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Introduction
Statement of Problem: A sociological study of literary works investigates the structure and content of a literary work and its relation to the structure and developments of the society in which the literary work is created. The sociology of literature considers many of the literary works in each historical epoch as a reflection of the social conditions which are combined with literature in each historical period. Literary works are representative of the social processes and social life of the creator of the work and are imbued with social color and smell. Therefore, literary works have been one of the most important issues in different decades that have been addressed by many intelligentsia and scholars.
On the one hand, the importance of the literary works of each era is important as a basis for communicating with that period and for understanding precisely the different angles of each age. The study of literary works is perceived as a crystallization of the thoughts, events, and news of each age. Therefore, by understanding the literary works, one can understand the common, different concepts and cultural differences of countries. On the other hand, a precise understanding of the literary sociology in Turkish government with different cultural, social, political, and religious contexts requires precise scrutiny.
Although literary works are necessary for accurate understanding of the Safavid period, the effective factors for its formation require knowledge for the expression and evaluation and recognition of values, desires and socio-economic factors and so on. Since this study is a comparative sociological study of the literary works of the Safavid era, it seeks to study the sociological literature of Shah Ismail Safavid era. Thus, the main research question of the present study is “what are the sociological factors that play roles in Safavid literature in order to through the created content of works in different eras study social, cultural, and political issues”.
The main issue we face in the sociology of the Safavid period literature is the high level of content of the age, including social, political, and religious change in literary forms and literary productions.
In conclusion, this study seeks to reveal the major sociological factors involved in forming the literature of the Shah Ismail Safavi era. The importance of this research refers to understanding and expressing different aspects of Iranian people social life. This research, on the one hand, leads to the identification of underlying social and religious issues. On the other hand, it provides those who wish to learn the subject from a "sociological" perspective with the appropriate practical and scientific tools.
Foremost, the sociology of literary works is first and second-hand sources of the social dimension of literary works for examining social alterations and this has made this issue increasingly important and fundamental. Considering that literary works of each era reflects the social and political conditions of it, literary sociology will be an integral part of the dimensional analysis and research in each era as long as these two concepts are examined by scholars.
Accordingly, given the connection between literary works and centers of government as the field and context of literary development in the historical period, we have observed the growth and progress of some literary themes and styles. Also, based on the remaining works of the Safavid period and its impact on the literary forms of the later periods, it is necessary to examine all the sociological aspects of the works of this period.
Therefore, considering the role of economic, political and religious factors of each period in literary works, this research seeks to understand the sociological factors related to the literature of Shah Ismail Safavi era.
The main purpose of the present study is to determine the sociological dimensions of literary and historical phenomena of Shah Ismail Safavi era.
Repeated searches of foreign and national sources led into identification of specific researches related to the targeted subject. In what follows, a collection of related internal and external researches is supplied.
It should be pointed out that many articles have been published on the Safavid period. Also specific books related to this subject exist, among which the book of genesis of the Safavid dynasty by Michel Mozavi and the book of national government foundation by Walter Hintz are the most significant ones. However, these books reflected on to the general and public space of the centuries before the foundation of the Safavid dynasty. Put differently, they did not elaborate on the religious-political relations of the Safavid Sheikhs.
Historical Sociology of Government: Elite confederacy partition and government foundation in the Safavid age (Jamalzadeh & Dorosti, 2010). In this study, the process of nature transformation (founder elite confederacy and its impact on government) from the beginning of the Safavid era to the end of Shah Abbas’s government has been investigated by historical research method. The construction of the Safavid government during the reign of Shah Ismail was a "religious" structure. The Shah had both religious and secular authority. Religious institutions had priority over political and military institutions and important political institutions of this government, such as “Homayoun Lawyer” and Khalifat al-Kholafah” were rooted in the Safavid dynasty and acted as intermediaries between the king and people.
Foremost, the historical aspects are investigated in this research. Political and social themes also are discussed to some extent. However, the way that the social effects of the author's works have been categorized in terms of subject sociologically has not been addressed.
Materials and methods
Statistical population, sample size, and sampling strategy: The Statistical population includes documents, books, authoritative articles, websites and the adopted sampling strategy is purposive. Instruments of data collection, data analysis method: In terms of data collection the library and index method is used. In this method sources are indexed and internet network is used. Then, the readers and students are provided with the supplied information.
Results and discussion
The sociology of literature is concerned with the influence of religion, customs, laws, and community structure on the literature of that period. In other words, the basis of the sociology of literature is the impact of social contexts on the formation of literature. The topic of the sociology of literature is similar to the science of economics (production, distribution, consumption). Sociological discussion of literature: literary production, literary distribution, literary consumption according to the structure of society.
