Reviving the Dynamics of The Safavid Era’s Mahdism from the Perspective of Functionalism, Dysfunction and Non-Function
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22452/afkar.vol28no1.8Keywords:
Mahdism, functionalism, dysfunction, non-function, Safavid eraAbstract
This research reinterprets Safavid-era Mahdism from a functionalist perspective. The aim of this article is to analyze, in addition to the functional dimension of Mahdism in the Safavid era, its dysfunctional and non-functional aspects. This research is very important because it attempts to conduct a sociological analysis using reliable historical data and library-based research, and to reinterpret the socio-political conditions of the Safavid era in light of Mahdism. The approach of this research is interdisciplinary (historical-sociological). The methods used in this article are the historical method and the analytical-theoretical method, which analyze historical data based on sociological theories. The findings indicate that the functions of Mahdism include preserving national-territorial integrity against the Ottomans and Uzbeks, fostering national solidarity, and facilitating the transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy. Its dysfunctions, however, include the emergence of false claimants, the construction of an ideological justification for the lord-vassal structure through the notions of representation and connection, and the inability to reabsorb social forces. Its non-function indicates the gradual decline of state governance. The corresponding social forces, identified according to their functional, dysfunctional, and non-functional dimensions, include kings, clerics, writers, historians, false claimants, Ghālī groups, and Sufis.
References
‘Abdi-Beig Shirazi. Dohat al-Azhar. Moscow: Danesh, 1979.
‘Abdi-Beig Shirazi. Mazhar al-Asrar. Ed. Abulfazl Hashem Ughli Rahimov. Moscow: Danesh, 1986.
‘Abdi-Beig Shirazi. Takmilat al-Akhbar. Ed. Abdul Hossein Navayi. Tehran: Ney, 1990.
Alexander, Jeffrey C. Neofunctionalism and After. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.
Algar, Hamid. Religion and State in Iran, 1785-1906: The Role of the Ulama in the Qajar Period. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969.
Al-Isfahani, Mirza Abd Allah. Riyāḍ al-‘Ulamā’ wa-Ḥiyāḍ al-Fuḍalā’. Qom: s.n., 1980.
Al-Khwansari, Muhammad Baqir. Rawḍāt al-Jannāt fī Aḥwāl al-‘Ulamā’ wa al-Sādāt. Tehran: Maktabat Isma'iliyan, 1971.
Alma'itah, Qais Salem & Zia ul Haq. “The Concept of Messiah in Abrahamic Religions: A Focused Study of the Eschatology of Sunni Islam.” Heliyon Journal 8 (3) (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09080
Babayan, Kathryn. Mystics, Monarchs and Messiahs: Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002.
Babayan, Kathryn. “The Safavid Synthesis: From Qizilbash Islam to Imamite Shi'ism.” Iranian Studies 27, (1-4) (1964). https://doi.org/10.1080/00210869408701824
Bedlisi, Sharafkhan. Sharafnameh. Ed. Mohammad Abbasi. Tehran: Elmi, 1963.
Calmard, Jean. “Shiei Ritual and Power, Safavid Persia: The History and Polities of an Islamic Society.” In Safavid Persia: The History and Polities of an Islamic Society, ed. Charles Melville, page. London and New York: I.B. Tauris & Co, 1996.
Chardin, Jean. Les Voyages. Ed. L. Langlès. Paris: s.n., 1811.
Colom, Paul. European Social Theory. London: Routledge, 2007.
Corbin, Henry. History of Islamic Philosophy. London & New York: Kegan Paul, 1993.
Crothers, Charles. Robert K. Merton. Key Sociologists Series. London: Tavistock, 1987.
Durkheim, Émile. The Rules of Sociological Method. New York: Free Press, 1982.
Edgar, Andrew & Peter Sedgwick. Key Concepts in Cultural Theory. London and New York: Routledge, 1999.
Eliade, Mircea, ed. The Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 9 (Entry: Messianism). Nairobi: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987.
Esma’ili, Mahboubeh & Nozhat Ahmadi. “Analysis of the Discourse of Mahdism in the Era of Shah-Ismail and Shah-Tahmasab.” History of Islam 5(20) (2015). http://journal.isihistory.ir/article-1-187-en.html
Falsafi, Nasrullah. Zendegānī-ye Shāh ‘Abbās-e Avval. Tehran: s.n., 1975.
Figueroa, Garcia de Silva. Travelogue. Trans. Gholamreza Sami’i. Tehran: Nashr-e-no, 1984.
Ghaffari Qazvini, Qazi Ahmad. Tārīkh-e Jahān-Ārā. Ed. Hasan Naraqi. Tehran: Hafez Bookstore, 1964.
