On the blessing of Ismail Safavi (1487-1524) by Imam Mahdi for the triumph of Shiism

This article investigates the emergence of the Shiite religious tradition that attributes the blessing of Ismail Safavi, the founder of the Iranian Safavid dynasty, by Imam Mahdi for the sake of promoting Shiite ideals. The article presents a version of the origin of messianic ideas in early Shiism, examples of Shiite statehood, and possible reasons for the popularity of the doctrine of Imamate among various social strata in the Iranian Plateau. The author introduces information from a 16th-century Persian manuscript called “Fotuhat-e Shahi”, which is kept in the Fund of Eastern Manuscripts of the Russian National Library. The article includes the author’s translation of a valuable excerpt from the manuscript, based on which the conclusion is drawn that this religious narrative is one of the earliest examples of developed medieval Shiite hagiography, recounting the blessing of Ismail I, the first Safavid Shah, by Imam Mahdi.