Although the language of Safavid family was Turkish, Persian did not lose its importance. Persian language was also used in writing religious issues that were previously written only in Arabic language. Regardless of this part, the Safavid prose is a direct sequence of prose of the preceding period.
the balladries and worldly sonnets are replace by the poems that are written for the holy Prophet Mohammad and Imam Ali veneration.
Now, with the advent of the Safavid era, things are becoming increasingly concentrated. They set religious beliefs under certain principles and integrate public opinion. Correspondingly, they set limitations for education in general.
In the Safavid era which lasted for nearly two and a half centuries, the strongest place of Arabic language is in the science of theology, jurisprudence and philosophy. However, in the Safavid era, large classes of society are strongly influenced by efficient advertising of Shiite as the official religion of the government of and Persian is particularly influential in the science of theology and jurisprudence.
Social conditions could not be based on the teachings of sociological founders of literature, in particular Goldman (1992). It is not possible for the writer to go through scientific critique via the placement of the text in a comprehensive historical-social context. Accordingly, it seems necessary to conduct a brief exploration of contemporary social history of Iran and a national framework, which as a socio-historical collection, actually considers the emergence of the author and the maturity of his literary works and encompasses the geography of research to understand the literature of Shah Ismail Safavi era (Goldman, 1992).
The history of Ardebil underwent alterations since the birth of Sheikh Safieddin Ardebili in 650 AH in Kalkhuran. Ardebil people were Shafei until the eighth century, but in the ninth AH century during the reign of Khajeh Ali Siahpoush the Shiite movement emerged in Ardebil and it was in the middle of the century that Sheikh Safi's followers attacked neighboring countries of Dagestan and Georgia. Finally, this Shiite movement eventually led to the formation of a new Safavid government. Ardabil became one of the most respected and holy Shiite cities during the reign of Jonid King who was the ancestor of Shah Ismail I.
Shah Ismail arose against the emirs of Aq Qvinloo after join of many followers from Ghezelbash tribes in Ardebil during the reign of Shah Ismail Safavi in 950 AH. Shah Ismail selected Tabriz and then to Qazvin to be capital of Iran. Ardebil, however, was considered the spiritual capital of the Safavid kings because the tomb of Sheikh Safi al-Din is in this city.
Social Stratification
The term class stratification refers to an institutionalized system in which some groups have more economic resources and power than others. For social stratification, two terms have been coined to categorize and classify members of society in "different layers". One is separation and the other is stratification:
A: Separation: A process that divides people into different groups based on their roles and origin in society.
B: Stratification: In stratification the differences between individuals in terms of their basis continue, so that they can be incorporated into the structure of society through this process. It is a process through which members of a community are put in separate layers and strata. Stratification in general sense is the outcome of such organization. Social bases are the social statuses are determinants of different strata in the society. Within a society with different social layers, the notion that some layers are superior to others brings about a variety of situations and behaviors such as domination, subjugation, confrontation, Conflict, etc.
1. Courtiers and Bureaucracies
There was Shah at the top of the power pyramid and social classes of the Safavid era. He possessed such power and authority that he was the owner of the entire land. In terms of the extent of the Shah's release from public view, French Chardin (1971), writes: “the Iranians obedience to their king is not due to coercion and ineluctability but people believe that they are obliged to obey their ruler except in matters contrary to religion and to be killed by the Shah’s command and granting properties are the worthless gifts that could be presented to Shah to satisfy him”. On the one hand, the reason behind this was that people considered the king to be the shadow of God on earth and obliged themselves to obey his command as the son of Khaqhan. On the other hand, “people believe that God's command is superior to the king's command, and if the king commanded against religion, it is obligatory to overthrow the government. In other words, to protect the law and the decree of God, every torture and danger must be tolerated”. (Chardin, 1971, p. 154).
2. Clerics, Scholars and Scientists
The next group of Safavid society that had a great influence on the people and the courtiers were clergymen, scholars, and scientists. The respect that the Safavid kings had for scholars and clergymen due to their religious policy made them remain an influential social class. The existence of great scholars in the city caused them to have special privileges. These scholars acted as intermediaries between the people and the king. They were mediating, judging, ruling, and executing the ruling themselves. Scholars and clergymen, besides having a friendly relationship with the king, were also associated with other groups of society.
