The Safavid dynasty (1501–1786) had its origins in one of the many Turkish, possibly Kurdish, dervish orders begun shortly after the Mongol invasion. By the late fifteenth century it had taken on both Shi'a ideology and a military aspect. Its founder, Isma'il, took advantage of the chaotic political situation at the end of the century to establish control over the territory that comprises most of current-day Iran. Under Safavid rule, Persia moved from Sunni to Shi'i Islam and has remained so into the present.

Safavid Iran and Her Neighbors focuses primarily on Persian external relations during this period. The wide-ranging contributions to this volume cover dervish orders, the Central Asian hajj, developments in Shi'i legal theory, cultural relations between Persia and Mughal India, and diplomatic relations between Iran, Russia, and Ottoman Turkey.

Michel Mazzaoui is associate professor of history at the University of Utah.

Preface ~ Michel Mazzaoui
The Safavid Phenomenon: An Introductory Essay ~ Michel Mazzaoui
1. Naqshbandis and Safavids: A Contribution to the Religious History of Iran and Her Neighbors ~ Hamid Algar
2. The Imagined Embrace: Gender, Identity, and Iranian Ethnicity in Jahangiri Paintings ~ Juan R. I. Cole
3. A Safavid Poet in the Heart of Darkness: The Indian Poems of Ashraf Mazanderani ~ Stephen Frederic Dale
4. Muhammad Baqir Majlisi, Family Values, and the Safavids ~ Shireen Mahdavi
5. Anti-Ottoman Concerns and Caucasian Interests: Diplomatic Relations between Iran and Russia, 1587–1639 ~ Rudi Matthee
6. The Central Asian Hajj-Pilgrimage in the Time of the Early Modern Empires ~ R. D. McChesney
7. A Seventeenth-Century Iranian Rabbi’s Polemical Remarks about Jews, Christians, and Muslims ~ Vera Moreen
8. The Genesis of the Akhbari Revival ~ Devin Stewart
Contributors
Index