Thread by @YeniceriQ

𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗶 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗮𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗮 𝗯𝘆 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗵 𝗜𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝟭! [Thread]

The purpose of writing is post is only to inform people about the atrocities committed against Sunnis of Iran by Safavid dynasty. 1️⃣

This is not an attempt to spread hatred against present Shias who obviously cannot be blamed for actions of Safavids. So please don't distort my words as a means of hating upon Shias or harming them. This is simply a historical post to spread awareness about certain events. 2️⃣

This thread is based upon analytical research, views of scholars and experts. It does not involve any myths or folklore. I have listed all the references for the numbered paragraphs at the end so readers can cross check and verify the quotes or statements I have used. 3️⃣

The Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam was a process that took place roughly over the 16th through 18th centuries & turned Iran, which had a Sunni majority, into the spiritual bastion of Shia Islam. It was a process that involved genocide. [1] 4️⃣

The conversions also ensured the dominance of the Twelver sect within Shiism over the Zaidiyyah and sects of Isma'ilism – each of whom had previously experienced their own eras of dominance within Shiism. 5️⃣

As a direct result, the population of the territory of Iran & Azerbaijan were converted to Shia Islam at the same time in history. Both nations still have large Shia majorities, and the Shia percentage of Azerbaijan's population is second only to that in Iran. [2] 6️⃣

Iran's population after the Arab conquest and conversion was mostly Sunni of the Shafi'i & Hanafi legal rites until the triumph of the Safavids. A great population of Sunni Sufis were also settled in Iran at that time. [3] 7️⃣

Ironically, this was to the extent that up until the end of the 15th century the Ottoman Empire (the most powerful & prominent Sunni state of its time) used to send many of its Ulama to Iran to further their education in Sunni Islam, due to a lack of Madrasahs in Asia Minor. 8️⃣

Persia was also a seat of Sunni learning. The Sunni Iranians had always held the family of Muhammad in high esteem. In contrast, before the Safavid period, a minority of Iranians were Shia and there had been relatively few Shia Ulama in Iran.[4] 9️⃣

From 1500–2 Ismail I conquered Tabriz in Iran, as well as Armenia, Azerbaijan, and parts of Dagestan (North Caucasus, nowadays part of Russia). He would take most of the next decade to consolidate his control over Iran, where most of the Persian population was still Sunni. 🔟

His army spread out first to the central regions in 1504. He captured southwestern Iran between 1505 and 1508 before finally conquering the Khorasan region and the city of Herat in 1510. 1️⃣1️⃣

According to Daniel W. Brown, Isma'il was "the most successful and intolerant Shi'i ruler since the fall of the Fatimids". It appears that he aimed for complete destruction of Sunni Islam, and he largely achieved that goal in the lands over which he ruled. [5] 1️⃣2️⃣

His hatred of the Sunnis knew no bounds. He required the first three caliphs to be ritually cursed, abolished Sunni Sufi orders, seizing their property, & gave Sunni ulama a choice of conversion, death, or exile. Shi'i scholars were brought from abroad to replace them. [6] 1️⃣3️⃣

Ismail consolidated his rule over the country and launched a thorough and at times brutal campaign to convert the majority Sunni population to Twelver Shiism and thus transform the religious landscape of Iran. His methods of converting Iran included: 1️⃣4️⃣

Imposing Shiism as the state and mandatory religion for the whole nation and much forcible conversion of Iranian Sufi Sunnis to Shiism. [7]
1️⃣5️⃣

He reintroduced the Sadr (Arabic, leader) – an office that was responsible for supervising religious institutions and endowments. With a view to transforming Iran into a Shiite state, the Sadr was also assigned the task of disseminating Twelver doctrine. [8] 1️⃣6️⃣

He destroyed Sunni mosques. This was even noted by Tomé Pires, the Portuguese ambassador to China who visited Iran in 1511–12, who when referring to Ismail noted: "He (Ismail) reforms our churches, destroys the houses of all Moors who follow (the Sunnah of) Muhammad…" [9] 1️⃣7️⃣

He enforced compulsory cursing of the first three Caliphs (Abu Bakr, Umar, & Uthman) from all mosques, disbanded Sunni Tariqahs and seized their assets, used state patronage to develop Shia shrines, religious art & imported Shia scholars to replace Sunni scholars. [10] 1️⃣8️⃣

He shed Sunni blood, destroyed & desecrated the graves/mosques of Sunnis. This caused the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II to advise & ask the young monarch to stop. But Ismail was strongly anti-Sunni, ignored Sultan's warning& continued to spread the Shia faith by the sword. [11] 1️⃣9️⃣

He persecuted, imprisoned, exiled, and executed stubbornly resistant Sunnis. With the establishment of Safavid rule, there was a very raucous & colourful, almost carnival-like holiday on 26 Dhu al-Hijjah (or 9 Rabi' al-awwal) celebrating the assassination of Caliph Umar. [12]2️⃣0️⃣

The highlight of the day was making an effigy of Umar to be cursed, insulted, & finally burned. As relations between Iran and Sunni countries improved, the holiday was no longer observed officially. A tomb of Abu Lulu the murderer of Caliph Umar was also built and venerated. 2️⃣1️⃣

Sunnni Ulama were given choice of conversion, death, or exile & massacring the Sunni clerics who resisted the Shia transformation of Iran. Many Sunni scholars who refused to adopt the new religious direction lost their lives or fled to the neighboring Sunni states. [13] 2️⃣2️⃣

Atrocities against Sunnis in Iraq:

