Nothing could appear more unpromising than the position of the three little sons of Shaykh Ḥaydar, who were for the Isma'íl and his two brothers. moment entirely at the mercy of their father's enemies. Sulṭán Ya'qúb, the son of Úzún Ḥasan, however, shrank from killing them for the sake of their mother, who was his sister, and contented himself with exiling them to Iṣṭakhr in Fárs, where they were placed in the custody of the governor Manṣúr Beg Parnák. According to Angiolello, * however, the three boys were confined on an island in the “Lake of Astumar” (identified by the translator with Lake Van) inhabited by Armenian Christians, where they remained for three years and became “very much beloved, especially Ismael, the second, for his beauty and pleasing manners,” so that when Rustam, the grandson of Úzún Ḥasan, after the death of his uncle Ya'qúb, sent a message to demand their surrender, intending to put them to death, the Armenians not only made excuses for not giving them up but enabled them to escape by boat to the “country of Carabas” (Qará-bágh). In the Persian accounts, however, Rustam is credited with their release from Iṣṭakhr, because, being at war with his cousin Bay-sunqur, he thought to strengthen himself by an alliance with them and their numerous devoted followers. He accordingly invited the eldest brother Sulṭán 'Alí to Tabríz, received him with much honour, conferred on him all the paraphernalia of sovereignty and the title of Pádisháh, and despatched him to attack Baysunqur, whom he defeated and slew in a battle near Ahar. Having thus got rid of his rival, Rustam sought to rid himself of his ally, who, warned by one of his Turkmán disciples, fled to Ardabíl, but was Isma'íl's brother Sulṭán 'Alí is killed. overtaken by his enemies at the neighbouring village of Shamásí and killed in the ensuing skirmish in the year 900/1494-5. * His two brothers, however, reached Ardabíl in safety, and were con­cealed by their faithful followers during the house-to-house search instituted by the Turkmáns, until an opportunity presented itself of conveying them secretly into Gílán, first to Rasht, where they remained for a short period, estimated Isma'íl in hiding in Láhiján. at anything from seven to thirty days, and then to Láhiján, the ruler of which place, Kár-kiyá Mírzá 'Alí, accorded them hospitality and pro­tection for several years. It is related that on one occasion when their Turkmán foes came to look for them he caused them to be suspended in a cage in the woods so as to enable him to swear that they had no foothold on his territory.

To the valour and devotion of Isma'íl's disciples, the “Ṣúfís of Láhiján,” contemporary European writers testify Devotion of Isma'íl's followers. as forcibly as the Persian historians. “This Sophi,” says the anonymous Italian merchant, * “is loved and reverenced by his people as a god, and especially by his soldiers, many of whom enter into battle without armour, expecting their master Ismael to watch over them in the fight…The name of God is forgotten throughout Persia and only that of Ismael re­membered.” “The Suffaveans fought like lions” is a phrase which repeatedly occurs in the pages of the Venetian travellers. Yet for all this, and the numbers and wide ramifications of the Order (“from the remotest West to the limits of Balkh and Bukhárá,” says the rare history of Sháh Isma'íl, speaking of the days of his grandfather Junayd), it is doubtful if their astounding successes would have been possible in the first instance but for the bitter internecine feuds of the ruling “White Sheep” dynasty after the death of the great and wise Úzún Ḥasan in A.D. 1478, from which time onwards their history is a mere welter of fratricidal warfare.

Isma'íl was only thirteen years of age when he set out from the seclusion of Láhiján on his career of conquest.

Isma'íl at the age of thirteen sets out on his career of conquest. He was accompanied at first by only seven devoted “Ṣúfís,” but, as he advanced by way of Ṭárum and Khalkhál to Ardabíl, he was reinforced at every stage by brave and ardent disciples, many from Syria and Asia Minor. * Ordered to leave Ardabíl by the Turkmán Sulṭán 'Alí Beg Chákarlú, he retired for a while to Arjawán near Astárá on the Caspian Sea, where he amused himself with fishing, of which he was very fond; but in the spring of A.D. 1500 he was back at Ardabíl, having rallied round him a goodly army of the seven Turkish tribes who constituted the backbone of the Ṣafawí military power. * He now felt himself strong enough Isma'íl defeats and kills Farrukh-Yasár, king of Shírwán, 906/1500. to embark on a holy war against the Georgian “infidels” and a war of revenge against Farrukh-Yasár, king of Shírwán, whom he defeated and killed near Gulistán. He decapitated and burned the corpse, built a tower of his enemies' heads, destroyed the tombs of the Shírwánsháhs, and exhumed and burned the remains of the last king, Khalíl, who had killed his gradfather Shaykh Junayd. The noble dynasty thus ex­tinguished claimed descent from the great Sásánian king Anúsharwán (Núshírwán), and numbered amongst them the patron of the famous panegyrist Kháqání.

