Although the Qizilbash founded the Safavid state and constituted the backbone of its military during the sixteenth century, we know little about their beliefs, rituals, and organizational structure. Scholars envision the Qizilbash as militant, extremist Shi‘ites (ghulat) whose excessive beliefs in the persons of the Safavid shaykhs/shahs created an outburst of politico-military potency that eventually carried the Safavid dynasty to imperial rule. Common wisdom also holds that undisciplined Qizilbash religiosity was incompatible with the regular state order and therefore waned as Twelver Shi'ite ulema and Persian bureaucrats gained the upper hand in the governmental apparatus during the early decades of the sixteenth century. Challenging this vision, the present paper argues that Qizilbash religiosity, which was epitomized in the Safavid Sufi Order, did not wane after the foundation of the state but was transformed into a particular form of religious system that functioned as the unofficial law of the military class. The Qizilbash considered themselves as the disciples of the Safavid Sufi Order until the demise of the dynasty, and the doctrines and rituals of this order, termed "S?figar?” in contemporary Persian sources, provided the organizational infrastructure for the Qizilbash army. Safavid sources include little information about the inner world of the Qizilbash for several reasons. Yet a careful reading of historical works such as ‘?lam?r?-ye ‘Abb?s? of Iskandar Beg Munsh? and Khul?sat al-taw?rikh of al-Qumm? reveals some valuable details concerning their organization, internal discipline, and related matters. Surprisingly, Ottoman sources, such as spy reports, records of the decisions of the imperial council, and chronicles of court historians give more information on the religiosity and organizational structure of the Qizilbash. More importantly, recently discovered literary sources that have been produced and preserved by the Alevi community in Turkey, who are the descendants of the Qizilbash, provides us with a relative wealth of insider information about beliefs and rituals of the Qizilbash. Among them, a book called Man?qib-i Shaykh ?af?, commonly known as Buyruq (Commandment) among Alevis, is particularly important as it explains fundamental beliefs, rituals, and socioreligious institutions of the Qizilbash in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. Combining these three groups of sources, this paper offers a preliminary look at the principal rituals and organizational institutions of the Qizilbash in Iran roughly between 1501 and 1590, from the foundation of the Safavid state to the reforms of Shah ‘Abbas.