At the end of the 15th century, the Safavids overcame the Aq Qoyunlu and started the Safavid Empire. The leader of the Safavid order became shah as Shah Ismail I in 1501. He controlled the lands from Kurdistan to Afghanistan. By the 15th century, the Safavid order had become Shia Muslims, and they had military power with help from Turkmen tribes. Shah Ismail made the Twelvers' Shia Islam the state religion. Many of the Kurds, who were mostly Sunni Muslims, became enemies of the Safavid government. Although some Kurdish emirs joined the Shiites, Shah Ismail took away the authority of many Kurdish emirs. The shah gave the lands of these emirs to the Qizilbash, men who supported the shah's religious ideas.