Shir Sarim

Shir Sarim or Sarim Khan was a Yazidi leader who led an uprising against Safavid Persia during the reign of Shah Ismail I.

Sarim was described as being a ”hundred and ten years old, with a white beard hanging down to his navel; and wields an axe that weighs seven maunds, or some 40 kilograms.”{{Cite journal|last=Wood|first=Barry|title=Popular Romance as Cultural Memory: The "Anonymous Histories of Shah Isma'il"|url=https://www.academia.edu/18317159|language=en}}

In 1505—6, Kurdistan and Diyarbakir were being raided by Shir Sarim and Alā al-Dawla Dhu'l-Qadar. A History of Shah Ismail Safawi (1939) by Ghulam Sarwar, notes that "In the ensuing winter of 1505-6, the Shah proceeded to the frontier of Adharbayjan, for suppressing [Shir] Sarim, a robber-chief of Kurdistan. After slaughtering his followers and plundering the camp, for Shir Sarim succeeded in escaping, the Shah moved to the river Qizil-Uzfln."{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/HistoryOfShahIsmailSafawi-GhulamSarwar/119900259-History-of-Shah-Isma-il-Safawi-Ghulam-Sarwar_djvu.txt|title=History of Shah Isma'il Safawi|last=Sarwar|first=Ghulam|publisher=The author, MUSLIM UNIVERSITY, ALIGARH|year=1939|isbn=|location=HYDERABAD|pages=50}}

In 912/1506—7 a Safavid force which had been despatched in pursuit of Sarim fought a hard battle with the Kurds in which both sides suffered heavy casualties. Two high-ranking Qizilbash amirs were killed: ’Abdī beg Shāmlū, who was Ismail’s brother-in-law, and on the inner circle of his companions (ahl-i ikhtisās), and Sārū ’Alī Muhrdār Takkalū. Shir Sarim's son and brother were captured and taken to Tabriz, where they were put to death.{{Cite journal|last=Savory|first=R. M.|date=1965-01-01|title=The Consolidation of Safawid power in Persia|journal=Der Islam|url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/islm.1965.41.1.71/html|language=de|volume=41|issue=Jahresband|pages=71–94|doi=10.1515/islm.1965.41.1.71|s2cid=161679360|issn=1613-0928|url-access=subscription}}

Sarim's uprising lasted for the next four years, from 1506-10. In 1510, Sarim was defeated by a Persian army, and Sarim was captured and killed.{{Cite web|url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1068986|title=DAWN - Opinion; May 7, 2006|date=2006-05-07|website=DAWN.COM|language=en|access-date=2018-12-13}} The Kurdish prisoners were put to death "with torments worse than which there may not be".{{Cite book|title=The Literary History of Persia|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.59667|last=Browne|first=Edward G.|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1928|isbn=|location=|pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.59667/page/n55 37]}}