The Legitimacy of the Sultanism from the Viewpoint of Shiite Authors of Works on Politics during the Safavid Era

The Safavids ascended the throne in an era up to which the people of Persia had witnessed several Shiite political movements rising and falling in an attempt to establish a religiously legitimate government. The experience brought along such a legitimacy for the Safavids whose emergence was a milestone in the history of Shiite political thought, as it was then that the Shiite scholars tended to develop the theory of Shiite Sultanism, in an attempt to legitimize it. Authors like Mohaghegh-e Sabzevāri, Feyz-e Kāshāni and Mohammad Bāgher-e Majlesi who wrote works on politics during the Safavid era developed a new theory to legitimize Shiite Sultanism. Employing Max Weber, s theory of Sultanism along with his definition of legitimacy and its types, this article aims at surveying the positions of above-mentioned scholars to present a new definition for the legitimacy of Shiite Sultanism