Explaining the Unsuccessful Agency of the Qizilbash in the Power Relations of Shah Safi’s Reign

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. candidate in History, specializing in Post-Islamic Iran, Department of History, Faculty of Literature and Humanities , Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.

2 Professor of History, Department of History, Faculty of Literature and Humanities , Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.

3 Assistant Professor of History, Department of History, Faculty of Literature and Humanities , Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

10.22103/jic.2026.26253.1485

Abstract

The power-oriented inclinations of the Qizilbash prompted Shah Abbas I to establish a balance of power between them and other social groups. The continuation of this policy under Shah Safi, along with his efforts to reproduce it, led to the failure of Qizilbash attempts to restore their former political influence. Considering the decisive role of these power relations in shaping the political trajectory of the Qizilbash, this study seeks to answer the following question: Why did their efforts to regain power during the reign of Shah Safi end unsuccessfully? The conceptual framework employed here is the “logic of situation,” which requires reconstructing the historical context, examining the actors’ perceptions and available instruments, and assessing the outcomes of their actions. Based on this approach, the Qizilbash displayed three types of responses to the reforms of Shah Abbas that had weakened their political and military standing at the outset of Shah Safi’s rule. Some groups initially sought to dominate the state while simultaneously competing with one another; their misreading of the existing power relations, however, forced them into defensive stances and reluctant adaptation. Zeynal Khan Shamlu adopted a temporary and authoritarian opportunism that ultimately resulted in his death. Finally, another segment of the Qizilbash, despite undertaking ineffective actions, was compelled to accommodate the new circumstances and accept the authority of the shah. The evidence suggests that misinterpretation of the emerging power structure, ambiguous objectives, and limitations in their instruments of agency contributed to the failure of these efforts.


