00:00 In 1514, two armies led by Ismail and Selim faced off in a battle that would determine the future of the Muslim world.

05:26 The Ottoman Empire and the Safavids were engaged in a conflict over leadership of the Muslim world, with the Ottomans eventually emerging victorious, but they also faced a deeper ideological conflict with the Mamluks of Egypt and a more dangerous threat from the Safavids, led by Shah Ismail, who posed a serious threat to the Ottomans and led to open war between the two powers.

10:16 The Muslim world was characterized by a spectrum of religious practices, including Sharia law and Sufism, with legalistic forms of Islam more prominent in urban areas and Sufi mystics finding more support among nomads, but with certain beliefs considered unacceptable and labeled as extremism, and the Muslim world was also marked by staggering ethnic diversity and a geography that facilitated interaction and the exchange of ideas.

15:14 The Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Order emerged at the same time, with the Ottomans being frontier warlords and the Safavids starting as a Sufi order led by Sheikh Safi al-Din.

20:51 The Safavids, led by Sheikh Junaid, aligned themselves with the Akkoyunlu Turkomans and attempted to conquer Shirvan, but failed, leading to Junaid's death and the proclamation of his infant son, Haidar, as divine.

26:07 The Safavids claimed to be the representatives or even the Twelfth Imam, and their messianic movement aimed to gain political power and impose their religious views, which resonated with the tensions and desires of the Turkomans, leading to their success in recruiting followers; after the death of Haidar, the Safavids faced opposition from the Akkoyunlu ruler, Yakub, who made a deal with the ruler of Shirvan to destroy the Safavids, but they continued to persist and grow in influence.

31:31 Ismail, the last surviving Safavid, remained in hiding until the age of 12, when he began to assert his claim to divinity and rallied the warlike Turkomans to his cause, focusing his wrath on the ruler of Shirvan who had killed his father and grandfather.

37:21 In 1500, Ismail led his Turkoman soldiers into Shirvan, defeating the ruling Shah and taking control of Azerbaijan, and later, at the age of 14, he captured the city of Tabriz, establishing the Safavid Empire; meanwhile, Sultan Bayezid II of the Ottoman Empire recognized the rising power of Ismail and the Safavids, particularly their influence over the Turkomans, who were Ottoman subjects and could easily be swayed to support rebellions or pretenders.

42:33 Ismail's ambitions and capabilities were breathtaking, as he declared Twelver Shi'ism the official religion of his new Safavid state, expanding his empire and becoming the greatest conqueror in the region since Tamerlane.

47:57 The rebellion led by Sufi mystic Shakulu in Ottoman-held eastern Anatolia, which attracted followers from various groups including the nomadic Turkomans and disgruntled Sepahis, was not directly proven to be involved with the Safavids, but the association between Shakulu's father and Ismail's father, along with the fact that many survivors fled to Ismail's domains, made it clear that Ismail's actions and extremist state were contributing factors to such rebellions.

53:11 Selim, now Sultan, waged a holy war against Ismail and the Safavids, resulting in the Battle of Chalderon where Ismail was defeated and his rise to power came to an end.

58:18 Selim finished off the Mamluks of Egypt, doubling the size of the Ottoman Empire and solidifying his control over the Muslim world.