Why did Nader Shah try to unite Shia and Sunnis?

 

Nader Shah wasn’t exactly trying to unite the Shia and Sunnis. He was trying to re-align Iran with Sunni Islam once more. Remember that, unlike the Safavids, he ruled over large population which were predominantly Sunni Muslims. This required ending the hostility between and improving the relations between the Shia and Sunni groups.

Nader Shah, the Afsharid Shah of Iran

After ascending to the throne, Nader Shah tried to promote the Jaʽfari school of thought as the official religion of Iran. Jaʽfari sect is one of the sects of Shia Islam. This is named after Ja'far al-Sadiq, the sixth Imam. This was to replace the previous ideologies of Shia Islam that had been greatly promoted by the Safavid Dynasty.

Nader Shah wanted to reform the religion of Iran itself. He wanted to realign Iran with Sunni Islam. To do so he planned on promoting Jaʽfari as the official faith of Iran. He was in talks with the Ottoman Caliph Mahmud I. Nader Shah proposed to the Ottoman Caliph to have Jaʽfari accepted as the fifth school of jurisprudence in Sunni Islam. It was to join the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali schools. It would become known as the Jaʽfari Mazhab. The core of this school of thought would be formed around the teachings of Ja'far al-Sadiq. By accepting Jaʽfari as the fifth school of Sunni Islam, Iran would be brought back to the world of Sunni Islam.

In return for acceptance into the Sunni fold, Nader Shah was willing to ban certain practices within Shia Islam from the Safavid era which offended the Ottomans and the Sunni population. An example being the practices such as Sabb which was the cursing of the first three Rashidun Caliphs. The Ottomans in return were to build a fifth pillar in the Holy Kaaba to mark this event. Nader Shah also wanted the Ottomans to allow Persians to go on the Hajj once more. A Persian Amir ul-Hajj would be appointed in charge of the pilgrims from Persia.

There are several reasons behind Nader Shah’s decision to re-align Iran with Sunni Islam and trying to end the sectarianism. Here are the main ones:

• Stability of the empire - Religion was one of the major reasons that led to the collapse of the Safavid Empire. The promotion of Shia Islam within its territory and persecution of the Sunni population. The persecution of the Sunni Afghans in Kandahar resulted in a rebellion led by Mirwais Hotak Khan. A rebellion that resulted in an all out war which ended up destroying the Safavid Empire.
  
  Nader Shah seems to have realized that as long as Iran was aligned with Shia Islam, its expansion would be limited. The Sunni Muslims of Afghanistan and Central Asia would never accept his rule. By re-aligning Persia with Sunni Islam, he believed that he would be able to conquer and expand his influence much further. Acceptance into the Sunni world would allow him to conquer much further and with greater ease.

Map of the Afsharid Empire. The Uzbek Khanates of Bukhara and Khiva were also vassals of Nader Shah. Atleast half of the population of the empire would have been Sunni Muslims.

• Legacy of the Safavid Dynasty - Remember that the Safavids had legitimized their own rule using Shia Islam as a tool. The Safavid legitimacy had been based on being the defenders and promoters of Shia Islam.
  
  Nader Shah’s move away from Shia Islam was to counter the legacy of the Safavids. He used this as a way of countering the support and influence of the Safavid. It was also a way of legitimizing his own rule. Any legitimacy Nader Shah would have to gain would not be based on Shia Islam, as that was where the support for the Safavid came from. Remember that the Chief Mullah, Mirza Abol-Hasan, continued to support the Safavid and promised that evil would come to any that usurped their power. Nader Shah had to have the man strangled to shut him up.

Nader Shah’s personal standard. He avoided the use of the color green, which had become associated with the Safavid Dynasty and Shia Islam, in both his personal and Afsharid imperial flags.

• Diverse military force - Nader Shah’s army was more diverse in origin than the Safavid army had been. The Afsharid forces consisted on different Sunni and Shia groups. For example, the Shia Qizilbash and the Sunni Afghans. He needed to reduce the tension between the two groups and prevent infighting.
• Economic reasons - The Safavid economy had been in crisis since following the death of Shah Abbas the Great. This only worsened with time. Part of this was because of their poor relations and limited trade with their Sunni neighboring states.
  
  Nader Shah was extremely interested in the Ottomans allowing Persians to travel to perform Hajj once more. This, along with the appointment of the Persian Amir ol-Hajj, allowed Nader Shah control over the revenues that would come from the Holy Pilgrimage. This re-alignment could also improve trade with neighboring states and economy of Iran.

• Limiting power of the clerics - It is well known that Nader Shah was not too fond of the religious classes. In Iran, these usually came in the form of Shia clerics. A religious class that had long been associated with the Safavids.
  
  Nader Shah tried to reduce the power of the religious class or clerics. He did have part of the lands and wealth under the control of the religious clerics confiscated and contributed it to his war efforts and military machine.
• Personal religious beliefs - No one really knows what religion or sect Nader Shah believed in. That is if he believed in any religion at all. Some foreigners present in the region seem to have indicated that Nader Shah did not really believe in any religion and may have been something like an atheist.
  
  Unlike the Safavids, who had both a personal and political affinity towards Shia Islam, Nader Shah felt no real personal or political relation with Shia Islam. Nader Shah did not seem to have really understood or cared for religion. He had a skeptical and cynical attitude towards religion. He was a master of using religion as a tool to achieve his own objectives. Dissociating from Shia Islam as the state religion and promoting greater unity between the two sects may have been based on pragmatism. Since he seems to have had no personal affinity for either.

Shah Ismail, the founder of the Safavid Empire. Both Shah Ismail and Shah Tahmasp I had a personal and political affinity towards Shia Islam. It made sense for them to promote it as the state religion. The same was not true for Nader Shah.