The Primary Sources on the Safavids

XVI century is remarkable as a new stage of world history. In Azerbaijan, in XVI

century a new empire under the rule of Qizilbashs – Safavids had emerged. The
Safavids played an important role in the lives of many nations, which were under
their rule, such as the population of Southern Caucasus and Iran. This empire united
a lot of nations, which differ from each other for their culture, language, and socio-
economical development. Most of the main and important sources on the Safavid
history are in Persian, including the annals of Azerbaijani authors. Besides of these
sources, we must mention the dairies of the European travelers.
Safavid traditional historiography or primary written sources although developing
unique features of its own, had its origins in the eastern Timurid tradition that was
centered in Herat. Many, if not most, Safavid historians praised earlier Timurid
histories as works worthy of emulation.
The “Safvat as-safa” is a hagiography of the Sufi shaykh Safiaddin Ardabili
(1252–1334), founder of the Safaviya Sufi order. It was written by Ebn Bazzaz, a
disciple of Safiaddin's son and successor, Sadraddīn Mūsā, who prompted him to
write the work. He probably completed it in 1358. Little else is known of his life. The
work is divided into an introduction, 12 chapters, and a conclusion. Only two of the
chapters (chapters 2 and 11) deal with the circumstances of his life. Most of the rest
of the book recounts numerous episodes of the shaykh performing miraculous feats.
The work also includes Shaykh Safi's commentaries on various passages of the
Qur'an and hadith. Shaykh Safi ad-Din was a Sunni and an adherent of the Shafi`i
school of law. In 1501 the Sufi order, he founded, became the ruling family in the
Safavid empire, but they converted to Shi`ism while at the same time continuing their
role as head of the order. Certain elements in the Safvat as-safa, particularly
Shaykh Safi's genealogy and his religious views, became inconsistent with the
Safavid dynasty's self-image. Therefore, in 1542, Shah Tahmasb commissioned Mir
Abu al-Fat'h Husayni to revise the Safvat as-safa to give it an explicit Shi`i tone.
Sadraddin Sultan Ibrahim al-Amini was the author of the first narrative work of
this period- “Futuhati-shahi” (“Victories of Shah”). Ibrahim Amini, author of
Fuṭuḥati Shahi, the earliest Safavid history (comp. 1531), mentions Šaraf-al-Din ʿAli
Yazdi’s Ẓafar-nāma (comp. 831/1427-28) in his preface, as does Iskandar Beg
Torkamān Munshi, author of the Alamārā-ye Abbāsi. In 1519-1520, Ṣadr-al-Din
Ibrāhim Amini started writing the first history after the establishment of the Safavid
state. His book is a general history with sections on the Imams, the Safavid Sufi
order, and the career of Shah Ismail I. Amini, who lived in Herat, first served as ṣadr
under the Timurids Sultan Ḥosayn Bayqarā and Moẓaffar Ḥosayn Mirzā. Subsequent
to a period of imprisonment following the Uzbek takeover of Khorasan, Amini met
Shah Ismail I, who commissioned the Futuḥāti Shāhi. Although a detailed study of
this text and its sources has not yet been undertaken, Amini appears to have relied
on the hagiographical Ṣafwat al-ṣafā (comp. 1334) by Ebn Bazzāz for his section on
the Safavid shaikhs.
With the order of Shah Ismail I anonym author wrote the work “Tarikhi shah
Ismail Safavid”. This work was about the life and actions of Shah Ismail. The works
starts with a short review of ancestors of Ismail, then the events of his youth, the
whole royal reign of Ismail and it ended with enthroning of Tahmasp I after the death
of Ismail Safavid. There are two handwritten manuscripts of “Tarikhi Shah Ismail
Safavid”, the first one is in London, at the Britain Museum and the second one is at
the library of Cambridge University.
“Ahsan-ut-tawarikh” is the most famous and important work of Azerbaijani
annals-writer and historian Hasan bey Rumlu. One of the main written sources of
XV-XVI centuries’ Azerbaijan is “Ahsan-ut-Tavarikh” by Hasan bey Rumlu. “Ahsan-
ut-Tavarikh” was consisting of 12 volumes. This work was written in Persian and the
last two volumes of this work which have survived until nowadays, cover the history
of Shirvan, Shaki and some southern parts of Azerbaijan.
Historian Khondamir (1475-1536) in his works “Habib-us-siyar”, “Nameyi-
nami” mentions Safavids. In “Habib-us-siyar” he didn’t give information about the
central government of the state, but there are some materials about vizir, sedr, gazi,
sheykh-ul-islam, kelenter, darga. The ordinances that were given in “Nameyi-nami”
had great scientific importance.
Khajeh Zeynalabdin Ali Abdi bey wrote his work “Takmilatul-akhbar” which
was dedicated to the daughter of Shah Tahmasp I, Perikhan Khanim in Ardabil, in
1570. This book covers the period from prophet Adem to 1570s. There are valuable
materials about the central and local offices during the reign of the Shah Ismail I and
Shah Tahmasp I.
Other valuable source about Safavids is “Afzal-at-tavarikh” that was ended in
1617 by Fazli Isfahani. The second volume of this work covers the period from the
first reign days of Shah Tahmasp I to 1587. The author wrote some parts of his book
when he was in Karabakh.
Mulla Jalaluddin Muhammad Munajjim Yazdi was the chief astrologer in the
palace of Shah Abbas I. And his work “Tarikhe Abbasi” had a great scientific
importance among the sources, devoted to the reign of Shah Abbas I. There are
historical facts during the 1576-1611. It includes remarkable information on the
Qizilbas-Turk tribes that served in the local and central offices of the state.
