The oldest extant book on the genealogy of the Safavid family is Safvat as-safa and was written by Ibn Bazzaz in 1350, a disciple of Sheikh Sadr-al-Din Safavi, the son of Sheikh Safi ad-din Ardabili. According to Ibn Bazzaz, the Sheikh was a descendant of a Kurdish man named Firooz Shah Zarrin Kolah who was from Sanjar, southeast of Diyarbakir. The male lineage of the Safavid family given by the oldest manuscript of the Safvat as-Safa is: "Sheykh Safi al-Din Abul-Fatah Ishaaq the son of Al-Sheykh Amin al-din Jebrail the son of al-Saaleh Qutb al-Din Abu Bakr the son of Salaah al-Din Rashid the son of Muhammad al-Hafiz al-Kalaam Allah the son of ‘Avaad the son of Birooz al-Kurdi al-Sanjari." Later Safavid Kings themselves claimed to be Seyyeds,[1] family descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
^In the Silsilat-ol-nasab-i Safawiya (composed during the reign of Shah Suleiman)(1667–1694), written by Shah Hussab ibn Abdal Zahidi, the ancestry of the Safavid is traced back to the first Shi'i Imam as follows:
Shaykh Safi al-din Abul Fatah Eshaq ibn (son of)
Shaykh Amin al-Din Jabrail ibn
Qutb al-din ibn
Salih ibn
Muhammad al-Hafez ibn
Awad ibn
Firuz Shah Zarin Kulah ibn
Majd ibn
Sharafshah ibn
Muhammad ibn
Hasan ibn
Seyyed Muhammad ibn
Ibrahim ibn
Seyyed Ja'afar ibn
Seyyed Muhammad ibn
Seyyed Isma'il ibn
Seyyed Muhammad ibn
Seyyed Ahmad 'Arabi ibn
Seyyed Qasim ibn
Seyyed Abul Qasim Hamzah ibn
Musa al-Kazim ibn
Ja'far As-Sadiq ibn
Muhammad al-Baqir ibn
Imam Zayn ul-'Abedin ibn
Hussein ibn
Ali ibn
Abi Taleb Alayha as-Salam.
There are differences between this and the oldest manuscript of Safwat as-Safa. Seyyeds have been added from Piruz Shah Zarin Kulah up to the first Shi'i Imam and the nisba "Al-Kurdi" has been excised. The title/name "Abu Bakr" (also the name of the first Caliph and highly regarded by Sunnis) is deleted from Qutb ad-Din's name. ُSource: Husayn ibn Abdāl Zāhidī, 17th cent. Silsilat al-nasab-i Safavīyah, nasabnāmah-'i pādishāhān bā uzmat-i Safavī, ta'līf-i Shaykh Husayn pisar-i Shaykh Abdāl Pīrzādah Zāhidī dar 'ahd-i Shāh-i Sulaymnān-i Safavī. Berlīn, Chāpkhānah-'i Īrānshahr, 1924 (1303). 116 pages.
Original Persian language source of the lineage: شیخ صفی الدین ابو الفتح اسحق ابن شیخ امین الدین جبرائیل بن قطب الدین ابن صالح ابن محمد الحافظ ابن عوض ابن فیروزشاه زرین کلاه ابن محمد ابن شرفشاه ابن محمد ابن حسن ابن سید محمد ابن ابراهیم ابن سید جعفر بن سید محمد ابن سید اسمعیل بن سید محمد بن سید احمد اعرابی بن سید قاسم بن سید ابو القاسم حمزه بن موسی الکاظم ابن جعفر الصادق ابن محمد الباقر ابن امام زین العابدین بن حسین ابن علی ابن ابی طالب علیه السلام