User:Amir Ghandi/Suleiman I of Persia
Shah of Iran / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Suleiman I (Persian: شاه سلیمان, romanized: Shah Solayman; born Sam Mirza, February or March 1648 – 29 July 1694) was the eighth and the penultimate Shah of Safavid Iran from 1666 to 1694. He was the eldest son of Abbas II and his concubine, Nakihat Khanum. Born as Sam Mirza, Suleiman spent his childhood in the harem among women and eunuchs and his existence was hidden from the public. When Abbas II died in 1666, his grand vizier, Mirza Mohammad Karaki, did not know that the shah had a son. The nineteen-years-old Sam Mirza was crowned king under the regnal name, Safi II, after his grandfather, Safi I. His reign as Safi II was met with troublesome events: in 1667, he caught an unspecified illness that bedridened him by August of that year. Then, poor harvests in 1666 and 1667, caused the population of central Iran to suffer from high prices, famine, and disease. The treasury soon became scarce of money and in November 1667, a powerful earthquake struck in Shirvan. All this events led to a second coronation for the shah in 20 March 1668, simultaneously with Nowruz, in which he was crowned king as Suleiman I.
Suleiman I | |
---|---|
Shah of Iran | |
Reign | 1 November 1666 – 29 July 1694 |
Coronation | First Coronation: 1 November 1666 Second Coronation: March 1668 |
Predecessor | Abbas II |
Successor | Soltan Hoseyn |
Born | Sam Mirza February/March 1648 |
Died | 29 July 1694 (aged 46) Isfahan |
Burial | Fatima Masumeh Shrine, Qom, Iran |
Spouse | Elena Khanum |
Issue | See below |
House | Safavid dynasty |
Father | Abbas II |
Mother | Nakihat Khanum |
Religion | Shia Islam |
After his second coronation, Suleiman retreated into the harem to enjoy the pleasures of flesh and excessive drinking. He was indifferent to the state affairs, often not appearing in the public for months and only leaving his capital, Isfahan, once. Regarding his personality, Suleiman lacked the best qualities that his father had while also showing no desire to become an effective ruler, letting his grand vizier, Shaykh Ali Khan Zanganeh to rule in his place on the account of his competence. One trait attributed to him was his cruelty, he was unpredictable and erratic even towards Shaykh Ali who he had shown fondness. The courtiers, intimated of Suleiman, became sycophants for him, flattering and hiding unpleasant news from the shah, as a result, corruption raised in the ranks of bureaucracy. Suleiman's reign, in peace with the Ottoman Empire, saw the decline of the Safavid army, to the point when the soldiers became undisciplined and made no effort to serve as it was required of them. At the same time with the declining army, the eastern borders of the realm was under the constant raids from the Uzbeks and the Kalmyks who had settled in Astrabad also had begun their own plundering.
On 29 July 1694, Suleiman died from a combination of gout and his chronic alcoholism. Often seen as a failure in kingship, Suleiman's reign was the starting point of Safavid decline: weakened military power, falling agricultural output and the corrupt bureaucracy, all were a forewarning of the troubling rule of his successor, Soltan Hoseyn, whose reign saw the end of the Safavid dynasty. In his indifference, Suleiman was compared to the Abbasid caliph, Al-Muqtadir, who was described as an ‘internal absentee’ by the British historian, Hugh N. Kennedy. Suleiman was the first Safavid Shah that did not patrol his kingdom and never led an army, thus giving away the government affairs to the influential court eunuchs, harem women and the Shi‘i high clergy. Perhaps the only admiring aspect of his reign was the appreciation of art, for the Farangi-Sazi, or the Western painting style, saw its zenith under Suleiman's sponsorship.