After many centuries of foreign domination, the Safavid dynasty produced a renaissance of Persian culture that lasted from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. But whereas examples of Safavid architecture and fine arts are well known, it appears that this period did not encourage a flourishing of music. Strangely enough, the Safavid period is one of the low points in the history of Persian music. This artistic hiatus, quite unexpected and at first inexplicable, might well be due to the religious climate of the period. In their attempts to solidify the country and to create an independent political unit, the Safavid rulers reemphasized religion, which had been relatively absent from politics since before the tenth century. The Safavids made the Shia a branch of Islam the official religion of Persia, and, in fact, recreated the independent nation on its basis. The religious emphasis in the Safavid period served to bring to the fore that disapprobationof music always latent in Islam. Moreover, it is not unlikely that at this time religion had a more profound influence on the whole society than it did during the height of the great Islamic period of the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries, when music often flourished side by side with the religious debates against it. The difference might be explained by the differing attitudes of the royal court. Whereas the Abbassids ruled an empire already firmly established on a religious basis, the Safavids felt an urgent need to wield religion as an instrument of national policy. To this end, they encouraged religious writings as well as the creation of religious legalities and dogma (Khorofat) and opposed the deviancy of the Sufis, the main supporters of music (Source: Classic Persian Music).
Persian Classic Music in Its Historical Context
