Persia · a Light

A teenager took Tabriz and changed Iran's religion

In 1501 Ismail, about fourteen years old and the head of a Sufi order with a devoted military following, took Tabriz and declared himself shah. He made Twelver Shi'ism the official religion of his state, in a country that was then largely Sunni, and imported scholars from Lebanon and Bahrain to teach it because there were not enough locally. The change took generations and was not gentle, but it is the reason Iran is a Shi'i country today and its neighbours are not. The Safavid state he founded lasted more than two centuries, gave Persian painting and carpet weaving a great period, and rebuilt Isfahan into one of the most admired cities in the world.

Shah Ismail I · Tabriz, 1501 CE