The Safavid and The Mughal - PowerPoint Presentation

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The Safavid and The Mughal

Muslim Empires in Persia and IndiaSlide2

Origins of The Safavid Empire

The Safavid Empire was founded by the Safavids, a Sufi order that goes back to Safi al-Din (1252-1334)

Safi al-Din converted to Shi'ism and was a Persian nationalistThe Safavid brotherhood was originally a religious group

Over the centuries, the brotherhood became stronger and attracted local warlordsThe brotherhood became a military group as well as a religious one in the 15th centurySlide3

Many were attracted by the brotherhood's allegiance to Ali, and to the “hidden imam”Slide4

The Imams

The leadership of the Shi'a community continued with 'Imams' believed to be divinely appointed from the Prophet's Family

The largest sect of Shi'a Islam is known as The Twelvers, because of their belief that twelve divinely appointed Imams descended from the Prophet in the line of Ali and Hussein, led the community until the 9th century C.E.

According to the Shi’a, the twelfth imam disappeared from view but will return at the end of timeSlide5

In the 15th century, the brotherhood became more militarily aggressive, and waged a jihad (Islamic holy war) against parts of what are now modern Turkey and Georgia

The Safavid Empire dates from the rule of Shah Ismail (ruled 1501-1524)Slide6

In 1501, the Safavid Shahs declared independence when the Ottomans outlawed Shi'a Islam in their territory

The Safavid Empire was strengthened by important Shi'a soldiers from the Ottoman army who had fled from persecutionWhen the Safavids came to power, Shah Ismail was proclaimed ruler at the age of 14 or 15, and by 1510 Ismail had conquered the whole of Persia (modern-day Iran)Slide7

One of Shah Ismail's most important decisions was to declare that the state religion would Shi’a Islam

At the time Shi’a Islam was completely foreign to Iranian cultureThe Safavids launched a vigorous campaign to convert what was then a predominantly Sunni population by persuasion and by force

The Sunni ulama (Islamic religious scholars) either left or were killedSlide8

To promote Shi'ism the Safavids brought in Shi’a scholars to form a new religious elite

They appointed an official (the Sadr) to co-ordinate this elite - and ensure that it did what the Shah wanted

The religious leaders effectively became a tool of the governmentSlide9

In specifically religious terms, the Safavids not only persecuted Sunni Muslims, but Shi'ites with different views, and all other religions

Alien shrines were vandalised, and Sufi mystic groups forbiddenThis was surprising, since the Safavids owed their origins to a Sufi order and to a form of Shi'ism that they now banned

They also reduced the importance of the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), replacing it with pilgrimage to Shi'ite shrinesSlide10

The early Safavid empire was effectively a theocracy

Religious and political power were completely intertwined, and encapsulated in the person of the ShahThe people of the Empire soon embraced the new faith with enthusiasm, celebrating Shi'ite festivals with great piety

The most significant of these was Ashura, when Shia Muslims mark the death of HusaynAli was also veneratedBecause Shi'ism was now a state religion, with major educational establishments devoted to it, its philosophy and theology developed greatly during the Safavid EmpireSlide11

Remembering Husayn

Ali, Husayn’s father, was murdered in 661 C.E. and his chief opponent, Muawiya, became caliph

It was Ali's death that led to the great schism between Sunnis and ShiasCaliph Muawiya was later succeeded by his son Yazid, but Ali's son, Husayn, refused to accept his legitimacy and fighting between the two resulted

Husayn and his followers were massacred in battle near Karbala in 680 C.E.Both Ali and Husayn's death gave rise to the Shia cult of martyrdom and sense of betrayal Slide12

Under Safavid rule eastern Persia became a great cultural center

During this period, painting, metalwork, textiles and carpets reached new heights of perfectionFor art to succeed at this scale, patronage had to come from the top

The Safavids were often artists themselvesShah Ismail was a poet and Shah Tahmasp a painterSlide13

The artistic achievements and the prosperity of the Safavid period are best represented by Isfahan, the capital of Shah Abbas

Isfahan had parks, libraries and mosques that amazed Europeans, who had not seen anything like this at homeThe Persians called it

Nisf-e-Jahan, 'half the world', meaning that to see it was to see half the worldIsfahan became one of the world's most elegant citiesIn its heyday it was also one of the largest with a population of one million; 163 mosques, 48 religious schools, 1801 shops and 263 public bathsSlide14

The Safavid Empire was held together in the early years by conquering new territory, and then by the need to defend it from the neighbouring Ottoman Empire

But in the seventeenth century the Ottoman threat to the Safavids declinedThe first result of this was that the military forces became less effectiveSlide15

With their major enemy keeping quiet, the Safavid Shahs became complacent, and then corrupt and decadent

Power passed to the Shi'a ulama (a religious council of wise men) which eventually deposed the Shahs and proclaimed the world's first Islamic Republic in the eighteenth century

The ulama developed a theory that only a Mujahidin - one deeply learned in the Sharia (Qur'anic law) and one who has had a blameless life, could ruleSlide16

In 1726, an Afghan group destroyed the ruling dynasty

After the conquest a division of powers was agreed between the new Afghan Shahs and the Shi'a ulamaThe Afghan Shahs controlled the state and foreign policy, and could levy taxes and make secular laws

The ulama retained control of religious practice; and enforced the Sharia (Qur'anic Law) in personal and family mattersSlide17

The problems of this division of spiritual and political authority is something that Iran is still working out todaySlide18

