Ismail I, head of the Safavid Sufi order, takes Tabriz and proclaims Twelver Shi'ism the religion of his Persian empire; the Safavid state makes Iran the center of Shia Islam and fixes the Sunni-Shia frontier that endures in the region.
Tagged: Muslim Twelver Shia Islam
The Event
- Date
- 1501 (exact)
- Era
- Later Empires; Standard periodization of Islamic history
- Location
- Tabriz; today Tabriz, Iran
- Traditions
- Islam
- Streams
- Twelver Shia Islam
- Key figures
- Ismail I
Primary Sources
- Safavid chronicles
Secondary Sources
- Nasr, The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future (Norton, 2006)
- Hourani, A History of the Arab Peoples (Faber, 1991)
Provenance: HIST-0243; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-27.
Related on This Site
- Riza-i Abbasi Artist
- Battle of Badr History Event
- Birth of Muhammad History Event
- Conquest of Mecca History Event
- Death of Muhammad History Event
- First revelation History Event
- Hijra to Medina History Event
- Uthmanic recension of the Qur'an History Event