OLJEITU

Muslim name Mohammad Khudabanda born 1280 died Dec. 16, 1316, Soltaniyeh, near Kazvin, Iran eighth Il-Khan ruler of Iran, during whose reign the Shi'ite branch of Islam was first proclaimed the state religion of Iran. A great-grandson of Hleg, founder of the Il-Khan dynasty, ljeit was baptized a Christian and given the name Nicholas by his mother. As a youth he converted to Buddhism and later to the Sunnite branch of Islam, taking the name Mohammad Khudabanda. After the death (1304) of his brother Mahmud Ghazan, the seventh Il-Khan, he disposed of his rivals easily and acceded to a relatively peaceful reign. In 1307 the Caspian province of Jilan was conquered, strengthening Il-Khan rule, and a potentially dangerous rebellion was crushed in Herat (now in Afghanistan). The traditional hostility between the Il-Khans and the Mamluks of Syria and Egypt persisted, however, and a badly organized invasion of Mamluk territory took place in 1312. The expedition had to be abandoned after expected help from European princes failed to materialize. ljeit changed his religious affiliations several times. His conversion to Sunnite Islam is attributed to one of his wives. During the winter of 130708 there ensued a bitter religious feud between the adherents of the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools of Sunnite Islamic law, so disgusting ljeit that he considered converting back to Buddhism, a course that proved politically impossible. Greatly influenced by the Shi'ite theologian Ibn al-Mutahhar al-Hilli, he came to embrace the religion; and on his return from a visit to the tomb of 'Ali in Iraq (130910), he proclaimed Shi'ite Islam to be the state religion of Iran. An active patron of the arts, ljeit built a new capital at Soltaniyeh that required the efforts of many artists, who made it a masterpiece of Il-Khanid architecture. He lent vital encouragement and support to Rashid ad-Din's monumental world history and to the endeavours of Iranian poets.