3. Businessmen:
The merchants had great influence on the courtiers and the people and were always highly respected. With respect to this group, Chardin (1971), writes: “The name of merchants in the east is very respectful and does not refer to shopkeepers, retailers or consignors, nor does it refer to persons who do not trade outside the empire. Only those tradesmen that had secretaries, agents and practitioners in countries and far territories were called businessmen”. Sometimes businessmen were promoted to high-ranking officials. For instance, ambassadors usually were selected from this class. In Iran, there are businessmen who have agents and servants in all parts of the world and these servants obey these businessmen as their commanders. He writes that “businessmen in Persian language are called tradesmen who are after benefits. Although they send their agents and servants to all parts of the world, they do not leave their place of residence. In business they act like a heart. In other words, the most important businesses are done in their residences and they themselves never traded by directly”.
Craftsmen were also other members of this class. Most of them were industrialists who had their own kiosks around the city square and the markets of Isfahan and had better financial status and livelihoods in comparison with workers and farmers.
4. Workers and Farmers
Workers and farmers were other social strata of the city lived alongside other human groups. Farmers were also a group of urban people who lived out in the suburbs and had a lower standard of living than other social groups. Their livelihoods and income levels and harvest were directly related to several factors including climate change, pests and disasters, and the fairness or extortion of managers or landlords of the farmlands.
In Iran during Safavid era, the stratification was not the same as stratification of ancient Iran, medieval Europe, and the previous and modern era of India, because one of the major influences of the Islamic religion on Iran was actually the elimination of the class discrimination. To clarify, every race and every class could reach the top civil, military and religious officials. In the Safavid era, this equality of the classes was largely implemented more than ever before, with the exception of the Sunni religion, none of the criteria of blood, color, race, and nationality played role in empowering and promotion of the social base. In fact, to a large extent, virtue and social power played an important role in promoting the prestige and approaching to the top of power pyramid i.e., Shah (the king).
Social Crisis
Social crisis could be defined as a disturbance in whole society that threatens the general equilibrium and the normal functioning of social life. Furthermore, when social crisis only affects a part of society or is related to certain social issues, it can be a general social crisis that affects the structures and institutions of a society because it could not conform to the expectations of the community which is developing a new and progressive society. In this case, a turbulence and widespread disorder would appear in society that predicts the rupture of the existing order and the emergence of the fundamental social transformations (revolution).
Shah Ismail is born in an era which is faced with social crisis. On the one hand, he writes about the internal crisis of the country, on the other hand he writes about the global crisis. Behind the backdrop of Uzbeks' ideological, material, economic, and predatory intentions were hidden. Actually, these were their purposes in leading the war between Shiite religion and Sunnite religion. Khorasan and its territories were of great importance to Uzbekistan due to its fertile farmland of and important industrial and commercial towns. Every time this transgressor folk attacked Khorasan territory, they gained huge booty through plundering the towns and villages.
The intentions of Uzbek and Ottoman were identical in terms of this context since the Ottoman monarchs were the same kings of the Uzbeks who were savage and depredator. The Uzbeks brought about nothing except depredation, plunder.
Political Conditions
The Safavid government is of two fundamental values from the perspective of political situation in the contemporary history of Iran. First, they formed a united nation with the same responsibility against the invaders and enemies. Second, they established a society with specific religion to defend the same religion against attack of two strong eastern and western governments. In this case, the official Shiite religion with Twelve Imams acted the same as the current political ideologies in forming governments (Ghazvini, 2007).
Hence, during this period Shiite religion was the main and fundamental thread of this national-religious union. Also, this is a period during which the relationship between religion, politics and higher education which is related to Safavid dynasty could be understood well.
The emergence of this government which must be considered as the beginning of a new era in Iran's political and religious life leaded into Iran's independence security on the basis of Shiite official religion and a relatively centralized administrative organization. Besides establishing a strong government, this government provided the basis for the cultural and artistic creativity of architecture to continue to grow and be exemplified, and contributed to emerging newfound examples (especially in the field of art and architecture).
Khatai, in some of his poems, expresses his power and authority. Sometimes, he praises and encourages his Ghazians for their victory. In some of his poems, the Shiite background and mentality of Ghezelbash tribes is praised. Also some of the poems are expressive of gnostic and mystical views. According to the mental, political and denominational issues, imperative verbs are frequently used in rows. Otherwise, the tone of many poems is admonishing.
Most of the aforementioned items could be observed in the court of Shah Ismail and even the literary techniques of some of our heroes’ political and religious concerns are not far from ordinary and mundane life.
The establishers of the Safavid government and the followers of this family took Ismail who was a young child to Mirza Ali Kia, the ruler of Gilan. In Gilan, they took care of him for several years. After that, he was supported to return to Ardebil and he arose with the help of his supporters.
