Selim I, after struggling successfully against his brothers for the throne of the Ottoman Empire, is free to turn his attention to the internal unrest he believed was stirred up by the Shia Qizilbash, who have sided with other members of the dynasty against him and had been semi-officially supported by Bayezid II.

Selim now fears that they will incite the population against his rule in favor of Shah Ismail, leader of the Shia Safavids, and by some of his supporters believed to be family of the Prophet.

Selim secures a jurist opinion that describes Ismail and the Qizilbash as "unbelievers and heretics" enabling him to undertake extreme measures on his way eastward to pacify the country.

In response, Shah Ismail accuses Sultan Selim of aggression against fellow Muslims, violating religious sexual rules and shedding innocent blood.