ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Karbala and Beyond س،ص, S Sabeel سبيل: path, way, avenue, same as Sirat Sabirin or Sabiroon صابرين أو صابرون: people who are patient and steadfast, who persevere Sabr صبر: patience, steadfastness, perseverence Sadaq or Sedaq صداق: same meaning as mahr , dower Sadaqa صدقة: (singular) charity offered voluntarily; plural: sadaqat Sadeed صديد: pus collected from bleeding wounds and served to the sinners in hell to drink when they ask for water to quench their thirst Safa صفا: a mound near the Ka'bah referred to in the Qur'an as one of the spots held sacred by Allah.

It is in conjunction with Marwah. Safawis or Safavids or as-Safawiyyoon الصفويون : Some ignorant fanatics apply the misnomer “Safawis” to taunt Shiite Muslims, not even knowing exactly what the word means. For this reason, we decided to go into details to narrate to you the history of these Safawis, perhaps one of these fanatics will wake up.

The Internet’s Wikipedia tells us that the Safavids (Persian: صفویان ; Azerbaijani: Səfəvilər ) formed one of the most significant ruling dynasties in Iran’s history. They ruled one of the greatest Persian empires since the Muslim conquest of Persia and established the Twelver school of Shi'a Islam as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning points in Muslim history.

This Shi'i dynasty was of mixed ancestry (Kurdish and Azerbaijani, with intermarriages with Georgian and Pontic Greek dignitaries), ruling Iran from 1501 to 1722 A.D. The Safavid dynasty had its origin in the Safaviyya Sufi order which was established in the city of Ardabil in the Azerbaijan region.

From their base in Ardabil, the Safavids established control over all of Greater Iran and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region, thus becoming the first native dynasty since the Sassanid Empire to establish a unified Iranian state.

Despite their demise in 1736 A.D., the legacy that they left behind was the revival of Persia as an economic stronghold between East and West, the establishment of an efficient state and bureaucracy based on “checks and balances”, their architectural innovations and patronage of fine arts. The Safavids have also left their mark down to the present era by spreading Shi'a Islam in major parts of the Caucasus and West Asia.

Perhaps this is why the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia are so hostile to the Shi’ites in general and to Iranians in particular.