For learning government structure of the state, “Tazkirat-al-muluk” (written in
1725) of Mirza Samia is one of the most important sources. From the given
information we can say that author was so good in government structure. The source
preserved information about the government structure, status of authorities, the
authority of civil servants, their nicknames and titles. The facsimile of the manuscript
of the “Tazkirat-al-muluk” was printed by famous orientalist V. Minorski in 1943 in
Cambridge. In that edition of “Tazkirat-al-muluk” he gives the English translation of
this book and the broad comments.
“Tarikh-e alamara-i Abbasi”, which was written by Iskandar Beg Munshi, is
one of the rich sources for studying Azerbaijan history in 16 th -17th century. This work
differs from other sources of this period. Iskandar Beg Munshi wrote not only the
events during the reign period of Shah Ismail I, Tahmasp I, Shah Ismail II and Shah
Abbas I, but also he wrote about the people, who work in other positions during this
time. The knowledge of Iskandar Beg Munshi about the structure of Safavids was
connected with his travels to Tabriz, Ordubad and etc. “Tarikh-i alamara-i Abbasi”
was written in Persian. And it consisted of three volumes. Then “Tarix-i alamara-i
Abbasi” was translated into Azerbaijani by the member of ANAS (Azerbaijan National
Academy of Sciences), professor Oqtay Afandiyev and Namiq Musali. It was printed
in 2009.
One of the important sources is “Abbasnama”. It was written by Mirza
Mohammed Tahir Vahid. He was born in 1607 in Qazvin. In “Abbasnama” he wrote
about the foreign and domestic policy of Shah Abbas II. Mirza Mohammed Tahir
Vahid also was a clergy in Safavids palace. This source covers the period from the
beginning of the reign of Shah Abbas. But last 4 years of his reign had not been
written.
The other sources of the Safavid period were the books of Khurshah ibn al-
Husain and the Muhammad al-Gaffari, ruler of Qazvin. “Tarikh-i elchi-ye
Nizamshah” was written by Khurshah ibn al-Husain. The other book “Tarikh-i
jahanara” belonged to Muhammad al-Gaffari. This book finished in 1562 and
covered the period of 1564-1566. These books were about of foreign and domestic
problems of Azerbaijan and its neighbors. Writers also wrote biography about the
famous and great men whom they worked on the government.
Mir Yahya bin Abdullatif Qazvini (1481-1555) wrote “Lubbu’t- Tarikhi” which
devoted to Bahram Mirza. This book consisted 4 chapters. The first chapter is
devoted to the Prophet Muhammad and the twelve imams. In the second part of the
first chapter, he gives detailed information about Ali. None of the writers of history
before him had written a special book about Ali; Ali was only mentioned with the Four
Caliphs. The second chapter, to the pre-Islamic Iranian shahs, the third chapter, to
the Islamic rulers, and the fourth chapter, the Safavids’ realm; how they emerged,
how they came to the power, about Shah Ismail I and his son Tahmasp I. The final
chapter was translated into the Turkish, and published in Ankara, in 2011.
The other source was the “Nagavat Al-Assar fi-zikr-ul-akhyar” by Mahmud
Afushtai Natanzi (1539-1599), Persian poet and historian. It deals with Safavid
history from the death of Shah Ṭahmāsp I in 984/1576 up until the early years of the
reign of Shah ʿAbbās I.
It is structured into two “volumes.” The first volume covers the period spanning
between the death of Shah Ṭahmāsp in the spring of 1576 and Shah ʿAbbās’ ascent
to the throne in the summer of 1587, while the second volume chronicles the first
twelve years of the reign of Shah ʿAbbās.
The first volume describes the outbreak of factional feuds in Qazvin in the wake
of Shah Ṭahmāsp’s demise as well as Shah Ismāil II’s rise to power and the bloody
purges that claimed the lives of almost all male members of the Safavid royal
household. Then, he focuses on an anti-Safavid uprising in Shirvān during the
months leading up to Ismāil II’s assassination in Qazvin, which took place on the
night of 13 Ramażān 985/4 December 1577. Next, he deals with Moḥammad
Khudābanda’s enthronement in the winter of 1578 and the subsequent rise to power
of his wife, Maryam Begum Marʿashi. In the section dealing with the reign of
Moḥammad Ḵhudābanda, the fall of Tabriz to the Ottomans, the Ottoman invasion of
Qarābāḡ with military help from Crimean Tatars, and other the outbreak of
administrative chaos have been dealt with closely. The volume closes with a section
on the civil war that preceded the assassination of the crown prince Ḥamza Mirzā
and the subsequent enthronement of his younger brother, ʿAbbās Mirzā, as
Moḥammad Ḵodābanda’s successor.
This volume of Natanzi's (Afushtai’s) chronicle is about the opening decade of
the reign of Shah ʿAbbās. His account of these years permits a detailed
understanding of bloody purges in Qazvin in 1587-88, shortly after ʿAbbās’ ascent to
the throne; the Uzbek invasion of Khorasan; Bektāš Khan Afšār’s rebellion in
Kerman and Yazd; Yaʿqub Khan Ḏu’l-Qadr’s uprising in Fars; and the fall of the Kār
Kiā ruler of Lāhijān, Aḥmad Khan (d.1593).
The Noqāwat al-āṯār also contains a relatively long and detailed account of Shah
ʿAbbās’ crackdown on the Noqṭawis in Qazvin and Isfahan. The closing chapters of
the chronicle are of special historical value for Shah ʿAbbās’ transfer of the Safavid
capital from Qazvin to Isfahan.