Glen, William & Henry Marten. Holy Book. Trans. Fazel Hamedani. Tehran: Asatir, 2000.
Gouldner, Alvin Ward. The Coming Crisis of Western Sociology. New York: Basic Books Ltd., 1970.
Ibn Khaldun, Abdul Rahman. Introduction (al-Muqaddimah. Trans. Mohammad-Parvin Gonabadi. Tehran: Elmi va Farhangi, 1983.
Iṣfahānī, Faḍl Allāh ibn Rūzbahān Khunjī. Tārīkh-i ʿĀlam-ārā-yi Amīnī. Edited by Muḥammad Akbar ʿĀshiq. Tehran: Mīrāth-i Maktūb, 2003.
Kaempfer, Engelbert. Amoenitatum Exoticarum, Fasciculi V, Variae Relationes, Observationes et Descriptiones Rerum Persicarum. Lemgo: s.n., 1712.
Karaki, Ali ibn Hossein. Jāmi‘al-Maqāṣid fī Sharḥ al-Qawā‘id. Qom: Al albayt, 1993.
Keshavarz, Zahra Sadat, Mohammad Ali Chelongar & Asghar Montazerolghaem. “Explanation and Analysis of the Function the Idea of Promiseism in the Cultural-Civilization Process of the Safavid Government.” Mashreq-e Mo’oud 13 (50) (2019). https://doi.org/10.22051/hii.2017.12649.1239
Keshavarz, Zahra Sadat & Maryam Saeedyan Jazi. “Creating Chain of Equivalence of Mahdavi Discourse in the Safavid Era.” Historical Researches Journal 15 (3) (2023): 19-42. 10.22108/JHR.2023.136484.2477
Keshavarz, Zahra Sadat & Maryam Saeedyan Jazi. “A New Reading in the Analysis of the Functional Angles of Mahdism in the Safavid Era.” History of Islam and Iran Journal 33 (60) (2024). https://doi.org/10.22051/hii.2024.44414.2825
Khonji Esfahani, Fazlullah Rouzbahan. Tārīkh-e ‘Ālam Ārā-ye Amīnī. Ed. Mohammad-Akbar ‘Ashiq. Tehran: Miras-e-Maktoub, 2003.
Koleyni, Mohammad ibn Ya’qub. Al-Kāfī. Ed. Ali-Akbar Ghaffari. Tehran: Dar al-Kotob al-Eslamiyeh, 1986.
Lambton, Ann Katharine Swynford. State and Government in Medieval Islam: An Introduction to the Study of Islamic Political Theory, The Jurists. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.
Lambton, Ann Katharine Swynford. State and Government in Medieval Islam. London Oriental Series. London: s.n., 1981.
Lasswell, Harold. Politics: Who Gets What, When, How. New York: Whittlesey House, 1936.
Luhmann, Niklas. Social Systems. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1984.
Majlesi, Mohammad-Baqer. Kitāb al-Raj‘ah. Ed. Seyyed Hasan Mousavi. Qom: Dalil-e-Ma, 2007.
Martin, David. Secularization: A New Interpretation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2014.
Merton, Robert K. and Gaston, Jerry. “The Normative Structure of Science.” In The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations, ed. R. K. Merton. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973.
Merton, Robert K. Social Theory and Social Structure. New York: Free Press, 1987.
Merton, Robert K. and Gaston, Jerry. The Sociology of Science in Europe. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1977.
Modarresi Tabatabayi, Sayed Hossein. Crisis and Consolidation in the Formative Period of Shiʻite. Trans. Hashem Izadpanah. Tehran: Kavir, 2007.
Mofid, Mohammad ibn Na’man Baqdadi. Al-Risālah fī al-Ghaybah. Ed. A’la Aleja’far. Qom: al-Moatmar al-Mofid, 1992.
Mohd Khambali, Khadijah, Nur Hidayah Mohd Paudzi & Abdul Nasser Sultan Mohsen Sallam. “Islamic Perspective on the Concepts of Interaction Among Multicultural Society.” Afkar Journal 23(2) (2021). https://doi.org/10.22452/afkar.vol23no2.7
Munshi Torkaman, Iskandar Beg. Tārīkh-e ‘Ālam Ārā-ye ‘Abbāsī. Ed. Iraj Afshar. Tehran: s.n., 1971.
Natanzi, Mahmoud ibn Hedayatullah Afvashteei. Nuqāwat al-Āthār fī Dhikr al-Akhyār fī Tārīkh al-Ṣafawiyyah. Ed. Ehsan Eshraqi. Tehran: Elmi va Farhangi, 1994.
