The Afshar tribe

The Afshar were an Oghuz Turkmen tribe, the tribe of Nadir Shah. They helped establish the Safavid dynasty, and their clans spread across Iran, Syria and Anatolia.

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), signed M. Fuad Koprulu, says the Afshar are first mentioned by al-Kashgari, and that Rashid al-Din makes them grandsons of Yildiz Khan, son of Oghuz Khan. They migrated westwards with the other Oghuz tribes. An Afshar chieftain, Aydoghu b. Shumla, ruled Khuzistan as a vassal of the Saljuqs, and Shumla ruled 543–570/1148–1174; the family's rule ended in 590/1194. Afshar chieftains are mentioned under the Ak Koyunlu, and the Afshar played a part in establishing the Safavids, whose chronicles name many high officials of Afshar origin. Under the Safavids Afshar clans held provincial governorships, and after Nadir Shah the Afshar of Khuzistan were weakened by Arab raids. In Ottoman times Afshar branches of the Yeni Il spent the winter in Syria and the summer in Anatolia, and small nomad groups still lived in Anatolia and near al-Raqqa. ¹