Thus we see that the quarrel between Sunní and Shí'a is by no means one of names and personalities only, but of The difference between Shí'a and Sunní one of principle, not merely of persons. the essentially antagonistic doctrines of Demo­cracy and the Divine Right of Kings. The Arabs are, and always have been, in large measure democratic in their ideas, while the Persians have ever been disposed to see in their Kings divine or semi­divine beings. And if the idea of a humanly-elected head of the State be repugnant, how much more that of an Imám, or Vice-gerent of the Prophet, chosen by popular suffrage? Hence the Imámí and Isma'ílí sects of the Shí'a have always had their stronghold in Persia, though under the Sunní Turkish dynasties of the Ghaznawís and Saljúqs they were kept in a state of subordination. * They were more favoured under the Buwayhids and some of the Mongols, notably Gházán and Khudá-banda (Uljáytú), but they first obtained unquestioned supremacy throughout the whole of Persia under the Ṣafawís.

Who, then, were these Ṣafawís, when did they so ve- Origin of the Ṣafawís. hemently adopt the Shí'a doctrine, and how did they succeed in establishing their supremacy? Ṣafawí is the adjective formed from Ṣafí, a notable Ṣúfí saint, named in full Ṣafiyyu'd-Dín, who died in Gílán in A.D. 1334 at the age of 85 in the odour of sanctity, and who claimed to be descended in the twentieth degree from Músá Káẓim the seventh Imám. * That he was really a man of note in his own time is proved beyond doubt by the way in which his contemporary, the great statesman and historian Rashídu'd-Dín Faḍlu'lláh, speaks of him in his letters, * and also by the fact that an immense biography of him, the Ṣafwatu'ṣ-Ṣafá, was composed shortly after his death, largely from data supplied by his son Ṣadru'd-Dín, which has been used directly or indirectly by all the historians of the great dynasty whereof he was the ancestor. Sháh Isma'íl, the actual founder of the dynasty, was sixth in descent from him, but I have found no evidence to prove that he himself adopted the violent Shí'a views characteristic of his de­scendants. The little evidence available points rather the other way, for in a letter written to Isma'íl's son Sháh Ṭahmásp in A.D. 1529-30 by the Uzbek leaders, they say that, according to what they have heard, Shaykh Ṣafiyyu'd-Dín was a good Sunní, and express their astonishment that Ṭahmásp “neither follows the example of His Holiness Murtaḍá 'Alí, nor that of his forefather.” * Khwája 'Alí, grand­son of Ṣafiyyu'd-Dín and great-great-grandfather of Sháh Isma'íl, is the first member of the House who shows a strong Shí'a bias * and holds converse in his dreams with the Imáms, and his grandson Junayd and his great-grandson Ḥaydar are the first to assert their claims with the sword and to die on the field of battle.

At the beginning of the fifteenth century, then, the Ṣafawís were simply the hereditary pírs, murshids, or spiritual directors of an increasingly large and important order of darwíshes or Ṣúfís which drew its adherents not only from The Ṣafawís originally a religious order. Persia but from the Turkish provinces of Asia Minor, where they appear to have carried on an active propaganda. * How successful this promised to become in later days is shown by the dreadful massacre of some forty thousand of the Shí'a perpetrated in his dominions by Sulṭán Salím “the Grim” as a pre­liminary to his great campaign against Sháh Isma'íl in A.D. 1514. * To these devoted darwíshes or muríds, as their war-cry cited above (p. 15) sufficiently shows, the head of the Ṣafawí House, even after he had ceased to be a Shaykh and had become a Sháh, continued to be regarded as the pír or murshid. Chardin, Raphaël du Mans, * and other reputable authorities have scoffed at the title “Great Sophi,”

The term “Great Sophi.” by which the Ṣafawí Sháhs are commonly desig­nated by contemporary European diplomatists and writers, on the ground that the Ṣúfís were generally poor and humble people and of doubtful orthodoxy, despised and rejected of men, and unlikely to lend their name to the Great King of Persia. But in the Persian histories of the Ṣafawís, even in the Silsilatu'n-Nasab com­piled about the time when Raphaël du Mans wrote, and still more in the Aḥsanu't-Tawáríkh and other earlier chronicles, the Ṣúfís, especially the Ṣúfís of Rúm (i.e. Turkey in Asia), are represented as the cream of the Ṣafawí army; we read of “self-sacrifice, courage, and whatever else is inseparable from Ṣúfí-hood” * and of unworthy and disloyal acts described as “un-Ṣúfí-like” (ná-Ṣúfí). What, then, more natural than that he who was regarded not only as the Sháh of Persia but as the Shaykh of these devoted darwíshes or Ṣúfís, whose courage amazed contemporary Venetian travellers, should be called in Europe “the Great Ṣúfí” or “Sophi”? At any rate no more probable origin has been suggested for this term, which can scarcely be regarded as a corrupt pronunciation of Ṣafawí.

