Issue of shiism and sayyidism of Safavid sect [Safevi tarikati'nin seyidli?i ve şiili?i meselesi]

Abstract

Sheikh Safiyuddin Erdebili is the founder of Erdebil sect in Safavid period and the issue of being a sayyid and Shiite for him has not been explained clearly until today. Some historians suppose that he is a Sunni and Shafi, some others have claimed that he is a Sayyid and Shiites. The founders of the sect have been argued to be Sayyid in one genealogy included in the book named Savetü's-safa written by Ibn-i Bezzaz during the period of Sadreddin, the son of founder and the leader of the sect after Safiyüddin Erdebili's period. According to historians, the founder of the sect as Sunni and Shafi, it is impossible to agree the idea of their being Sayyid as they are not Arabian. According to them, founders of the sect could be Turkish or Kurdish. According to Ahmed Kesrevi, the issue of being Sayyid began in the period of Sadreddin, the second leader of the sect, and this issue was used for political objectives. In this study, it was tried to compare the main reasons of accepting them to be as Sayyid and rejecting the founders of the sect as to be Sayyid. The purposes of Safavid sect in Iran geography in which the Shiites sect was on the power beginning from Safiyüddin Erdebili to the period of Shah Ismail were tried to be explained.