9.Gizilbash ideology and its links with other religious sects.

Do you see any

infidelity signs in this ideology?

Before the invasion of Safavids the large part of population of Iran was Sunni. Naturally, the
main goal of Safavids was to create a centralized power in their state. In order to do that
Safavid ruler Shah Ismail I began establish ground ruler about the religion in his territory. He
personally was Shia Muslim, so that was mandatory religion across the Iran. During the rule
of Sheikh Heydar followers of Safavids started to call themselves “gizilbash”. They wore
twelve striped red headwear in order to honour the twelve Sheikh imams. To accomplish
their goal of making the Shia Islam the only religion in Safavid state, the rulers started the
campaign against the Sunni Muslim. A lot of Sunni mosques were destroyed and the brutal
murder of Sunnis was made. The population had only three choices: to become Shia, death
or to be exiled. As a result of this campaign and the influence of Shias, by the end of Safavid
dynasty, 1722, the majority of population of today’s Iran and Azerbaijan was Shia Muslims. I
personally think that all those campaigns, all those propagandas to make the population
become followers of Shia Gizilbashs was completely wrong and unjustified. The “march of
jihad” launched by Sheikh Juneyd had numerous flaws. I don’t believe that in order to
establish the centralized power it is necessary to make only one religious sect mandatory.