Understanding Tohidkhaneh in Iran of the Safavid Era: The Decline of the Monastery System

Tohidkhaneh as a spiritual and administrative entity has had unique ties with the intellectual-political history of the Safavids in Iran. That is why the rising and falling of the term should only be looked for among the texts of the same era. Before adoption and dissemination of this term in the Safavid society¡ in spite of its Persian and Arabic structure¡ it has been nurtured in Ottoman culture. Therefore Tohidkhaneh had inseparable relationship with Sufism and Qalandari culture in Anatolia and was independently at work for many centuries free from emotional and political connections. However¡ from the onset of establishment of their rule¡ Safavid borrowed the concept to create worship places other than the monastery of Ardabil for their political capitals in and other major cities Iran¡ and provided it with a governmental institutional structure with underlying tasks such as monitoring the activities of the Sufis¡ providing uniformity in different areas¡ making Sufis familiar with official culture and religion¡ practicing Tarighat rituals in line with the Shia''¡ and maintaining and strengthening the relationship between Sufis with Safavid kings in terms of faith. Such a governmental action gradually separated Safavid from monastery tradition and system¡ and Tohidkhaneh promoted the traditions which only emphasized that praying for continuation of the divine rights of kings of the Safavid monarchy and protecting the religion for Ghezelbash Sufis are the most important ritual and spiritual tasks of them. Safavids intentionally used Tohidkhaneh as a means to come into conflict with the monastery system without careful thinking of that they would need Sufis for difficult times. This paper adopts such an approach for reviewing the historical narratives regarding raise and fall of the concept of Tohidkhaneh in Safavid era.