Khalifa Sultan

Khalifa Sultan (Persian: خلیفه سلطان‎‎), also known as Sultan al-Ulama (سلطان‌العلماء), was an Iranian aristocrat, who served as the vizier of the Safavid king (shah) Abbas I (r. 1588–1629) the latter's grandson Safi (r. 1629–1642), and Abbas II (r. 1642–1666). Khalifa Sultan died in 1654.

Origins

Khalifa Sultan was born in ca. 1592/3 in Isfahan; his father Mirza Rafi al-Din Muhammad was a prominent aristocrat who occupied high offices in the Safavid Empire, and was a descendant of Shah Nimatullah, the founder of the Nimatullahi order, while Khalifa Sultan's mother was related to shah Abbas I's Marashi mother Khayr al-Nisa Begum, due to her ancestor being Amir Nezam al-Din, a Marashi prince who had settled in Isfahan in the 15th-century.^[1][2] Khalifa Sultan had a brother named Mirza Qavam al-Din Muhammad, who later, like himself and their father, would occupy high offices.^[3]

Biography

In 1608/9 (or 1609/10), Khalifa Sultan married shah Abbas I's third daughter, Khan-Agha Begum, and was later in 1623/4 appointed by the shah as his vizier.^[2] When Khalifa Sultan became vizier, Baghdad had recently been captured, while a Safavid army was marching towards capture Basra. Furthermore, during this period, the Armenians suffered from persecutions by Abbas I. In late 1624, after celebrating Nowruz, Abbas I left for Georgia to suppress a rebellion, thus leaving young Khalifa Sultan in Isfahan, to take care of the Safavid affairs.

On 24 March 1626, an event occurred that "portended tragedy and turned to comedy". On that day, Khalifa Sultan, who was still new to the officer, sent 200 soldiers to the convent of the Carmelites, a Catholic religious order. The soldiers inspected the convent, and then beat the monks and took them to Khalifa Sultan. The monks thought they were going to be killed, and supposedly were excited that they were going to be martyred.^[4] However, this was not the case; Khalifa Sultan, enraged about their treatment, threatened to kill the officer who led the soldiers. The monks, however, urged Khalifa Sultan to spare him, which he did. Khalifa Sultan and his officials then began asking the monks several questions about Christianity. He then discovered that the monks were not Augustinian monks, whom he had been advised to move to Shiraz, "because of Portuguese at Basra, which were considered contrary to Persian interests." He then let the Carmelites go.^[4]

Abbas I died in 1629 and was succeeded by his grandson Safi, who in 1632 executed and exiled most of the officers who had served his grandfather, which included Khalifa Sultan, who dismissed and exiled to Qom, while his sons were blinded.^[2][5] During his exile in Qom, he focused in scholarship and commenting on several important texts. According to the person who edited the Dastur al-wuzara, Khalifa Sultan was the author of that work, which was written between 1645-1654. In 1638/9, Khalifa Sultan may have returned to Isfahan. However, it is known that by 1645 he was living in the city, after having performed a pilgrimage to Mecca. During his pilgrimage, he had met the shaykh of Mecca, who described him as a "man of great scholarship and perspicacity", and "someone with whom he had had "many enjoyable sessions of learned discussions".^[2]

On 11 October 1645, the vizier Saru Taqi was murdered under the orders of Abbas II, who then appointed Khalifa Sultan as his vizier. In 1648, Khalifa Sultan accompanied Abbas II during his expedition against the Mughals,^[3] which ended in a victory for the Safavids, who managed to capture Bost and Qandahar. In 1651/2, one of Khalifa Sultan's daughters married the son of the minister of religion (sadr al-mamalik) Mirza Mohammad Mahdi Karaki.^[2]

After having been ill for 40 days, Khalifa Sultan died on 5 March 1654 in Mazandaran, the homeland of his ancestors. His body was then taken to Najaf in Iraq, where he was buried.^[3] He was succeeded by Mohammad Beg, a Muslim of Armenian origin.

References

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