From the data given by the Silsilatu'n-Nasab, viz. that
<graphic>
Shaykh Abdál Pír-záda presenting the captured horse of
the Uzbek leader, Dín Muḥammad Khán, to Sháh 'Abbás
the Great
From a MS. of the Silsilatu'n-Nasab-i-Ṣafawiyya (H. 12,
f. 80a) in the Library of Professor E. G. Browne
Shaykh Záhid was 35 years older than Shaykh Ṣafí, that
Shaykh Záhid
dies and is
succeeded by
Shaykh Ṣafí.
both died at the age of 85, and that the latter
died in 735/1334, we may conclude that the
former died about 700/1300; and this is corroborated
by the further statement that his
grandson Ṣadru'd-Dín was born in 704/1305, four years
after his death. Shaykh Ṣafí now became head of the
Order, and held this position for 35 years, when he died,
*
and was in turn succeeded by his son Ṣadru'd-Dín. He
Shaykh Ṣafí's
poetry.
produced some poetry both in the dialect of
Gílán (in which also several of his conversations
with Shaykh Záhid were conducted) and likewise
in ordinary Persian. Though one of his quatrains
*
testifies to his love of 'Alí (“how much soever he in whose
heart is a grain of love for 'Alí may sin, God will forgive
No evidence
that he was
a Shí'a.
him” are his words), I find no evidence that
he held those strong Shí'a views which subsequently
characterised his descendants. There
is, indeed, a piece of evidence to the contrary in the
Aḥsanu't-Tawáríkh, an important unpublished history of
the first two Ṣafawí kings composed in the reign of Sháh
Ṭahmásp and including the years A.H. 901-985 (A.D. 1495-
“We have thus heard concerning your ancestor, His sainted Holiness Shaykh Ṣafí, that he was a good man and an orthodox Sunní, and we are greatly astonished that you neither follow the conduct of Murtaḍá 'Alí nor that of your ancestor.”
He did much, however, to extend and develop the Order
of which he was the Superior, and his influence is illustrated
Influence of
Shaykh Ṣafí
in Asia Minor.
by a statement of Mawláná Shamsu'd-Dín
Barníqí of Ardabíl, quoted in the Silsilatu'n-
Shaykh Ṣadru'd-Dín succeeded his father at the age of
31 in 735/1334 and controlled the affairs of the Order for
Ṣadru'd-Dín
succeeds his
father in
735/1334.
59 years until his death in 794/1392. He also
composed verses in Persian, and is besides
credited with many miracles, the most celebrated
of which was his recovery and restoration
to Ardabíl of the door of the principal mosque which had
been carried off by the Georgians when they raided that
city about 600/1203-4.
*
Amongst the most celebrated of
his disciples was the poet Qásimu'l-Anwár, whose orthodoxy
was somewhat suspect, and who was expelled from Herát
by Sháh-rukh under circumstances which I have discussed
elsewhere.
*
That Shaykh Ṣadru'd-Dín's influence and activities
also aroused the suspicions of neighbouring potentates
is shown by the action of Malik-i-Ashraf,
*
who lured
His influence
arouses jealousy.
him to Tabríz and kept him in confinement
there for three months, when, warned by a
dream, he released him, but subsequently attempted
to recapture him and compelled him to flee into
Gílán. Other holy and learned men suffered at the hands
of this tyrant, and one of them, the Qáḍí Muḥyi'd-Dín of
Barda'a, depicted in such vivid colours the odious oppression
of Malik-i-Ashraf to Jání Beg Khán son of Uzbek, the
ruler of the Dasht-i-Qipcháq, that the latter invaded Ádhar-
Shaykh Ṣadru'd-Dín, like his father Shaykh Ṣafí, performed the pilgrimage to Mecca at the end of his life, and Ṣadru'd-Dín is succeeded in 794/1392 by his son Khwája 'Alí. is said to have brought back with him to Ardabíl the Prophet's standard. Shortly after his return he died, in 794/1392, and was succeeded by his son Khwája 'Alí, who controlled the affairs of the Order for thirty-six years until his death on Rajab 18, 830 (May 15, 1427). This happened in Palestine, where he is buried, his tomb being known as that of “Sayyid 'Alí 'Ajamí.” * Like his father and grandfather he was a worker of miracles and a poet, and over two hundred of his Persian verses are quoted in the Silsilatu'n-Nasab. In him strong Shí'a tendencies reveal themselves: instigated by the Ninth Imám Muḥammad Taqí in a dream he converts the people of Dizful, by a miraculous stoppage of their river, to a belief in and recognition of the supreme holiness of 'Alí ibn Abí Ṭálib; and he exhorts Tímúr, whose regard he had succeeded in winning by a display of his psychical powers, to “chastise, as they deserve, the Yazídí Kurds, the friends of Mu'áwiya, because of whom we wear the black garb of mourning for the Immaculate Imáms.” * More celebrated is his intercession with Tímúr on behalf of a number of Turkish prisoners (asírán-i-Rúm) whose release he secured, and whose grateful descendants, known as “the Turkish Ṣúfís” (Ṣúfiyán-i-Rúmlú), became the most devoted adherents and supporters of the Ṣafawí family.*
Shaykh Ibráhím, better known as Shaykh Sháh, succeeded his father in 830/1427 and died in 851/1447-8.
Shaykh Sháh, A.H. 830-851 (A.D. 1427-1447). Little is recorded of him save the names of his six sons, and he is even omitted entirely in the succession by the Ta'ríkh-i-'Álam-árá-yi- Shaykh Ḥaydar (the “Sechaidar” of Angiolello), like his
father Junayd, whom he succeeded, found favour in the
Shaykh Ḥaydar
(A.D. 1456-1488).
eyes of the now aged Úzún Ḥasan, his maternal
uncle, who gave him in marriage his daughter
Marta, Ḥalíma, Bakí Áqá or 'Álam-sháh Begum,
whose mother, the celebrated Despina Khátún (“Despina-