HAYDAR, SHAYKH

died July 9, 1488, near Darband, on the foothills of the Elburz Mountains also spelled Sheykh Heydar one of the founders of the Safavid state (15011736) in Iran. Haydar inherited the leadership of the Safavid order, a Shi'ite Muslim movement in northwest Iran. He was raised in the city of Amid, but when the Kara Koyunlu empire in western Iran disintegrated in 1467, Haydar moved to Ardabil (now in northwest Iran), where he formally became the head of the Safavid order. When Haydar married 'Alamshah Begum, the daughter of the Ak Koyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan, he further strengthened the bonds that existed between the Ak Koyunlu dynasty and the Safavid order. Haydar continued the policy of his fathera combination of extreme Shi'ite ideology with military activityby conducting raids against the Christian Circassians of the north in 1483, 1487, and 1488. But his actions soon brought him into conflict with Ya'qub, the Ak Koyunlu ruler who was also Haydar's brother-in-law, with the result that the alliance between the order and that dynasty was weakened. Haydar was killed in battle by Ak Koyunlu troops while he was leading an expedition to Circassian territory. Haydar's major achievement was the reliable military organization that he bequeathed to his sons.