آرايه هاي داستاني منابع عصر صفوي و رسميت تشيع در ايران

The Expansion of the Shiʹite Faith in Iran and Epic Narrations and Tales of the Safavid Era

In 907 Hijri, Shah Ismail of the Safavids defeated the Aq Quyonlos (the White Sheep Turks), and conquered Tabriz, with the help of his Sufi followers from Ardabil and Anatolian Turkish tribes. This was a turning point in the history of Iran; the Shiʹite denomination became the countryʹs official faith. Safavid sources describe the event using epic narrations and talcs. Such a literature has led some contemporary researchers and particularly orientalists to argue that the prevalence of the Shiʹite faith in Iran has been the result of violence inflicted by Shah Ismail and his Qizilbash forces. However, historical researches on the developments leading to the spread of the faith in Iran indicate that it followed a gradual though steady trend.