Mahdi Dehghani

Like the macro socio-economic texture of the society, the kinship system in the court of King Sultan Hussein was composed of kin and relatives. In this regard, this article aims at exploring the mechanism of kinship relations in courts and their different roles in weakening the Safavid state. The current study applies historical research methods and library data-gathering methods to collect first-hand historical data, describe and classify the kinship features in the court of King Sultan Hussein, and analyze these features and their effects in weakness and deterioration of the Safavid state. Among the factors which might be applied for exploring the research question are the following: the kinship texture of court positions, supporting kinship groups, different competitions and intrigues for obtaining personal and kinship profits, and texture of court positions, which in turn led to court crises and distracted the courtiers’ attention from national crises and problems. The above-mentioned factors, in turn, paved the way for weakness and collapse of the Safavid state.