The ethnic Persian Safi Al-Din Ardebili (of Ardebil) (1252-1334), eponym of the Safavid Dynasty, was the spiritual heir and son in law of the great Sufi Murshid (Grand Master) Sheikh Zahed Gilani, of Lahijan in Gilan Province in northern Iran. Sheikh Safi Al-Din inherited Sheikh Zahed Gilani's Sufi order, the "Zahediyeh", which he later transformed into his own, the "Safaviyeh". Sheikh Zahed Gilani also gave his daughter Bibi Fatemeh in wedlock to his favorite disciple. Sheikh Safi Al-Din, in turn, gave a daughter from a previous marriage in wedlock to Shaikh Zahed Gilani's second-born son.

Over the following 170 years, the Safaviyeh Order gained political and military power, finally culminating in the foundation of the Safavid Dynasty.

(Other transliterations for Safi Al-Din: Safi al-Din, Safi ad-Dîn, Safi Eddin, Safi od-Din, Safi El-Din, Safieddin, Safioddin)

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