Information: - The Twelve Imams are the spiritual and political successors to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Twelver or "Athnashariyyah" branch of Shia Islam and in Alevi Islam. According to the theology of Twelvers, the Twelve Imams are exemplary human individuals who not only rule over the community with justice, but also are able to keep and interpret "sharia" and the esoteric meaning of the Quran. Muhammad and Imams' words and deeds are a guide and model for the community to follow; as a result, they must be free from error and sin, known as Ismah or infallibility and must be chosen by divine decree, or "nass", through the Prophet. - Pakistan (or ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a federal parliamentary republic in South Asia on crossroads of Central Asia and Western Asia. It is the sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 200 million people. It is the 36th largest country in the world in terms of area with an area covering . Pakistan has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west, Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast respectively. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, and also shares a maritime border with Oman. - Iraq (, or ; '; '), officially known as the Republic of Iraq ('; ') is a country in Western Asia, bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest, and Syria to the west. The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds; others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, and Kawliya. Around 95% of the country's 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish. - Shia ("Shah", from "Shatu Al", followers of Ali) is a branch of Islam which holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor (Imam). Shia Islam primarily contrasts with Sunni Islam, whose adherents believe that Muhammad did not appoint a successor. Instead they consider Abu Bakr (who was appointed Caliph through a Shura, i.e. consensus) to be the correct Caliph. - In Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi (ISO 233: "" "guided one") is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will rule for five, seven, nine, or nineteen years (according to differing interpretations) before the Day of Judgment (/ literally, "the Day of Resurrection") and will rid the world of evil. - Twelver (Athn'ashariyyah or Ithn'ashariyyah ) Shia Islam or Imamiyyah is the largest branch of Shia Islam. Twelver belief is based on the Quran and the message of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad attested in hadith, and on hadith taught by their Imams. The term "Twelver" refers to its adherents' belief in twelve divinely ordained leaders, known as the Twelve Imams, and their belief that the last Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, lives in occultation and will reappear as the promised Mahdi. According to Shia tradition, the Mahdi's tenure will coincide with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ ("Isa"), who is to assist the "Mahdi" against the "Masih ad-Dajjal" (literally, the "false Messiah" or Antichrist). - A hadith (or plural: ahadith, ) is one of various reports describing the words, actions, or habits of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The term comes from Arabic meaning a "report", "account" or "narrative". Hadith are second only to the Quran in developing Islamic jurisprudence, and regarded as important tools for understanding the Quran and commentaries ("tafsir") written on it. Some important elements of traditional Islam, such as the five salat prayers, are mentioned in hadith. - The Quran (; ', literally meaning "the recitation"; also romanized Qur'an or Koran"') is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God ("Allah"). It is widely regarded as the finest work in classical Arabic literature. The Quran is divided into chapters ("surah" in Arabic), which are then divided into verses ("ayah"). - The Safavid dynasty ( / sfwid / Persian : ; Azerbaijani : Sfvilr sulalsi , ) was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Persia ( modern Iran ) after the fall of the Sasanian Empire - following the Muslim conquest of Persia in the seventh century A.D. , and '' is often considered the beginning of modern Persian history '' . The Safavid shahs ruled over one of the so - called gunpowder empires , and they ruled one of the greatest Persian empires after the Muslim conquest of Persia and established the Twelver school of Shi'a Islam as the official religion of their empire , marking one of the most important turning points in Muslim history . The Safavid dynasty had its origin in the Safaviyya Sufi order , which was established in the city of Ardabil in the Azerbaijan region . It was of mixed ancestry ( Kurdish and Azerbaijani , which included intermarriages with Georgian , Circassian , and Pontic Greek dignitaries ) . From their base in Ardabil , the Safavids established control over parts of Greater Iran and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region , thus becoming the first native dynasty since the Sasanian Empire to establish a unified Iranian state . The Safavids ruled from 1501 to 1722 ( experiencing a brief restoration from 1729 to 1736 ) and , at their height , they controlled all of modern Iran , Azerbaijan , Bahrain and Armenia , most of Georgia , the North Caucasus , Iraq , Kuwait and Afghanistan , as well as parts of Turkey , Syria , Pakistan , Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan . Despite their demise in 1736 , the legacy that they left behind was the revival of Persia as an economic stronghold between East and West , the establishment of an efficient state and bureaucracy based upon '' checks and balances '' , their architectural innovations and their patronage for fine arts . The Safavids have also left their mark down to the present era by spreading Shi'a Islam in Iran , as well as major parts of the Caucasus , Anatolia , and Mesopotamia . - Islam (' ;) is a religion articulated by the Quran, a text considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God ('), and, for the vast majority of adherents, the teachings and normative example (called the "sunnah", composed of accounts called "hadith") of Muhammad (5708 June 632 CE). It is the world's second-largest religion and the fastest-growing major religion in the world, with over 1.7 billion followers or 23% of the global population, known as Muslims. Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion that upholds that God is one and incomparable and that the purpose of existence is to worship God. Muslims consider Muhammad to be the last prophet of God. - Muhammad (c.570 CE 8 June 632 CE) is the central figure of Islam and widely regarded as its founder by non-Muslims. He is known as the "Holy Prophet" to Muslims, almost all of whom consider him to be the last prophet sent by God to mankind to restore Islam, believed by Muslims to be the unaltered original monotheistic faith of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. Muhammad united Arabia into a single Muslim polity and ensured that his teachings, practices, and the Quran, formed the basis of Islamic religious belief. - Iran (, also , ; ' ), also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (' ), is a sovereign state in Western Asia. It is bordered to the northwest by Armenia, the "de facto" Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, and Azerbaijan; to the north by the Caspian Sea; to the northeast by Turkmenistan; to the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan; to the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman; and to the west by Turkey and Iraq. Comprising a land area of , it is the second-largest country in the Middle East and the 18th-largest in the world. With 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the world's 17th-most-populous country. It is the only country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The country's central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, make it of great geostrategic importance. Tehran is the country's capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic center. - The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering (approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface). It is bounded by Asia on the north, on the west by Africa, on the east by Australia, and on the south by the Southern Ocean or, depending on definition, by Antarctica. It is named after the country of India. The Indian Ocean is known as "Ratnkara", ""the mine of gems"" in ancient Sanskrit literature, and as "Hind Mahsgar", ""the great Indian sea"", in Hindi. What object entity has the relation of 'religion' with the subject 'safavid dynasty'? Choices: - christianity - india - islam - muslim - shia islam - twelvers
twelvers