It would appear that an idea prevailed in Europe (based, perhaps, on vague recollections of the Magi or Wise Men from the East) that Sophi was derived from <text in Greek script omitted>, an opinion which Don Juan of Persia * is at pains to refute; for, having described how Sháh Isma'íl immediately after he had conquered Tabríz adopted the title of “gran Sophi de Persia,” he adds: “no Sophi por sabio, como algunos mal en-tendieron, pensando que venia de Sòpos vocablo Griego, sino de Sophi, que es vocablo Persiano, y quiere dezir, lana, ō al­godon ” (“Not Sophi in the sense of wise, as some have erroneously supposed, thinking it to come from the Greek word <text in Greek script omitted>, but from Sophi, which is a Persian word mean­ing wool or cotton”).*

The rapid rise to power of Isma'íl is one of the most re­markable events in Persian history, especially in view of his forlorn and threatened childhood. His father, Shaykh Ḥay-dar, was killed in A.D. 1490 when he was only about three years of age, * and he and his two brothers, of whom the elder, Sulṭán 'Alí, also fell in battle about A.D. 1495, were in constant danger from the Turkmán rulers of the “White Sheep” dynasty, and had many hair-breadth escapes in which they owed their lives to the devoted loyalty of their faithful Ṣúfís. Only seven of these accompanied Isma'íl when, at the age of thirteen, he set out from Láhiján for Ardabíl to win a kingdom or perish in the attempt, but at every stage he received reinforcements, so that at Ṭárum his army numbered fifteen hundred men, and by the time he reached Arzinján on his way to attack Farrukh-Yasár, king of Shír-wán, it had increased to seven thousand. Within a year he had taken Tabríz, been crowned king of Persia, and, despite Sháh Isma'íl enforces the Shí'a doctrine at Tabríz. the attempts of his counsellors to dissuade him, imposed the Shí'a doctrine on his subjects. He was warned that two-thirds of the people of Tabríz were Sunnís, and that the introduction into the prayers and professions of Faith of the distinctively Shí'a clauses, and more especially the cursing of the first three Caliphs, Abú Bakr, 'Umar and 'Uthmán, might lead to trouble. “God and the Immaculate Imáms are with me,” he replied, “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.” * He was as good as his word, and when the above-mentioned anathema was uttered all men were commanded, on pain of death, to exclaim, “May it (i.e. the curse) be more, not less!” (Bísh bád, kam ma-bád!).

Ruthless and bloodthirsty as he showed himself, Sháh Isma'íl, as depicted by contemporary Venetian travellers,

Character of Sháh Isma'íl. had many attractive characteristics. At the age of thirteen he was, according to Caterino Zeno, “of noble presence and a truly royal bearing, … nor did the virtues of his mind disaccord with the beauty of his person, as he had an elevated genius, and such a lofty idea of things as seemed incredible at such a tender age.” Angiolello describes him as “very much beloved…for his beauty and pleasing manners”; and, when grown to man's estate, as “fair, handsome, and very pleasing; not very tall, but of a light and well-framed figure; rather stout than slight, with broad shoulders. His hair is reddish; he only wears moustachios, and uses his left hand instead of his right. He is as brave as a game-cock, and stronger than any of his lords; in the archery contests, out of the ten apples that are knocked down, he knocks down seven.” The anonymous merchant, after describing Isma'íl's doings in Tabríz, adds “from the time of Nero to the present, I doubt whether so bloodthirsty a tyrant has ever existed,” yet adds a little further on that at Caesarea “he caused proclamation to be made that everyone who brought pro­visions for sale should be liberally paid, and forbade his men, under pain of death, to take even as much as a handful of straw without paying for it, as it was a friendly city.” He further describes him as “amiable as a girl, left-handed by nature, as lively as a fawn, and stronger than any of his lords,” and says that “this Sophi 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.”