Ismail seized Baghdad in 1508. His armies killed Sunnis and actively persecuted them through tribal allies of the Shah. His armies also destroyed several important Sunni sites, including the tombs of Abū Ḥanīfa & Abdul-Qadir Gilani. 2️⃣3️⃣

The Safavids even expelled the family of Gilani from Mesopotamia. After declaring Shiism the official form of Islam in Iraq, Ismail forced his new Iraqi subjects to convert to Shiism & outlawed Sunni practices. [14] 2️⃣4️⃣

Likewise, under Tahmasp I, central and southern Iraq, including Baghdad and Basra had remained in Safavid hands and efforts were being made to establish Shiism in place of Sunnism in these lands.
2️⃣5️⃣

Sunni scholars who refused to accept Shia doctrines were executed and Sunni tombs and shrines were destroyed once again, while the main mosques were converted for Shia use only. 2️⃣6️⃣

While not extensive, some conversions did take place, and those remaining faithful to Sunnism were subjected to persecution until Suleiman the Magnificent expelled the Safavids from most of Iraq. [15] 2️⃣7️⃣

Historical outcome of Ismail's conversion policy!

Map showing ethnic and religious diversity among the population of modern-day Iran. Ismail's conversion policy had the following historical outcomes: 2️⃣8️⃣

Although conversion was not as rapid as Ismail's forcible policies might suggest, the vast majority of those who lived in the territory of what is now Iran and Azerbaijan did identify with Shiism by the end of the Safavid era in 1722. [16] 2️⃣9️⃣

Thus, the population of Azerbaijan was forcibly converted to Shiism in the early 16th century at the same time as the people of what is nowadays Iran, when the Safavids held sway over it. 3️⃣0️⃣

Hence it is no accident that in Iran and Azerbaijan, today's Sunni minorities are concentrated among the country's non-Persian and non-Azerbaijani ethnic groups that are scattered along the country's borders, with their Sunni co-nationals next door. [17] 3️⃣1️⃣

The Safavid experience largely created the clear line of political demarcation and hostility between Twelver Shiism and Sunnism, even though doctrinal differences had long been recognized. [18] 3️⃣2️⃣

Before the Safavids the Twelvers for many centuries had mostly accommodated themselves politically to the Sunnis, and numerous religious movements combined Twelver and Sunni ideas. 3️⃣3️⃣

Ismail's advent to power signaled the end of Sunni Islam in Iran and Shiite theologians came to dominate the religious establishment. The hierarchical organization of the Shiite clergy began under Ismail. [19]
3️⃣4️⃣

The current borders between Iran, on the one hand, and Afghanistan and Turkey on the other, date from this time and are not ethnic but religious, opposing Shiites and Sunnis. 3️⃣5️⃣

The Ottoman advance in Europe suffered (since they now had to split their military resources) as Safavid Iran and European powers forged alliances, such as the Habsburg–Persian alliance, to combat their common Ottoman enemy. [20] 3️⃣6️⃣

Ottoman Sultan Yavuz Selim Han 1 who was stationed as the Ottoman governor in the Ottoman Eastern frontier against the Safavids as a Prince, saw the expansion of Safavids and realized the grave threat. 3️⃣7️⃣

Later Ottoman Sultan Yavuz Selim 1 who would later become the first Ottoman Caliph invaded Iran and defeated Shah Ismail in the Battle of Chaldiran 1514. As a result Eastern Anatolia and northern Iraq were fully incorporated into the Ottoman territory. 3️⃣8️⃣

Sultan-Caliph Yavuz Selim Han then entered Tabriz the Safavid capital. He delivered Jummah Khutba and deeply praised the First Three Caliphs. However due to logistical issues he couldn't consolidate that territory and returned to Constantinople. 3️⃣9️⃣

References:

1.Islam: Art and Architecture, Könemann, 2004, p. 501
2. Juan Eduardo Campo,Encyclopedia of Islam, p.625
3. The golden age of Islam, By Maurice Lombard,

4. Islam, continuity and change in the modern world, By John Obert Voll, pg.80
5.  A new introduction to Islam. Daniel W. Brown, p. 191.
6. Daniel W. Brown (2009). A New Introduction to Islam. pp. 235

7. Modern Iran: roots and results of revolution. Nikki R Keddie, Yann Richard, pp. 13, 20
8. Iran: a short history: from Islamization to the present. Monika Gronke, p. 91

9. The Judeo-Persian poet ‘Emrānī and his "Book of treasure": ‘Emrānī's Ganǰ… 'Emrānī, David Yeroushalmi, p. 20.
10. The Cambridge illustrated history of the Islamic world. Francis Robinson, p. 72.

11. Iran and America: re-kindling a love lost]. Badi Badiozamani, pp. 174–5.
12. Culture and customs of Iran. Elton L Daniel, 'Alī Akbar Mahdī, p. 185.

13.  The Middle East and Islamic world reader, By Marvin E. Gettleman, Stuart Schaar, pg.42
14. The history of Iraq, By Courtney Hunt, pg.48

15. History of the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey, Volume 1, By Ezel Kural Shaw, pg.95]
16. Akiner, Shirin (5 July 2004). The Caspian: Politics, Energy and Security. Taylor & Francis

17. A new introduction to Islam, By Daniel W. Brown, pg.191
18. Modern Iran: roots and results of revolution, By Nikki R. Keddie, Yann Richard, pg.13

19. Modern Iran: roots and results of revolution, By Nikki R. Keddie, Yann Richard, pg.20
20. Defenders of the Faith: Charles V, Suleyman the Magnificent, and the Battle for Europe, 1520-1536 by James Reston, Jr., p.359