Connections between the Qizilbash and other religious groups and
secret societies, such as the
Mazdaki movement in the
Sasanian Empire, or its more radical offspring, the Persian
Khurramites, have been suggested. Like the Qizilbash, the latter were an early Shi'ite
ghulat group
[1] and dressed in red, for which they were termed "the red-haired ones" (
Arabic: محمره
muḥammirah) by medieval sources.
[6] In this context, Turkish scholar Abdülbaki Gölpinarli sees the Kizilbash as "spiritual descendants of the Khurramites".
[1]
The Kizilbash were a coalition of many different tribes of predominantly (
but not exclusively)
Turkic-speaking
Azerbaijani background, united in their adherence to the
Safaviddoctrine of
Shi'ism.
The non-Turkic Iranian tribes among the Qizilbash were called
Tājiks by the Turcomans and included:
[10][11]
The rivalry between the Turkic clans and Persian nobles was a major problem in the Safavid kingdom. As
V. Minorsky put it, friction between these two groups was inevitable,
because the Turcomans "were no party to the national Persian tradition". Shah Ismail tried to solve the problem by appointing Persian wakils as commanders of Kizilbash tribes. The Turcomans considered this an insult and brought about the death of 3 of the 5 Persians appointed to this office – an act that later inspired the deprivation of the Turcomans by Shah Abbas I