Sheikh Haidar

The tomb of Sheikh Haidar in Meschginschahr

Sheikh Haidar also Haidar Safawi / Haydar Safawi (حیدر صفوی; * 1459 / 1460 in Diyarbakir in eastern Anatolia; † July 1488 near Derbent in the North Caucasus) was since 1460 the fifth leader of the militant Shiite Order of Safawiyya . His father and predecessor was Sheikh Junaid and his mother Khadija Begum, the sister of the Aq Qoyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan . Sheikh Haidar himself was married to Halime Alamschah Begom, a daughter of Uzun Hasan. From this marriage the three sons Ali Mirza , Ibrahim and Ismail were born. These marriages between the Safawiyya leaders and the Aq Qoyunlu had a long tradition and led to an alliance of both families. When the opponents of the Aq Qoyunlu, the Qara Qoyunlu , were finally defeated in 1467, the alliance slowly began to crumble. But Sheikh Haidar avoided an open confrontation with Uzun Hasan and turned his forces against the “infidels” Circassians and Alans in the Caucasus . Sheikh Haidar led three campaigns against them in 1483, 1487 and 1488. Each time he had to pass through the territory of the Shirvan Shahs . But when Haidar attacked the empire of the Shirvan Shahs themselves during the third campaign and plundered their capital, Şamaxı , the Shirvan Shah Farrukh Yassar turned to the incumbent Aq Qoyunlu ruler and his own son-in-law Yaqub - son of Uzun Hasan and thus also Haidar's brother-in-law. Together they defeated Haidar southwest of the city of Derbent on July 9, 1488, where they killed him and beheaded his body. His head was later buried in Tabriz . Haidar's father, Junaid, died just a few years ago in the same place.

A Safavid Kizilbash soldier with the typical red headgear

The succession went to his son Ali Mirza, who was also killed in 1494 by a conflict with the Aq Qoyunlu. His younger brother Ismail led the order to power, founded the Safavid Empire and defeated the Aq Qoyunlu. In 1509 he had his father's body recovered and transferred to Ardabil , where Haidar found his final resting place in a mausoleum.

It is said that the typical headgear of the Kizilbash - followers of the Safawiyya - goes back to Haidar. He designed the red headgear with the twelve gussets that represent the twelve imams of the Twelve Shiites . Therefore, the covering is also called Tark-e Ḥaydarī (Haydar's helmet).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Encyclopædia Iranica
2. ^ Encyclopaedia of Islam

literature

• The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition , article Haydar by Roger M. Savory
• Kioumars Ghereghlou: Sheikh Haidar . In: Ehsan Yarshater (Ed.): Encyclopædia Iranica , as of November 21, 2016 (English, including references)