The Mughal Empire

The Mughal (or Mogul) Empire ruled most of India and Pakistan in the 16th and 17th centuries

It consolidated Islam in South Asia, and spread Muslim (and particularly Persian) arts and culture as well as the faithThe Mughals were Muslims who ruled a country with a large Hindu majority

However, for much of their empire they allowed Hindus to reach senior government or military positionsSlide19

There had been Muslims in India long before the Mughals

The first Muslims arrived in the 8th centuryIn the first half of the 10th century, a Muslim ruler of Afghanistan invaded the Punjab eleven times, without much political success, but taking away a great deal of loot

A more successful invasion came at the end of the 12th centuryThis eventually led to the formation of the Delhi SultanateA later Muslim invasion in 1398 devastated the city of DelhiSlide20

The Mughal Empire grew out of descendants of the Mongol Empire who were living in Turkestan in the 15th century

They had become Muslims and assimilated the culture of the Middle East, while keeping elements of their Far Eastern rootsThey also retained the great military skill and cunning of their Mongol ancestors, and were among the first Western military leaders to use gunsSlide21

Babur

Babur the first Mughal Emperor, was a descendent of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane

Babur succeeded his father as ruler of the state of Farghana in Turkestan when he was only 12, although he was swiftly deposed by older relativesBabur moved into Afghanistan in 1504, and then moved on to India, apparently at the invitation of some Indian princes who wanted to dispose of their rulerSlide22

Babur disposed of the ruler, and decided to take over himself

He captured the Turkic Ghur'iat Sultanate of Delhi in 1526, imposing his rule on most of Northern IndiaThe Empire he founded was a sophisticated civilization based on religious toleration

It was a mixture of Persian, Mongol and Indian cultureUnder Babur, Hinduism was tolerated and new Hindu temples were built with his permissionSlide23

Abu AKBAR

The third Emperor, Abu Akbar, is regarded as one of the great rulers of all time, regardless of country

Akbar succeeded to the throne at 13, and started to recapture the remaining territory lost from Babur's empireBy the time of his death in 1605 he ruled over most of north, central, and western IndiaSlide24

Akbar worked hard to win over the hearts and minds of the Hindu leaders

While this may well have been for political reasons - he married a Hindu princess (and is said to have married several thousand wives for political and diplomatic purposes) - it was also a part of his philosophy

Akbar believed that all religions should be tolerated, and that a ruler's duty was to treat all believers equally, whatever their beliefHe established a form of delegated government in which the provincial governors were personally responsible to him for the quality of government in their territorySlide25

Akbar's government machine included many Hindus in positions of responsibility - the governed were allowed to take a major part in the governing

Akbar also ended a tax (jizya

) that had been imposed on non-MuslimsThis discriminatory tax had been much resented, and ending it was a popular moveAn innovation was the amount of autonomy he allowed to the provincesFor example, non-Muslims were not forced to obey Islamic law (as was the case in many Islamic lands), and Hindus were allowed to regulate themselves through their own law and institutionsSlide26

Akbar took the policy of religious toleration even further by breaking with conventional Islam

The Emperor proclaimed an entirely new state religion of 'God-ism' (Din-i-ilahi) - a jumble of Islamic, Hindu, Christian and Buddhist teaching with himself as deity

It never spread beyond his court and died when he didFatehpur Sikri was the new capital built by Akbar, as a part of his attempt to absorb other religions into IslamFatehpur Sikri is a synthesis of Hindu and Islamic architectureSlide27

Akbar's son, Emperor Jahangir, readopted Islam as the state religion and continued the policy of religious toleration

His court included large numbers of Indian Hindus, Persian Shi'a and Sufis and members of local heterodox Islamic sects

Jahangir also began building the magnificent monuments and gardens by which the Mughals are chiefly remembered today, importing hundreds of Persian architects to build palaces and create magnificent gardensJahangir's approach was typified by the development of Urdu as the official language of EmpireUrdu uses an Arabic script, but Persian vocabulary and Hindi grammatical structureSlide28

Jahan

The architectural achievements of the Mughals peaked between 1592 and 1666, during the reign of Jahangir's successor, Jahan

Jahan commissioned the Taj MahalThe Taj Mahal marks the apex of the Mughal Empire; it symbolizes stability, power and confidence

The building is a mausoleum built by Jahan for his wife Mumtaz and it has come to symbolize the love between two peopleSlide29

Aurangzeb

Jahan's son Aurangzeb was the last great Mughal Emperor

History's verdict on Aurangzeb largely depends on who's writing it; Muslim or HinduAurangzeb ruled for nearly 50 yearsHe came to the throne after imprisoning his father and having his older brother killedSlide30

He was a strong leader, whose conquests expanded the Mughal Empire to its greatest size

Aurangzeb was a very observant and religious Muslim who ended the policy of religious tolerance followed by earlier emperorsHe no longer allowed the Hindu community to live under their own laws and customs, but imposed Sharia law (Islamic law) over the whole empire

Thousands of Hindu temples and shrines were torn down and a punitive tax on Hindu subjects was re-imposedSlide31

Under Aurangzeb, the Mughal empire reached the peak of its military power, but the rule was unstable

This was partly because of the hostility that Aurangzeb's intolerance and taxation inspired in the population, but also because the empire had simply become to big to be successfully governedSlide32

Aurangzeb's extremism caused Mughal territory and creativity to dry up and the Empire went into decline

The Mughal Emperors that followed Aurangzeb effectively became British or French puppetsThe last Mughal Emperor was deposed by the British in 1858