It must be remembered that the Safavid movement itself, which represents the one instance of major political victory for Twelve-imam Shi'ism, did not begin as a purely Shi'ite movement in the restricted sense of the word. The Safavids were a Sufi orderwhich became so well organized and so powerful that it was able to exercise actual political authority and finally conquer all of Persia. Of course, then the Safavids made Shi'ism the state religion

Ideals and realities of Islam On page 172 Saturday, January 5, 2013 @ 4:45pm