Editing Ulama (section)

====Shi'a state religion of Safavid Persia====
[[Safi-ad-din Ardabili|Shaikh Safi-ad-Din Ardabili]] (1252–1334) was the founder of the [[Safaviyya]] [[tariqa]]. Safi ad-Din's great-great grandson [[Ismail I|Ismail]], who from 1501 onwards ruled over the [[Persian Empire]], was the founder of the [[Safavid dynasty]]. [[Shah]] Ismail I proclaimed the [[Twelver]] Shi'a as the new Persian state religion. To [[Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam|propagate the Safavid faith]], he invited ulama from [[Qom]], [[Jabal Amel|Jabal 'Āmil]] in southern [[Lebanon]] and [[Syria]] to travel around Iran and promote the Shi'a doctrine.<ref>{{cite book| author=Willem Floor, Edmund Herzig| title=Iran and the World in the Safavid Age| date=2015| publisher=I.B.Tauris| isbn=978-1-78076-990-5| page=20| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HZNpBgAAQBAJ&q=safavids+imported+lebanon}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last=Savory | first=Roger | title=Iran under the Safavids| date=2007| publisher=Cambridge University Press| location=Cambridge, UK| isbn=978-0-521-04251-2| page=30|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v4Yr4foWFFgC&q=safavids+imported+syria}}</ref> In 1533, Shah [[Tahmasp I]] commissioned a new edition of the [[Safvat as-safa]], Shaikh Ṣāfī's genealogy. It was rewritten in order to support the royal family's claim at descendency from [[Musa al-Kadhim]], the Seventh Imam, and thus to legitimise the Safavid rule.<ref>{{cite book| last1=Quinn| first1=Sholeh A.| editor1-last=Cook| editor1-first=Michael |chapter=Iran under Safavid rule | title=The new Cambridge history of Islam | volume=3| date=2010| publisher=Cambridge University Press| location=Cambridge, UK| isbn=978-0-521-51536-8| pages=203–238, see p. 214| edition=3rd}}</ref>

During the reign of Shah [[Abbas I of Persia|Abbas I]] (1571 – 1629 AD), the argument of the [[Theocracy|theocratic]] unity of religious and political power was no longer sufficient to legitimise the Shah's authority: Shi'a ulama renounced the monarch's claim to represent the hidden Imam by teaching that descendancy did not necessarily mean representation. Likewise, as the influence of Sufi mysticism weakened, the Shah's role as the head of the Safaviyya lost its significance as a justification for his political role. Abbas I thus sought to associate himself with eminent ulama like [[Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī|Shaykh Bahāʾi]] (1574–1621 AD), whom he made Shaykh al-Islām in his new capital, Isfahan. Other famous ulama working under Abbas's patronage were [[Mir Damad]] (d. 1631 or 1632 AD), one of the founders of the [[School of Isfahan]], and [[Ahmad ibn Muhammad Ardabili]] (d. 1585). By their teachings, they further developed the Shi'a Islamic teachings and religious practice. However, as religion did no longer suffice to support political power in Persia, Abbas I had to develop independent concepts to legitimise his rule. He did so by creating a new ''[[ghulam]]'' army, thus evoking the [[Turco-Mongol tradition]] of [[Timur]] and his reign.<ref>{{cite book| last1=Quinn| first1=Sholeh A.| editor1-last=Cook| editor1-first=Michael |chapter=Iran under Safavid rule | title=The new Cambridge history of Islam | volume=3| date=2010| publisher=Cambridge University Press| location=Cambridge, UK| isbn=978-0-521-51536-8| pages=221–224| edition=3rd}}</ref>