WEST COMES EAST 229power struggle erupted among his survivors; whoever won the throne took
over a realm debilitated by war and was generally too idle or incompetent
to repair the damage, so the golden age turned to silver, the silver to
bronze, and the bronze to mud.
When the Safavids first came to power they had created a distinctly
Persian Islam by making Shi'ism the state religion. This was useful to
the state at first, because it promoted a national coherence that made
Persia strong for its size. But it alienated Sunnis within the borders, and
as the throne weakened, these Sunnis turned rebellious and began to
pull away.
Making Shi'ism the official state religion had another downside, as
well. It gave the Shi'i religious scholars a dangerous sense of self-importance,
especially the mujtahids, a title that meant "scholars so learned they have a
right to make original judgments" {later these worthies were called ayatol-
lahs). These Shi'i ulama began to claim that if Persia was really a Shi'i state,
kings could rule only with their approval, because only they spoke for the
Hidden Imam. Ominously, the ulama had strong links among peasants
and among the merchants who made up the urban middle class. Safavid
kings therefore found themselves facing a Hobson's choice. If they sought
the approval of the ulama they would be conceding ultimate authority to
the ayatollahs; if they asserted their own authority as supreme, they would
have to forego the ulama's approval and in that case rule without popular
legitimacy.
They opted for the latter; but kings who lack legitimacy need some
other source of power to give them authority, and what could the Safavids
tap? They had nothing to turn to but their armies-and by this time their
armies were armed and trained and "advised" by European military ex-
perts. In short, Persia ended up with European Christians helping Safavid
kings clamp down on Muslim religious scholars who were closely tied to
the masses: obviously a formula for trouble.
As the eighteenth century waned, succession struggles over the throne
grew ever more ferocious. Contending factions began recruiting more Eu-
ropean military consultants and importing more European arms to gain
the edge on their rivals. A time came when the power struggles failed to
produce single winners. Different contenders took possession of different
areas. And as Persia came apart, Sunni provinces broke away from the