Nadir Shah's Name in History

Nadir Shah's name went down in history also as a great reformer of religion. It is two parts; in the West, the Turks of Azerbaijan were far from the Turks of the Ottomans who believed in the faith of Sunnite Hanefi of Islam, in the east from the Turks of Middle Asia. Afterwards, Shah Ismayil's religious reforms gave a chance to the Persian nationalists to seize power. From history, it is known that the Safavids came to power by preferring the ideology of Shiite. As soon as Shah Ismayil came to power and ascended the throne in Tabriz, he carried out a religious reform, and obliged the population of the provinces of Azerbaijan and Persia to adopt Shiite. Though he faced big ruinous wars that lasted for ten years, the cunning power centers of that time could use the chance of the difference of faith between the brotherly countries properly. He abolished Alevilik, which was adopted by the dynasty of Safavids as an official religious faith, and made the faith of Jafari official. During his time, Azerbaijan restored and established a big state. The religious reform carried out by him divided the Turkish world. The discrimination of faith made the Turks of both Azerbaijan and Turkey face each other, and caused the former might to return again, making it the second mighty state after the Ottoman Empire. But it didn't last long. In 1747, Nadir Shah was assassinated by the captain of the unfortunate Motherland. This history has been living in the heart of every Azerbaijani and throws light on its future.

Yunus Oghuz's Novel and Nadir Shah

Up to Yunus Oghuz's time, different works about Nadir Shah had been written. But except Yunus Oghuz's novel, in none of those works did Nadir Shah unite the historical lands of the country or reinstate the old Turkish traditions, serving as a connector and reformer. Especially during the Soviet period, the true heroes of Azerbaijan were forgotten and disgraced under his guard at the age of sixty-one. It was the beginning of the fall of the Azerbaijani empire, which could last until 1925.

The Reflection of Nadir Shah in Yunus Oghuz's Work

The novel "Nadir Shah" by Yunus Oghuz reflects a significant part of our glorious history. The personalities who laid the foundation of division through their policies were shown to the people as heroes. The name of Nadir Shah Avshar was given in all the Oghuz. Nadir Shah is not valued as an inexperienced ruler who didn't understand diplomacy, as in earlier works. On the contrary, the novel clearly shows that Nadir Shah understood the tricky policies of neighboring states aimed at making Azerbaijan and Turkey confront each other, and he did not agree with them. The work gives a broad place to Nadir Shah's religious reforms. It is true that Nadir Shah was not able to carry out all those reforms to the end, especially his policy to end faith discrimination and unite the entire Turkish world. Yunus Oghuz shows that Nadir Shah wanted to eliminate the Shiite-Sunnite divide within Islam. However, conservative scientists, confessors, and political circles, who based their power on faith differences, resisted his plans.

The Death of Nadir Shah

The novel describes the death of this great Azerbaijani ruler in an interesting way. Investigations from recent periods show that the Russian intelligentsia viewed him as a blood-sucking Iranian shah and a cruel ruler. In Yunus Oghuz's historical novel, Nadir Shah is characterized as a great statesman who loved power. Half a century after Nadir Shah's death, he was killed by those who laid obstacles to Russian plans. It is natural that all these actions were driven by his love for his motherland, which aimed at maintaining the integrity of Azerbaijan and the Turkish world, as a builder of unity.