Safavid Persia in the Age of Empires, The Idea of Iran Volume X ed. by Charles Melville (review)

The complex and rich topic of Safavid Persia is challenging to cover in a single volume. Some things will necessarily have to be left out. While the many scholars of Safavid Persia in the Age of Empires address a wide range of issues, including political, military, and cultural, some topics, such as the complex dimensions of the establishment of Shi'a Islam, are insufficiently addressed. This includes Sufi-Shi'a relations, and how these soured as the decades passed, as well as the issue of education. Other issues, such as the multicultural aspect of Persia, and the relationship between the rulers' Turkish background in relation to the cities where Persian was the dominant language, are covered better. Despite falling short on the religious aspect, the book leaves readers with a solid thought perhaps scattered overview of the Safavids and their long-term influence on Iran. The authors all address what the concept of Iran meant from different perspectives, such as travellers, émigrés, or government officials.

Instead of arranging chapters according to themes, the topics are arranged haphazardly. Chapters include "Safavid Town Planning," "Practising Philosophy, Imagining Iran in the Safavid Period," "Safavids and Ozbeks," "Flora in Safavid Paintings from Shah Tahmasp's Shahnama and Later Works," and "The Body Politic and the Rise of the Safavids" among others. While the range of topics is impressive and highlights the wealth of Safavid studies, the lack of thematic arrangement can be confusing and prevents an otherwise helpful unity to the volume. The chief issue relating to the Safavids will inevitably be the establishment of Shi'a Islam. Little mention is made of any Sunni resistance or tensions with the old religious establishment even though more than one author in this collection of essays by almost twenty scholars covers the deep changes within Shi'i practices in Iran throughout the Safavid period from 1501 to 1722. The initial messianic and extremist version of Shi'ism was replaced with "more formal and doctrinal approaches of Twelver Shi'ism" which was built on the work of the era's religious scholars who partly rejected mysticism and Sufiorders (p. 334).

Philosophy in Safavid Iran is covered well, though naturally more could have been discussed, particularly on the different schools that developed or on any instances of opposition to Mulla Ṣadrā (c. 1571/2 – c. 1635/40 CE/980 – 1050 AH). The following detailed description could have been unpacked in several chapters: "Intellectuals living in the Safavid period were self-consciously aware of living in a time of renaissance, of a classical revival of ancient wisdoms and heritage, … from the early Shi'i tradition, from the Hellenic Neoplatonism or from ancient Iranian wisdom" (p. 185). Andrew J. Newman goes on to highlight the influence Suhrawardi exerted on these thinkers. This fascinating aspect of Iran's history is not well-known in the West and needs to be told in detail. One or two more chapters devoted to this topic would have benefitted readers by shedding light not only on the Safavid era, but also on helping us better understand modern Iran. Be that as it may, Newman successfully demonstrates how Safavid thinkers drew on Iran's intellectual heritage in their writings while adopting the Greek tradition of treating philosophy as a way of life. This leads to the question about the relationship between Shi'a Islam and Greek-influenced philosophy: did this devotion to philosophy cause tensions with the more legalistic thinkers?

One interesting aspect of Safavid religion is its impact on Safavid-Ottoman and Safavid-Deccan relations. Generally, relations with both states were multidimensional, though the political and military concerns predominated with the Ottomans. Yet the Safavids did establish cultural, mostly religious links, with Anatolia. Relations with the Deccan were less tense, given the vast distance between the two regions. "Shi'i Rulers, Safavid Alliance and the Religio-Political Landscape of the Deccan...