Compare And Contrast Safavid And Islamic Empires

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The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughul empires dominated over western Asia in the 16th to the 18th centuries. All three empires are classified as the Islamic Empires due to the rulers’ religion either being Sunni or Shi'ite Muslim. However, each empire held its own tolerance for outside religions. Except for the Safavid Empire, the Islamic Empires were much more tolerant that the european countries to the East and the North. The Ottomans thrived with a high amount of tolerance because of their conversion policy and how they ruled people of other religions within the empire, while the Mughuls enjoyed peace and tolerance, especially under Akbar, until the decline of the empire. However, the Safavids, the only Shi'ite kingdom, began their empire with low tolerance for other religions. Because of these major differences in the empires, the Sunni Muslims were more tolerant than their Shi'ite counterparts. The Ottoman Empire was ruled by a Sunni Muslim class with a sultan in control of the entire empire. Unlike Europe, the Ottoman Empire was not straitlaced about converting the …show more content…
Since the founding of the empire, the Safavids had been Shi'ite Muslims and had made it the compulsory state religion. This decree meant that everyone had to be or convert to be a Shi'ite Muslim. Because the Safavids demanded everyone to convert, unlike the Ottoman and Mughul empires, there was much more tension and unrest within the empire. Shi'ite Muslims believed that the caliph, or religious ruler, had a direct relation to the family tree of Ali. The Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims fought many expensive wars because of these religious differences. Because of the influence of trade, the conversion to Shi'ite Muslim beliefs was no longer mandatory for visiting merchants from Europe. Yet, the presence of non-Muslim merchants did not improve the lack of tolerance for different religions in the Safavid
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