Keywords

References

Eskandar Beg Monshi. (1382). Tārikh-e ʿĀlam-ārā-ye ʿAbbāsi. With arrangement and introduction by Iraj Afshar, Vol. 2 & 3. Tehran: Amir Kabir. (in Persian)  
Eʿtemād al-Salṭana, Mohammad-Ḥasan Khan. (1363). Tārikh-e Montaẓam-e Nāṣeri, Vol. 2. Edited by Mohammad-Esmāʿil Reẓvāni. Tehran: Donyā-ye Ketāb. (in Persian)  
Afushtaʾi Naṭanzi, Maḥmud b. Hedāyat Allāh. (1373). Noqāwat al-āthār fī ḏekr al-akhyār. Edited by Ehsān Eshrāqi. Tehran: Enteshārāt-e Elmi va Farhangi. (in Persian)  
Bābāʾie, Susān, et al. (1393). Ghollāmān-e Khāṣṣeh (Nokhbegān-e Nowkhāste-ye Dowrān-e Ṣafaviyyeh), 2nd ed. Translated by Ḥasan Afshār. Tehran: Nashr-e Markaz. (in Persian)  
Bahram-nezhād, Moḥsen. (1391). "An Analysis of a Decree in the Era of Shah Safi's Ruling (1629-1642) (Fruitless Efforts for Resolving the Disputes between Qizilbash Turks and the Georgians, and its Historical Consequences)". Ganjina-ye Asnād, 22(4), pp. 22-42. (in Persian)  
Pāyā, ʿAli. (1382). "Ebḥām-zodāʾi az manteq-e mowqeʿiyat". Nāmeh-ye ʿOlum-e Ejtemāʿi, (21), pp. 271-301. (in Persian)  
Popper, Karl. (1379). Ostūre-ye chārchūb; dar defāʿ az ʿaqlāniyat. Translated by ʿAli Pāyā. Tehran: Tarh-e Now. (in Persian)  
Popper, Karl. (1380). Jāmeʿeh-ye bāz va došmanān-e ān. Translated by ʿEzzatollāh Folādvand. Tehran: Khārazmi. (in Persian)  
Popper, Karl. (1399). Faḳr-e maktab-e tārikh-garāʾi. Translated by Raḥmatollāh Jabbāri. Tehran: Sherkat-e Sahāmi-ye Enteshār. (in Persian)  
Tapper, Richard. (1384). Tārikh-e siyāsi, ejtemāʿi-ye Shāhsavānhā-ye Mughān. Translated by Ḥasan Asadi. Tehran: Akhtarān. (in Persian)  
Tavernier, Jean-Baptiste. (1336). Safarnāmeh. Translated by Abutrāb Nuri, 2nd ed. Isfahan: Ketābforushi-ye Taʾyid-e Esfahān. (in Persian)  
Torkamān, Eskandar Beg Monshi. (1377). Tārikh-e ʿĀlam-ārā-ye ʿAbbāsi. With arrangement and introduction by Iraj Afshar, Vol. 2. Tehran: Donyā-ye Ketāb. (in Persian)  
Torkamān, Eskandar Beg, & Mowarrekh, Mohammad-Yusof. (1317). Ḏayl-e ʿĀlam-ārā-ye ʿAbbāsi. Edited by Soheyl Khānsāri. Tehran: Ketābforushi-ye Eslāmiyeh. (in Persian)  
Savāgheb, Jahānbakhsh. (1391). " The Organization of the Army and Military Officers in Shah Safi Era (1628- 1642 A.H.) ". Majallah-e Tarikh-e Eslam va Iran, 22(143), pp. 1-51. (in Persian)  
Savāgheb, Jahānbakhsh; Āzādbakht, Soroush; & Morovati, Farideh. (1402). " The Status and Privileges of Qizilbāsh Military in the Government of Safavid Shāh Ismāil I ". Moṭāleʿāt-e Tārikhi-ye Jang, 7(1), pp. 19-36. (in Persian)  
Ḥosayni Astarābādi, Sayyed Ḥasan b. Mortażā. (1364). Tārikh-e solṭāni (Az Shaykh Ṣafi tā Shāh Ṣafi). Edited by Dr. Ehsān Eshrāqi. Tehran: Elmi. (in Persian)  
Ḥosayni Tafreshi, Mohammad-Ḥosayn. (1388). Mabādi-ye tārikh-e zamān-e nowvāb-e reẓvān makān (Shāh Ṣafi). Introduction, editing and annotations by Moḥsen Bahram-nezhād. Tehran: Mirāth-e Maktub. (in Persian)  
Ḥosayni Savāneḥ-negār Tafreshi, Abul-Mafākher b. Fażl Allāh. (1388). *Tārikh-e Shāh Ṣafi (Taḥawwolāt-e Irān dar sāl-hā-ye 1038-1052 HQ)*. Introduction and annotations by Moḥsen Bahram-nezhād. Tehran: Mirāth-e Maktub. (in Persian)  
Khājeghi Eṣfahāni, Mohammad-Maʿṣum. (1368). Kholāṣat al-siyar. Edited by Iraj Afshar. Tehran: Enteshārāt-e Elmi. (in Persian)  
Rohrborn, Klaus-Michael. (2537). Neẓām-e eyālāt dar dowreh-ye Ṣafaviyyeh. Translated by Keykāvus Jahāndāri. Tehran: Bongāh-e Nashr va Tarjomeh-ye Ketāb. (in Persian)  
