علیرضا فلاحتی

Safavids (1135- 907 A. H) took important measures in regard with the political, military, economic and religious fields in order to give legitimacy to their government. Since facilitating and securing the Hajj journey was always considered one of the main components of stable power in Islamic societies,  Safavids, while establishing stable security at the borders and communication network of their territory, paid a lot of attention to the construction and repair of communicative roads especially pilgrimage routes. Taking advantages of the descriptive-analytical method of research, the question has been answered on the extent the attention of Safavids towards establishing the security of the Hajj routes and pursuing the demands of the pilgrims eas effective on the prosperity of the Hajj. The findings of this research clarify that although the Safavids in some years prohibited Iranians from going to Hajj for some reasons; at the same time, in order to gain legitimacy and to strengthen their government, they paid special attention to the virtue of Hajj and the security of roads and they pursued the demands of Iranian pilgrims from the Ottomans (1342- 699) and the rulers of the Hajj route, and this led to the prosperity of trade, the prosperity of caravanserais and highways, as well as the elimination of unemployment.

With the rise of the Safavids(907-1135 AH)and the spread of Shiism in Iran,a turbulent period of conflict with the Sunni Ottomans began(1222-1922)One of the issues that always exacerbated the hostility of the two countries was the issue of Hajj and how the Ottomans treated Iran's pilgrimage.As the land of Hejaz was under Ottoman rule and the Iranian pilgrims had to pass through their territory to go to the Hajj,they encountered many difficulties along the way and on the land of Hejaz.So that they were sometimes even forbidden from performing the Hajj.During this period, the differences between the two governments made the Hajj an arena for Shia and Sunni divisions. Both governments attempted to politically exploit this religious ritual by relying on the hajj issue.They tried to show Islam their friendship and gain legitimacy for themselves. In this descriptive-analytic study,we examine how the Iranian Hajj with emphasis on the relationship between the Safavids and the Ottomans is concerned, and whether the relationship between the two governments has influenced Iranian pilgrimage.Or was the pilgrimage to the Hajj beyond political and religious strife? The findings of this study show that the pilgrimage of Iranians in the tenth and eleventh centuries was overshadowed by the Safavid and Ottoman political relations.