40 
[No. 2, 
E. E. Oliver —The Safwi Dynasty of Persia. 
His father Haidar was killed while attacking the province of Shirwan.* 
His eldest brother was killed in Gilan, to which district the sons of 
Haidar had fled, and the second died, when Isma’il, the third son, was 
a child. Not much is known of him until he is 14 years old, when he 
appears at the head of his adherents, marching against and defeating 
the ruler of Shirwan in 905 H. The next year, 906 H. he defeated 
the Aq Kuyunli chief Alwand,f who had attempted to crush him ; and> 
making himself master of the province of A'zarbaijan, established his 
residence at Tabriz. In 907 H. he marched into ’Iraq and defeated 
Sultan Murad};, the last of the Aq Kuyunlis, near Hamadan, and in 
908 H. became the acknowledged ruler of Persia. It is unnecessary 
to enter into the detail of the conquest of Isma’il. The first few years 
were spent in subduing the provinces of Persia that resisted his 
authority. Then came the quarrel between the orthodox Sunnis as 
represented by the Uzbak Shaibani, and the Shi’ah sect under Isma’il, 
brought on not a little by the arrogance of the former, whose hand was 
against every man, and whose life was a continual struggle with his 
neighbours. The Shi’ahs had long been repressed and cruelly perse¬ 
cuted, and when opportunity came for revenge in the shape of a power¬ 
ful leader, reared in a strong belief in the sacred name of ’All, and 
the twelve holy Imams, who formed a kingdom, and made the formula of 
Shi’ah his battle cry, they were ready enough for reprisals. Isma’il was 
not slow to take advantage of this enthusiasm, and to turn the swords 
of the tribes to the extension of his Empire. He attacked and took 
Ba gh dad and the surrounding territories. He then marched to Mashhad 
and to Merv, close to which city, at Muhammadabad, 10 miles away on 
the banks of the Murghab, he, in 916 H., entirely defeated Shaibani, who 
was killed in the field. Wintering at Hirat, he advanced to Balkh, 
invaded Mawarau-n-Nahr, skirting the Paropamisan range by Maimauah 
and Qara Robat (917 H.), and practically annexed the whole of Khura¬ 
san and Khwarazm, the Oxus thus becoming again for a short time 
the boundary between Iran and Turan. Of his embassy to Babar, the 
assistance given by him to that prince against ’Ubaidu-llah,§ and of his 
doings in Khurasan, a dotailed account is givon in Erskine. On the 
whole ho was successful, but in 920 JI. he had to encounter a more 
powerful enemy in the form of tho Usmanli Sultan Salim|| from 
Constantinople, by whom, after a desperate battle, ho was completely 
* Wont of tho Caspian. 
\ Ruled 1)0G to i)OG H. 
£ Ruled from 1)03 to 1)05, and again from 907 to 1)08 11. 
§ Thou I ho Qoneml of Kttohkunji, 
|| Salim bin Haynzfd reigned 018 to 020 II. 