Sümer, Faruk. (1379). Naḳsh-e Torkān-e Anāṭoli dar tashkil-e selseleh-ye Ṣafavi. Translated by Ehsān Eshrāqi. Tehran: Nashr-e Gostareh. (in Persian)  
Savory, Roger M. (1385). Irān-e ʿaṣr-e Ṣafavi. Translated by Kambiz ʿAzizi, 30th ed. Tehran: Nashr-e Markaz. (in Persian)  
Chardin, Jean. (1345). Safarnāmeh, Vol. 8. Translated by Mohammad ʿAbbāsi, 1st ed. Tehran: Amir Kabir. (in Persian)  
Shāmlu, Valiqoli b. Dāvudqoli. (1375). Qeṣaṣ al-khāqāni, Vol. 1. Edited with footnotes by Sayyed Ḥasan Sadāt Nāṣeri. Tehran: Vezārat-e Farhang va Ershād. (in Persian)  
Ṣefat-gol, Manṣur. (1397). Farāz va forud-e Ṣafaviyān, 4th ed. Tehran: Kānoon-e Andisheh-ye Javān. (in Persian)  
Fasāʾi, Ḥasan b. Ḥasan. (1382). Fārsnāmeh-ye Nāṣeri. Tehran: Amir Kabir. (in Persian)  
Fasāʾi, Ḥasan b. Ḥasan. (1382). Fārsnāmeh-ye Nāṣeri. Tehran: Amir Kabir. (in Persian)  
Falṣafi, Naṣr-Allāh. (1347). Zendegāni-ye Shāh ʿAbbās-e Avval, Vol. 1 & 2. Tehran: Enteshārāt-e Dāneshgāh-e Tehran. (in Persian)  
Fomani Gilāni, ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ. (1349). Tārikh-e Gilān. Edited by Manuchehr Sotudeh. Tehran: Bonyād-e Farhang-e Irān. (in Persian)  
Qazvini, Abul-Ḥasan. (1367). Fawāʾed al-Ṣafaviyyeh. Edited with introduction and notes by Maryam Mir-Aḥmadi. Tehran: Moʾasseseh-ye Moṭāleʿāt va Taḥqiqāt-e Farhangi. (in Persian)  
Matthee, Rudi. (1399). Irān dar bohrān (Zavāl-e Ṣafaviyyeh va soḳūṭ-e Eṣfahān), 4th ed. Translated by Ḥasan Afshār. Tehran: Nashr-e Markaz. (in Persian)  
Marʿashi, Mohammad-Hāshim b. Mohammad. (1379). Zabur-e Āl-e Dāvud (Sharḥ-e ertebāṭ-e Sadāt-e Marʿashi bā salāṭin-e Ṣafaviyyeh). Tehran: Markaz-e Pazhūheshi-ye Mirāth-e Maktub. (in Persian)  
Mollā Kamāl. (1334). Kholāṣat al-tawārikh. Edited by Ebrāhim Dehgān. Arāk: Chap-e Farvardin.
Mehmān-navāz, Maḥmud; & Siyāhpūr, Kashvād. (1395). " The Role of Georgian Bagrati Clan in Fixing The Shah Safi’s Power (1038-1052 A.H.) ". Moṭāleʿāt-e Orāsiā-ye Markazi, 9(2), pp. 395-410. (in Persian)  
Mehmān-navāz, Maḥmud; Forūghi Ebrāhi, Aṣghar; & Kajbāf, ʿAli-Akbar. (1393). "Barresi-ye taḥlili-ye reqābat-e Gorjīyān bā eʾtelāf-e Torkān va Tājīkān dar dowreh-ye Shāh Ṣafi (1038-1052 HQ)". Pazhūheshhā-ye Tārikhi-ye Irān va Eslām, (14), pp. 177-198. (in Persian)  
Mir-Khānd, Mohammad b. Khāvand Shāh. (1270 HQ). Rowżat al-ṣafā. [Place and Publisher not mentioned]. (in Persian)  
Mir-Jaʿfari, Ḥosayn; Dehghān-nezhād, Mortażā; & Ṭahmāsebi, Sāsān. (1385). "Payāmdhā-ye khāṣṣeh-sāzi dar dowreh-ye Ṣafaviyyeh". Majalleh-ye Dāneshkadeh-ye Adabiyyāt va ʿOlum-e Ensāni-ye Dāneshgāh-e Eṣfahān, 2(44-45), pp. 1-15. (in Persian)  
Minorsky, Vladimir. (1368). Sāzmān-e edāri-ye ḥokūmat-e Ṣafaviyān (Taḥqiqāt va ḥavāshi va taʿliqāt). Translated by Masʿud Rajab-niyā. Tehran: Enteshārāt-e Amir Kabir. (in Persian)  
Naṣiri, Mirzā ʿAli-Naqi. (1372). Al-Qāt va mawājeb-e dowreh-ye Ṣafaviyyeh. Edited by Yusof Raḥim-lu. Mashhad: Dāneshgāh-e Ferdowsi Mashhad. (in Persian)  
Navāʾi, ʿAbd-al-Ḥosayn. (1360). Asnād va mokātebāt-e siyāsi-ye Irān. Tehran: Bonyād-e Farhang-e Irān. (in Persian)  
Vāleh Eṣfahāni, Mohammad-Yusof. (1382). Khold-e barin. Edited by Mohammad-Reżā Naṣiri. Tehran: Āthār va Mafākher-e Farhangi. (in Persian)  
Vāḥed Qazvini, Mohammad-Ṭāher. (1383). Tārikh-e Jahān-ārā-ye ʿAbbāsi. Edited by Sayyed Saʿid Mir-Mohammad-Ṣādeq. Tehran: Pazhūheshgāh-e ʿOlum-e Ensāni va Moṭāleʿāt-e Farhangi. (in Persian)  
 
 
Iranian Civilization Research
Volume 7, Issue 2 - Serial Number 14
December 2026
Pages 171-193

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics