iran.[12]
Fate of Sunni and Shia scholars[edit]
Massacre of Iranian Sunni scholars[edit]
The early Safavid rulers took a number of steps against the Sunni Ulama of Iran. These steps included giving the Ulama the choice of conversion, death, or exile[36][37][38] and massacring the Sunni clerics who resisted the Shia transformation of Iran, as witnessed in Herat.[39] As a result, many Sunni scholars who refused to adopt the new religious direction lost their lives or fled to the neighboring Sunni states.[40][41]
Immigration of Arab Shia scholars[edit]
After the conquest, Ismail began transforming the religious landscape of Iran by imposing Twelver Shiism on the populace. Since most of the population embraced Sunni Islam and since an educated version of Shiism was scarce in Iran at the time, Ismail imported a new Shia Ulama corps from traditional Shiite centers of the Arabic speaking lands, largely from Jabal Amil (of Southern Lebanon), Mount Lebanon, Syria, Eastern Arabia and Southern Iraq in order to create a state clergy.[42][43][44][45] Ismail offered them land and money in return for loyalty. These scholars taught the doctrine of Twelver Shiism and made it accessible to the population and energetically encouraged conversion to Shiism.[39][46][47][48] To emphasize how scarce Twelver Shiism was then to be found in Iran, a chronicler tells us that only one Shia text could be found in Ismail's capital Tabriz.[49] Thus it is questionable whether Ismail and his followers could have succeeded in forcing a whole people to adopt a new faith without the support of the Arab Shiite scholars.[41] The rulers of Safavid Persia also invited these foreign Shiite religious scholars to their court in order to provide legitimacy for their own rule over Persia.[50]
Abbas I of Persia, during his reign, also imported more Arab Shia Ulama to Iran, built religious institutions for them, including many Madrasahs (religious schools) and successfully persuaded them to participate in the government, which they had shunned in the past (following the Hidden imam doctrine).[51]
Significant figures of the campaign[edit]
Ismail II[edit]
Ismail II's reign (1576–77) was marked by a pro-Sunni policy.[59] With the assistance of Makhdum Sharifi Shirazi, the new Sadr, Ismail II strove to reverse the anti-Sunni practices among the populace. More specifically he strove to halt the public defamation of Aisha and the ritual cursing of Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman (including the banning of the tabarrā'iyān, known as the tabaqa-yi tabarrā'i, whose official occupation was to publicly curse such figures and other supposed enemies of the Ahl al-Bayt),[60] which rose during the early Safavid rule.
A few motives may account for Ismail II's approach to the anti-Sunni propaganda. A primary one was that he was keen to comply with one of the Ottoman demands of the Peace of Amasya concluded in 1555, which called for an end to the vilification of the first three Sunni Caliphs, thus placating the Ottomans and solidifying his own personal position. Another was his attempt to weaken the clerics as he attempted to forcibly demand land grants from Sayyids and Shia Ulema. The shah also clashed with the Ustajlu tribe and a number of Qizilbash amirs who were allied to the clerics. Thus, the public denunciation of Sunni emblems became one stage on which this power struggle between the Shah and the cleric-Qizilbash group was played out.
The Shah hoped to weaken the public appeal of the Amili clerics who administered and encouraged ritual cursing of the first three Sunni Caliphs among Iranians. His Sunni flirtation was also intended to reach out to the still-strong Sunni sympathies among Persians. Despite their quick rejection of Ismail II's policies, the majority of Ulema and the military-political centre avoided a confrontation with him, even though in place of zealous Shia scholars like the Astarabadis, the Shah appointed Ulema with Sunni leanings such as Mawlana Mirza Jan Shirazi and Mir Makhdum Lala.[61][62] Ismail II also wanted to do away with the inscribed names of the 12 imams on the Safavid coinage, but his attempt came to nought.[63]
Ismail's conversion policy had the following historical outcomes: