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| 1623 |
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| Death of Mulla Muhammad Amin Astarabadi, founder of the Akhbari school of Shi'ism. His position emphasized the primacy of akhbar, the words and deeds of the prophet Muhammad and the 12 imams, over the interpretation of individual mujtahids, the most eminent authorities of Shi’ite law and theology. He argued that no independent judgments could be made by religious authorities in the absence of the hidden twelfth imam. | 1 |
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| 1623–24 |
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| A Safavid offensive in Iraq established control over Kurdish territories, Baghdad and the Shi’ite Holy Cities of Karbala and Najaf. | 2 |
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| 1628 |
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| First French religious mission established in Iran. The Capuchins were quickly followed by the Jesuits, Carmelites, and Dominicans. The missions' activities focused on the Christians of Iran. | 3 |
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| c. 1629 |
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| Completion of The History of Shah Abbas the Great, by Iskandar Beg Munshi (d. 1632). The chronicle records the reigns of the Safavid rulers Isma‘il, Tahmasp I, and Abbas I and is considered one of the greatest works of Islamic historiography. | 4 |
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| 1629 |
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| Death of Hasan Sharaf al-Din of Isfahan, the court physician and close companion of Shah Abbas I. Safavid medical practice depended on medieval precedent for the treatment of most illnesses. The standard reference work remained the Canon of Ibn Sina (d. 1037), but new clinical works (majarrabat) were written during the Safavid period. In the 17th century a unique work called The Treasury of Surgery was written by the army surgeon known as Hakim Muhammad and dedicated to Shah Safi I. It included a detailed list of the instruments available to surgeons, including a special device for the removal of bullets; outlined various forms of anesthesia; and advocated surgery for cancerous tumors. Hospitals existed in Isfahan and other cities but were unpopular, since most people preferred to be treated at home. | 5 |
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| 1629–42 |
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| SHAH SAFI I. The first of the Safavid shahs to be raised in the harem, Shah Safi murdered potential rivals to the throne on his accession as well as many influential high court officers. The dominant influence of the grand vezir at the Safavid court allowed the government to be run smoothly despite the shah's lack of interest in affairs of state. | 6 |
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| 1630 |
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| Abd al-Fattah Fumani completed a history of the province of Gilan, where most of the production of silk cocoons was concentrated. He recounted political events from 1517 to 1629 in the treatise, with many details about local resistance to the silk monopoly imposed by Shah Abbas I. Silk was the most lucrative export of the Safavid Empire. The royal monopoly was later revoked by Shah Safi I when growers in Rasht revolted against the low prices paid for the commodity. | 7 |
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| 1631 |
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| Death of Mir Damad, founder of the School of Isfahan, the principal center of Shi’ite scholarship, which flourished under the patronage of Shah Abbas I. Mir Damad was both a philosopher and a theologian whose interest in the works of Aristotle, Ibn Sina (Avicenna; d. 1037), and Suhrawardi (d. 1191) restated their importance in Shi’ite theosophy. | 8 |
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| 1632 |
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| Execution of Imam Quli Khan by Shah Safi I. Of Georgian extraction, Imam Quli Khan had followed his father in rising to high office in the state bureaucracy. In 1613, he had been appointed governor of the province of Fars, a position that gave him great authority in southern Iran. His dealings with the English had helped rid the Safavids of the Portuguese presence at Hormuz. Shah Safi's execution of this wealthy and powerful bureaucrat allowed him to absorb vast lands once controlled by Imam Quli Khan and strengthened his central authority. | 9 |
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| 1634 |
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| The appointment of Mirza Taqi, known as Saru Taqi, as grand vezir, or prime minister. Until his murder in 1645 he remained the most powerful figure in the Safavid government. | 10 |
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| 1639, May 17 |
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| Peace treaty with the Ottomans, which established the Ottoman-Safavid frontier and put an end to more than a hundred years of sporadic conflict. The shah accepted the final loss of Baghdad, recaptured by the Ottomans in 1638. | 11 |
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| 1640 |
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| Death of Mulla Sadra, a pupil of Mir Damad and one of the most important Shi’ite philosophers. In his work The Four Journeys, he described the first of four spiritual voyages as a process in which the seeker detaches himself from the physical world. After achieving the second and third goals of sainthood and union with the divine, the final journey would be the return of the enlightened one to earth, to guide others. | 12 |
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