The Khaneghah and the family of Sheikh Safi found more followers in Ottoman Empire than in Iran. Many of them contributed to Shah Ismail in the early years of his uprising and participated in the founding of the new Safavid government. There were many religious sites in Iraq, such as Karbala, Najaf, Samarra and Kazim. In addition, many tribes believed in the Sheikh Safi dynasty for two centuries. With the establishment of the Safavid government in Iran, the borders were controlled by the Ottoman government, and one of the political issues was the migration of Shiites and followers of Safavids from Ottoman to Iran.
In what follows, Shah Ismail's letter to Sheibak Khan is presented. In this letter, the most important arguments of Shah Ismail's in terms of the prevalence of Shiite religion are presented. After citing the verses and narrations about the efforts of the Imams, he says: What is the right in this regard is promotion of the religion of the Imams and the implementation of Ghorra laws and the way of Mustafa and Morteza and offering the verses of the book and hadiths as the two witnesses. The prisoners are satisfied and respecters of the legends of Aba Don owing to the precious verse of “We have found our fathers over a nation, and their effects are guided”.
Based on resources, the first excuse of Uzbekistan to dominate Khorasan and confront the Safavids was the conflict between Shiite and Sunni. When the representative of Shah Ismail visited Sheibak Khan in 916, He (Sheibak Khan), first, complained about the constructed religion (Ghomi, 1980).
Sheibak Khan threatened Shah Ismail through writing a letter: “Abandon this ritual and do not commoit sin. The way that you have adopted is not right. You must obey the law of Sharia. This heinous and evil act that you have adopted has no outcome except being burned and destroyed. Otherwise, “an attack will take place and Isfahan would be destroyed despites its magnificence and bigness to be a warning for everybody”. (Samarghandi, 2001, pp. 127-128).
In the war between Sheibak Khan and Shah Ismail, Sheibak Khan was killed and Herat and Marv were conquered by Shah Ismail. To our surprise, the minister of Sheibak Khan's government who was Khajeh Mahmoud Sorkh capitulated conveniently and he was not dissatisfied with this matter since his religion was Shiite (Ghomi, 1980).
Strictness of both groups was natural that in this religious war. In the meantime, some scholars and clergymen were punished as a result of their involvement in these debates. The dominant class or the position of religious authorities in in the Safavid court were Sadr, Sheikh al-Islam, Judge and Askar Judge, respectively. During this period, these authorities have been sometimes renamed or the duties of one position have replaced by another position.
From the beginning of Shah Ismail I government, the position of Sadr existed and Sadr was in fact the head of the clerical Court who was initially called the “sacred Sadr”. The Sadr’s duties were choosing the rulers of the Sharia, endowment supervisor, and as a judge investigate all affairs related to Sadats, scholars, Sheikh al-Islam, and ministers. The quadruplet courts did not decree without the presence of Sadr. Authorities were allowed to marry princes of the Safavid dynasty, a combination of the power of scholars and the court (Modaresi, 1980).
Sadr-al-mamalek
General Sadr (minister) was acting under the direct supervision of chief Sadr (prime minister), and Sadr-al-mamalek was under supervision of general Sadr. Sometimes, the same name was assigned to these two positions.
Shah Ismail needed to employ a clergyman to contribute to him in governing the Iran Islamic community through monitoring and administrating the religious affairs in accordance with Shah’s policies. Considering this fact, among the existing Sayyed scholars, he chose one as the Sadr (minister) to officially oversee religious issues and serve as a scientific and intellectual support for Shah’s actions. This person was in charge of investigating religious affairs based on Islamic jurisprudence.
From a historical point of view, such authority had priority over other governmental or religious positions and has been most important religious authority of Iran since the beginning of the Safavid government.
Among the Safavid Kings, Shah Ismail was the founder of this authority. However, there had also been ministers during prior era of Safavid era (Teimoori and Turkman governments). Sadr al-Sodur was the head of spiritual affairs appointed by the Sunni rulers before the Safavid era. Sadr's position in the Safavid government was soon of high importance. This was due to believing in superintendency of clergymen. During first period of Safavid era, the Sadr (minister) position was dedicated to those Sayyed clergymen who were expert more in theology, philosophy and ethics than in jurisprudence.
The Sadr (minister) position, despite the ups and downs in terms of its power extent or duties, was persistent until the last days of the Safavid government and was always dedicated to those clergymen who were Sayyed. So, the three most important governmental authorities during Safavid era were: (1) Shah along with his deputy or lawyer who was important in the first Safavid era and was selected from of the Qizilbash tribe, (2) Etemad al-Dawlah or the prime minister, and (3) Sadr.
