ṣafavids

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Ṣafavids. Persian dynasty which ruled 1501–1732 (AH 907–1145). It derived from Shaykh Isḥāq Ṣafī al-Dīn (d. 1334 (AH 735)), who was the leader of a Sūfī order named after him, the Ṣafavis—hence the name of the dynasty. The order became associated with the Ithnā ʿAshariy(y)a Shīʿas (Twelvers), and for that reason the Turkish adherents wore a red hat with twelve tassles on it, and became known as Qizīl Bash, ‘red hats’.