186 DESTINY DISRUPTED
the spark of divinity in him. Imagine how he must have seen the world (and
himself) by the time he reached adolescence, having spent his whole life in
secrecy, imbued with a sense of mortal danger, and surrounded, even in his
earliest memories, by a shadowy corps of men in red hats who bowed to
him, hung on his words, and obeyed his every whim. By chance, the boy
bred to such a sense of self-importance, happened to be brilliant and tough.
Around the age of twelve, Ismail carne out of hiding with his force of
Qizilbash. He disposed quickly of the prince who had killed his father.
Other princes rushed to smash him, thinking, how hard could it be to de-
feat a twelve-year-old boy? Very hard, it turned out.
In 1502, at the age of fifteen, Ismail declared himself Shahanshah of
Iran. Shahanshah meant "king of kings." It was the title the Sassanid mon-
archs had used, and the ancient Persian monarchs before them. In reject-
ing the titles of "khalifa'' and "sultan," Ismail was rejecting Arab and
Turkish historical tradition in favor of a nativist Persian identity. In calling
his realm Iran, he was invoking the ancestral king named in Firdausi's epic
of the Persian people, The Book of Kings. In fact, Ismail's propagandists said
he was related by blood to the Sassanid kings of yore.
Ismail also separated himself from his neighbor by declaring Twelver
Shi'ism the state religion. He had his henchman publicly curse the first three
khalifas of Islam: Abu Bakr, Omar, and Othman. The state declared that Ali
was the Prophet's only legitimate successor and the imams descended from
him the only religious authorities. Ismail's propagandists spread the news
that in addition to being descended from the Sassanids, Ismail was also de-
scended from Ali. They suggested that he was even in direct communication
with the Hidden Imam (who was, of course, in direct communication with
God). In fact, Ismail carne pretty close to declaring that he himself was the
Hidden Imam and may well have believed this of himself-how could he
not, given his upbringing? Some people say he even thought he was God.
Fortified by his sense of destiny, Ismail sent preachers into the Ot-
toman Empire to spread his religious message. His agents called upon Ot-
toman subjects to convert to Shi'ism and accept Ismail as their sole
divinely guided leader. He also set to work vigorously persecuting Sunnis
under his power. Some saw signs of madness in the king's conduct and im-
migrated hastily into the Ottoman empire. Of those who stayed, many
were imprisoned or killed.