Having captured Baku (Bádkúya, Bádkúba) Isma'íl, ad­vised in a dream by the Imáms, decided to raise the siege of Battle of Shurúr. Isma'íl is crowned at Tabríz. 907/1501-2. Gulistán and march on Ádharbáyján. Alwand and his “White Sheep” Turkmáns endeavoured to arrest his advance, but were utterly defeated at the decisive battle of Shurúr with great slaughter. Alwand fled to Arzinján, while Isma'íl entered Tabríz in triumph and was there crowned King of Persia. Henceforth, therefore, we shall speak of him as Sháh Isma'íl, but by the Persian historians he is often entitled Kháqán-i-Iskandar-shán (“the Prince like unto Alexander in state”), as his son and successor Sháh Ṭahmásp is called Sháh-i-Dín-panáh (“the King who is the Refuge of Religion”).

Already Sháh Isma'íl and his partisans had given ample proof of their strong Shí'a convictions. Their battle-cry on the day they slew Shírwánsháh was Alláh! Alláh! wa 'Alí waliyyu'lláh (God! God! and 'Alí is the Friend of God!”), * while Alwand was offered peace if he would embrace this doctrine and pronounce this formula. * But now Sháh Isma'íl resolved that, with his assumption of the Energetic measures adopted by Sháh Isma'íl to propa­gate the Shí'a doctrine. kingly rank, the Shí'a faith should become not merely the State religion but the only tolerated creed. This decision caused anxiety even to some of the Shí'a divines of Tabríz, who, on the night preceding Isma'íl's coronation, repre­sented to him that of the two or three hundred thousand inhabitants of that city at least two-thirds were Sunnís; that the Shí'a formula had not been publicly uttered from the pulpit since the time of the Imáms themselves; and that if the majority of the people refused to accept a Shí'a ruler, it would be difficult to deal with the situation which would then arise. To this Sháh Isma'íl replied, “I am committed to this action; God and the Immaculate Imáms are with me, and I fear no one; by God's help, if the people utter one word of protest, I will draw the sword and leave not one of them alive.” * Nor did he content himself with glorifying The cursing of the first three Caliphs instituted. 'Alí and his descendants, but ordained the public cursing of the first three Caliphs of the Sunnís, Abú Bakr, 'Umar and 'Uthmán, and that all who heard the cursing should respond “May it be more, not less!” (Bísh bád, kam ma-bád!) or suffer death in case of refusal.

Immediately after his coronation, according to the Aḥsanu't-Tawáríkh, * he ordered all preachers (Khuṭabá)

Rigorous en­forcement of Shí'a doctrine. throughout his realms to introduce the dis­tinctively Shí'a formulae “I bear witness that 'Alí is the Friend of God” and “hasten to the best of deeds” (ḥayya ila khayri'l-'amal) into the profession of Faith and the call to Prayer respectively; which formulae had been in abeyance since Ṭughril Beg the Saljúq had put to flight and slain al-Basásírí five hundred and twenty-eight years previously. * He also instituted the public cursing of Abú Bakr, 'Umar and 'Uthmán in the streets and markets, as above mentioned, threatening recalcitrants with decapi­tation. Owing to the dearth of Shí'a theological works the religious instruction of the people necessitated by the change of doctrine presented great difficulties, but finally the Qáḍí Naṣru'lláh Zaytúní produced from his library the first volume of the Qawá'idu'l-Islám (“Rules of Islám”) of Shaykh Jamálu'd-Dín…ibn 'Alí ibnu'l-Muṭahhir al-Ḥillí, * which served as a basis of instruction “until day by day the Sun of Truth of the Doctrine of the Twelve [Imáms] increased its altitude, and all parts and regions of the world became illuminated by the dawning effulgences of the Path of Verification.”