Monthly Archives: June 2024

How Sunni Iran became a Shi’i country

a map of the middle east with a pin in it

Introduction For most of its Islamic history, the land of Iran was majority Sunni. The Shi’i Safavids, who took control of Iran in 1501, changed this forever. Unlike other Shi’i dynasties such as the Fatimids in north Africa and the Buyids in Iraq, the Safavids were successful in permanently changing the religious landscape of the […]