Navayi, Abdul Hossein. Shah Ismail Safavi: A Collection of Historical Documents and Correspondence with Detailed Notes. Tehran: Arghavan, 1989.
Newman, Andrew J. Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire. London and New York: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2006.
Nuʿmani, Muhammad ibn Ibrahim. Al-Ghaybah. Trans. Sayyid Ahmad Fahri Zanjani. Tehran: Dar al-Ketab al-Islamiyya, 1983.
Olearius, Adam. Travelogue. Trans. Ahmad Behpour. Tehran: Ebtekar, 1984.
Parsons, Talcott. The Social System. New York: Free Press, 1951.
Qazvini, Mohammad-Taher. ‘Abbāsnāmeh. Ed. Ebrahim Dehgan. Arak: Davoudi, 1950.
Qomi, Qazi Ahmad. Khulāṣat al-Tawārīkh. Ed. Ihsan Ishraqi. Tehran: s.n., 1984.
Rashid, Ungaran, Fadzilah Din & Abdul Salam Muhamad Syukri. “The Concept of Peace in The Bible & The Qur'an.” Afkar Journal 22(2) (2020). https://doi.org/10.22452/afkar.vol22no2.7
Rezaie Khanghah, Reza. “Messianic Consciousness and the Mahdist Paradigm: Reimagining Eschatological Hope in Contemporary Political and Cultural Thought.” Islamic Philosophical Doctrines 19 (2025): 53-78. https://philpapers.org/rec/REZMCA
Ritzer, George. Contemporary Sociological Theory. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992.
Ritzer, George. Sociology: A Multiple Paradigm Science. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1975.
Roemer, Hans Robert. “The Safavid Period.” The Cambridge History of Iran 6 (1986).
Rokhsefat, Mateen. “Modern Islamic Messianism: Eschatology to Teleology.” Encyclopaedia Iranica XIV, no. Fasc. 2 (2000): 130-134.
Rumlu, Hasan Bik. A Chronicle of the Early Safawis Being the Ahsanu't-tawarikh of Hasan Rumlu. Trans. and ed. C. N. Seddon. Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1931.
Ṣaduq, Muhammad ibn Ali. Kamāl al-Dīn wa Tamām al-Ni‘mah. Ed. Ali Akbar al-Ghaffari. Qom: Jamiʿa al-Mudarrisin, 1984.
Safari Foroushani, Ne’matullah. Ghulats. Mashhad: Razavi, 1994.
Savaqeb, Jahanbakhsh. “An Attitude on the Rebellion of Afghan Shir Khan in the Era of Shah Safi.” Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences 40 (2005): 89-108. https://www.ensani.ir/fa/article/157166
Savory, Roger. Iran Under the Safavids. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980.
Savory, Roger. “Notes on the Safavid State.” Iranian Studies 1(1) (1968): 34–43.
Shahrestani, Abulfath Mohammad ibn Abdulkarim. Al-Milal wa al-Niḥal. Ed. Mohammad-Reza Jalali. Tehran: Taban, 1983.
Shahzad, Bashir. Messianic Hopes and Mystical Visions: The Nurbakhshiya Between Medieval and Modern Islam. California: University of Southern California Press, 2003.
Sheybi, Kamel Mostafa. Tasavvof va Tashayyo. Trans. Alireza Zekavati. Tehran: Amir-Kabir, 1979.
Skidmore, William. Theoretical Thinking in Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975.
Ṭahmāsp I, Shah of Iran. The Memoirs of Shah Tahmasp I: Safavid Ruler of Iran. Trans and ed A. C. S. Peacock. London: I.B. Tauris, 2024.
Tatili, Robbi Benjamin, Tezarow Anthony & Mikael Membreh. Travelogue. Trans. Hasan Javadi and William Floor. Tehran: Dr. Mahmoud Afshar, 2014.
Tavernier, Jean-Baptiste. Les six voyage de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, en Turquie, en Perse et aux Indes. Paris: s.n., 1676.
Tehrani, Aqa-Bozorg. Al-Dharī‘ah ilā Taṣānīf al-Shī‘ah. Beirut: Dar al-Azva’, 1982.
Tusi, Mohammad ibn Hasan. Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām. Ed. Ali-Akbar Ghaffari. Tehran: Sadough, 1995.
Ṭusi, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan. Al-Ghaybah. Qom: Dar al-Maʿarif al-Islamiyya, 1990.
Valle, Pietro Della. Les Fameux Voyages. Paris: Gervais Clovzier,1664.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Afkar: Jurnal Akidah dan Pemikiran Islam
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
