پیوند معنوی پادشاهان صفوی با شیخ صفی‌الدین (از تاسیس سلسله صفوی تا پیمان صلح قصر شیرین)

Introduction

The objective and subjective aspects are very important in Sufism. For this reason, the condition of Sufis and religious leaders especially those who were considered as perfect morshed (guides) in the state of awakening, sleep and ecstasy was a decisive argument for their followers. A clear example is the founder of the Safavid sect, Sheikh Safi al-Din Ardabili whose actions as a complete morshed were legitimizing for his followers and descendants until the Safavid period. The miracles of Sheikh Safi al-Din were very famous during his lifetime. With his death, his miracles continued in the form of dreams that the disciples observed in times of crisis and pressure from the enemies of the Safavid sect. On this basis, the question arises that what was the spiritual connection of the kings of the first period of the Safavid dynasty with Sheikh Safi al-Din? In the mentioned period, the inheritance title of the complete master of the Safavid sect by the kings and the special qualities and virtues that usually crystallized in the form of ecstatic inspirations during the pilgrimage to the shrine of Sheikh Safi al-Din and also sincere dreams is the most important reason for continuing status and legitimacy of Sheikh Safi al-Din. The safavid kings by using the above-mentioned inspirations and virtues as the perfect morshed of the Safavid sect succeeded in gaining the obedience, solidarity and support of the followers (Sufis and Ghezelbashs) to carry out political-military actions. Due to the need to conduct research on social and cultural history to better understand the current society, so far no comprehensive research has been written based on the inductive method for genealogy of political-military relations between Safavid kings and followers of Safavid sect. for Understanding the internal relations between different groups of the sect based on the miracles and inspirations inspired by Sheikh Safi al-Din, including the sincere personal dreams of the kings leads to a more accurate understanding of the political relations between the members of the sect and the Safavid ruler and how to Consolidation the power of kings In times of crisis especially foreign wars. As it was stated, the legitimation of Sheikh Safi al-Din in the Safavid period was done under the title of the sect complete morshed and the characteristics and virtues derived from it. In the following, the main topics of research will be discussed under the topics of Safavid kings and the position of sect perfect leader, the Refuge of political-military personalities in the tomb of Sheikh Safi-al-Din, guidance and fear of Sheikh Safi-al-Din in the form of dreams and ecstasy. 
 

Methodology

The present study uses the method of historical research, the method of collecting library data from historical sources after describing and classifying the characteristics of Sheikh Safi al-Din, including his true dreams, to analyze and interpret these characteristics and its impact on the consolidation of the political and military status of the mentionded period.
 

Discussion

The position of Morshed inherited from Sheikh Safi al-Din caused the Safavid kings to expect complete obedience from the Sufis and Ghezelbashs in the face of internal and external enemies. The Safavid kings blamed disobedience to their orders as un-Sufism in order to give effective order to the military. For example: Shah Ismail I issued a decree for asking the Ghezelbashs to select 2,000 young men from the military to face the enemy and whoever moved away from them would be the enemy of Sheikh Safi and un-sufi; As a result of this threat, the Ghezelbashs all stood still and did not move. (alam-aray of Shah Ismail, 2005: 204)
The Ghezelbashs tribal structure and their rivalry with each other led to political conspiracies and revolts during the period of weak government which was finally severely suppressed with the beginning of the Shah Abbas I reign but created a great rift between the Ghezelbash tribes and the Safavid king. Nevertheless, Shah Abbas I tried to Reform by using the full morshed title due to widespread disputes with the Ottoman government. One of the signs of the rupture of the Murad-Muridi bond of the Safavid kings was the symbolic movements of Shah Abbas I in order to persuade the Ghezelbashs to obey and discipline the military. For example, Shahverdi Khan, the ruler of Qarajeh Dagh whose family was considered an ancient Sufi but he changed his Nationality due to the transfer of the Azerbaijan province to the Ottoman government. For this reason, in 1595, Shah Abbas I, in order to gain the Allegiance of Shahverdi Khan, in a symbolic move, visited the tomb of Sheikh Safi al-Din so that the mentioned Khan would rush to Ardabil to express his obedience. With the disobedience of Shahverdi Khan, the Safavid king called him an un-Sufi and sends Allah verdi Khan to his captive. (Turkman, 2003: 2 / 447- 448) Despite the disobedience of some Ghezelbash leaders to the sect morshed, the sanctity of the Sheikh Safi al-Din shrine was a suitable place to Refuge for political figures. 
Another feature of the Safavid sect was the growing prosperity and respect of Sheikh Safi al-Din shrine which caused many people and prominent political-military figures to reside or Refuge there. For example: Mohammad Khan Ziad Oghli Qajar, the former ruler of Qarabagh province after fleeing against the Ottoman army preferred to stay in the Sheikh Safi al-Din Ardabili shrine. He Reappointment to his province reign after Shah Abbas I regained control of Qarabagh. (Hosseini, 1983: 780; Valeh Qazvini, 2005: 321-322)
 

Conclusion

in the first half of the Safavid government the Safavid sect was a strong socio-political current and naturally the remembrance of Sheikh Safi al-Din was very common. Under the title of the morshed, the kings tried to show their behavior as the sect founder in order to unite their followers, the Sufis and the Ghezelbashs and gaining their obedience. However, the Safavid kings had to take appropriate actions to make the Sheikh Safi al-Din shrine prosperous in order to make credible the Morshed position. One of their most important strategies was to bury members of the royal family or allow personalities to refuge in shrine but their most important strategy was to take advantage of the fame of Sheikh Safi al-Din's sincere dreams. Sheikh Safi al-Din's sincere dreams of supporting his family members in times of crisis and military conflict continued indirectly during the Safavid dynasty. Continuity that was crystallized in the form of the ecstatic confidence and belief of the kings during the supplication in the Sheikh Safi al-Din shrine or during the political-military successes that provided the pilgrimage prosperity to the shrine. In addition, the Safavid kings with following Sheikh Safi al-Din claimed to have many sincere dreams especially a military nature. 
On the one hand, the important feature of the sincere dreams of Sheikh Safi al-Din and the Safavid kings had important position in order to attract obedience or to mobilize Sufis and Ghezelbashs to face the invasions of neighboring countries especially the Ottoman government and on the other hand, Led to their presence and consolidation in important positions such as the trusteeship of the Sheikh Safi al-Din shrine and also in the struggles to replace the various claimants to the monarchy which always caused the Safavid kings fear of their growing power. However, with the conclusion of the Qasr Shirin peace treaty between the Safavid and Ottoman governments were significantly reduced the importance and status of the morshed title, the mentioned virtues and dreams as well as the national and military status of the Sufis and Ghezelbashs. The structure of the crystallized miracles in the studied dreams is determined in the form of the character of a wise old man who threatens the enemies and advises and guides the dreamers. The characters of these dreams usually included Sheikh Safi al-Din and the Shiite Imams Especially Imam Ali. There was widespread agreement among Sufis and Shiites about the guiding role of Imam Ali which made the fulfillment of these dreams convincing for the sect followers.