Since the beginning of the Safavid era, Sadr position was dedicated to Sadats. Afnadi (1981), mentioned to Amir Tajuddin Ali Asther Abadi who was a Sadr in Shah Ismail I in 915 and writes: During that time, only Sayyed people were selected for the position of Sadr while this was not the case during preceding era of Safavid.
Generally, the maximum of clerical influence in the Safavid era was first during Shah Ismail I and period then during Shah Tahmasb I period. The orders of the court could be administered under the condition of the clergyman’s agreement.
Judge
Undoubtedly, jurisdiction is one of the most obvious areas for the presence of jurists in a government. For this reason, scholars have been responsible for doing justice from the beginning.
One of the Sadr’s (minister) duties was to oversee the judiciary and selecting a judge. Sanson (1998), states that the prime minister has the responsibility of determining judges. He also explicates that these judges are the boss of canonries in the provinces. He writes elsewhere: “the Prime minister has representatives and deputies in all the major states and cities. They may be called Modares (may be judge) and they are responsible for both spirituality and judicial affairs”.
Naturally, the selection of a judge was based on the suggestion of Sadr (minister) and the king’s consent, and this approach was adopted especially in large cities. What has been common in the preceding period of Safavid era is that in Isfahan, the judge was a person independent of Sadr (minister) and possessed high authority. Except Fridays, he remained in his house to resolve all the legal disputes the people. After finding out the case, he wrote the legal dictum and sent it to the court for execution, and the tribunals investigated the problem. Ali Naqi Komrei is one of the most famous judges of pervious period of Safavid era. At the beginning of the Safavid era, one of the most important judicial positions was the position of Askari as a judge. In fact, because the Safavid government had a military structure at the beginning, the judge named Asker had a high position.
Judges were present in all the important cities and districts, and in every city there was a Sheikh al-Islam and a judge. Tavarnieh (1952), writes: “in all the major cities of the country, there are two people named Sheikh al-Islam and a judge who control religious and legal affairs”.
Kampfer writes: In other cities, law enforcement is also in the realm of responsibilities of judicial judges, even in the smaller districts, a judicial judge is always present. The reason behind this is that in Iranian society all the civil-law treaty documents and the Shah's decrees must be in written form and are accepted only when they are authenticated by the judicial judge. That is why no city wants to be deprived of a judge.
Investigating judicial affairs was among the duties of Sheikh al-Islam. There were also secondary judges chosen by the Sheikh al-Islam besides the judges selected by the Supreme Court for the cities. Their removal and employment were carried out by the Sheikh al-Islam. The basic condition for being a judge was to be a scholar or a clergyman. Like authority of Sheikh al-Islam, It might have been possible for the judge’s son to inherit his authority under the condition of being scholar and qualified. Tavarnieh (1952), writes: “sometimes it was possible for some of the judges to delegate their work to their children after their death”. However, the condition of it was to be a clergyman. The judges also had their own assistants to perform their preliminary affairs. Another example is Abd al-Ali, the son of Mohaqiq Karaki, who “selected a group of masters to resolve the disputes and investigate the problems” due to of teaching and discussing.
Conclusions
Considering the results of study of the sociology of the literature of Shah Ismail Safavid era and the importance and position of the Safavid government in Shiite history, the Safavid tendency to Shiite and official recognition of this religion as the religion of sovereignty in Iran are stimulated by the political motives and the beginnings of the religious context. This policy was to support the political system of the Safavid government and, more importantly, the widespread influence of Shia scholars, clerics, and religious officials on the advisory side. They were able to create a Shiite civilization by designing a road map of civilization based on cultural engineering. The study indicates that in the Safavid era, Shiite religion could have an important, established and effective place in political, scientific, cultural, economic, and social fields.
The foundations of Shah Ismail's kingdom were two main pillars of war and religion. Owing to factor of religion, Turkish Qezilbash loved and respected Shah Ismail l since his childhood. Religion was the main reason for Turkish people migration from Anatomy to Iran and joining to Shah Ismail’s group. Shah Ismail was the sacred religious personality from the point of view of his followers and devotion to him was their goals. Besides the leadership and personality, Shah Ismail obtained all the things through religion (Parsa, 1996). The important point should be emphasized in Shah Ismail’s government was his interest in all his Iranian lawyers. Shah Ismail was primarily presented in a battlefield and was not interested in bureaucracy and spending time on the affairs of the country. Shah Ismail reduced the tax of harvest by one-sixth to attract farmers and encourage them to produce more (Looskaya, 481) which led to an agricultural boom. After Chaldaran war, Shah Ismail refrained from fighting except in the case of Georgia and the local rulers of Gilan and Mazandaran. After the Chaldaran war there was security and peace in the country.
