Editing Shah Rukh (section)

==Military campaigns==
===War with the Qara Qoyunlu===
[[File:Contemporary portrait of Shah Rukh, painted in his lifetime in 1435-36, by commission of his son Ibrahim Sultan.jpg|thumb|Contemporary portrait of Shah Rukh, painted in his lifetime in 1435-36, by commission of his son [[Ibrahim Sultan (Timurid)|Ibrahim Sultan]].<ref name="Sims"/>]]
The new emperor began his reign by launching expeditions against regions which had begun to break away during the war of succession. [[Fars province|Fars]], which was held by Shah Rukh's nephew [[Bayqara Mirza I|Bayqara]], was taken in 1414. Two years later [[Kerman Province|Kirman]], which had been ruled as an independent kingdom by Sultan Uwais Barlas since 1408, was also subdued. The area under Shah Rukh's rule continued to be extended and consolidated over the following years, either through voluntary subjugation by minor rulers or through alliances. By 1420, the eastern portion of Timur's empire, as well as central and southern Persia, had been brought under Shah Rukh's rule.<ref>{{harvtxt|Jackson|Lockhart|1986|pp=101–2}}</ref>

However, despite Shah Rukh's successes, the western portion of the empire, including [[Azerbaijan]] and [[Mesopotamia]], remained out of his control. These were held by [[Qara Yusuf]] of the [[Qara Qoyunlu]] (Black Sheep Turkoman), who had defeated and killed Shah Rukh's brother [[Miran Shah]] several years previously. With the conquests of several prominent cities such as [[Baghdad]], [[Qazvin]] and [[Diyarbakır]], the Qara Qoyunlu had established themselves as dangerous neighbours to the Timurids.<ref name=Jacksonp102>{{harvtxt|Jackson|Lockhart|1986|p=102}}</ref>
This threat was one which remained unresolved for decades. Shah Rukh made many attempts to pacify his western border, both through political and military means (having launched three campaigns against Azerbaijan), none of which proved entirely successful.<ref name=Jacksonp102/>

Qara Yusuf died during the first of the campaigns in November 1420, which ended in the Timurid capture of Azerbaijan and Armenia. However, less than a year later Shah Rukh was forced to face off a rebellion by the late Turkoman prince's sons.<ref name=Jacksonp102/> One of these sons, [[Qara Iskander]], continued his attempts to reassert Turkoman authority over the following years, necessitating the second campaign in 1429. This too resulted in a Timurid victory and the installation of a Qara Qoyunlu prince, [[Abu Said (Kara Koyunlu)|Abu Said]], as a puppet ruler. However, Qara Iskander reoccupied the city of [[Tabriz]] two years later and had Abu Said executed.<ref name=Jacksonp102/>

This action prompted the third and final campaign in 1434, in which Qara Iskander was once more forced to flee. He was later assassinated by his son Qubad in the fortress of [[Alinja Tower|Alinja]]. Although this campaign did not result in a final resolution of the Turkoman issue, it did achieve stability in the region for the remainder of Shah Rukh's reign with the installation of Qara Iskander's less bellicose brother [[Jahan Shah]] as the Turkoman ruler.<ref name=Jacksonp103>{{harvtxt|Jackson|Lockhart|1986|p=103}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Minorsky|first=Vladimir|author-link=Vladimir Minorsky|title=Medieval Iran and its neighbours|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2pttAAAAMAAJ|volume=1|year=1931|publisher=Variorum Reprints|isbn=978-0-86078-114-1|page=176}}</ref>

===Conflict with Hurufis and anti-intellectual purges===
The [[Hurufism|Hurufis]] were a [[Sufism|Sufi]] sect who based their doctrine on the mysticism of letters.<ref>{{cite book |title=Secrecy in Religions |last=Bolle |first=Kees W.|author-link=Kees W. Bolle |year=1987 |publisher=Brill Archive |isbn=90-04-08342-1 |pages=89 }}</ref> In the late 14th century, the group was accused of heresy by traditional Islamic scholars.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ames|first=Christine Caldwell|title=Medieval Heresies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aPgGBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA302|year=2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-02336-9|page=302}}</ref> As a result, in 1394 the founder of the movement, [[Fazlallah Astarabadi]], had been arrested and executed on Timur's orders by his son Miran Shah.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bashir|first=Shahzad|title=Fazlallah Astarabadi and the Hurufis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CdvZAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT34|year=2012|publisher=Oneworld Publications|isbn=978-1-78074-192-5|page=34}}</ref> The death of their leader led Astarabadi's followers to have a specific hatred against the [[Timurids]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Petrushevsky|first1=Ilya Pavlovich|author-link1=Ilya Pavlovich Petrushevsky|translator=Hubert Evans|title= Islam in Iran|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=92XWltgRzfEC&pg=PA260|year=1985|publisher=Athlone Press|location=London|page=260|isbn=9780887060700}}</ref>

While leaving a mosque in 1426, Shah Rukh became the victim of an assassination attempt. The attacker, [[Ahmed Lur]], approached the emperor under the pretence of presenting a petition, before stabbing him in the stomach. Lur however, failed to give a fatal blow and was quickly killed by Shah Rukh's servant.<ref>{{harvtxt|Petrushevsky|page=262|1985}}</ref> Shah Rukh recovered within a few days and an investigation was launched, which linked Lur to the Hurufis as well as to the family of Astarabadi.<ref>{{harvtxt|Binbas|2016|p=17}}</ref>

There was an immediate backlash against the sect, which resulted in the execution of Astarabadi's grandson, Azud. High-ranking members of the group were subject to extensive interrogations. These eventually extended beyond the sect, with many intellectuals residing in Herat having to defend themselves against accusations of blasphemy. These included the Persian historian [[Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi|Sharaf-ud-din Ali Yazdi]], author of the [[Zafarnama (Yazdi biography)|''Zafarnama'']], and his teacher Sain-ud-din Turka. The prominent poet and Sufi, [[Qasem-e Anvar]] was expelled from the capital on Shah Rukh's orders. These accusations even went beyond Shah Rukh's court in Herat, with Ma'ruf-i Khattat, a prominent calligrapher under the patronage of Prince [[Baysunghur]], also being arrested and interrogated.<ref>{{harvtxt|Binbas|2016|pp=17–18}}</ref>

The extent to which the Hurufis were involved in the assassination attempt has not yet been clearly established. However, the subsequent purges served to worsen the already strained relations between the Timurid court and the intellectuals of the empire.<ref>{{harvtxt|Binbas|2016|p=18}}</ref>

===Rebellions===
In the early part of his reign, in what was likely an attempt to stave off rebellion amongst his relations, Shah Rukh regularly made transfers between the governorships they held. For example, Khalil Sultan was moved from Samarqand to Rayy, Umar Mirza from Azerbaijan to [[Astrabad]], [[Iskandar (Timurid dynasty)|Iskandar Mirza]] from [[Ferghana]] to [[Hamadan]] to [[Shiraz]] etc.<ref name=Jacksonp103/>

These attempts did not prove to be entirely successful, as Shah Rukh had to repeatedly suppress rebellions by his various family members. Iskandar Mirza, after encouraging his brother to revolt in 1413, himself rebelled and devastated the cities of [[Isfahan]] and [[Kerman]]. [[Bayqara Mirza I|Bayqara]], after his initial defeat in Fars, rebelled once more soon after in Shiraz. These insurrections even continued into Shah Rukh's old age. In 1446, at nearly seventy years old, he had to march against his grandson [[Sultan Muhammad (Timurid)|Sultan Muhammad]], who had revolted in the empire's western provinces.<ref name=Jacksonp103/>