During the fifteenth century, relying on the Qizilbāsh, Shāh Ismāʿīl I established the Safavid empire (1501-1736 CE) in Iran. He claimed that the official religion of his state would be Twelver Shiʿism even though a majority of the population at that time was Sunnī Muslim. Additionally, most of the Shīʿīʿulamāʾ (religious scholars) had immigrated to other countries such as Jabal ʿA ̅mil in Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, and Iraq because of the harsh policies imposed by the previous government. To fulfil his claim, Shāh Ismāʿīl I started to destroy anything related to Sunnī Islam, including the mosques, institutions, and theological schools, and he began to persecute those who did not convert to Shīʿī Islam. More importantly, Safavid rulers, invited renowned Twelver Shīʿī ʿulamāʾ from Arabic-speaking areas, particularly Jabal ʿA ̅mil, to reinforce the Shīʿīʿulamāʾ already in Iran. These Shīʿī ʿulamāʾ especially ʿĀmilīs (the religious scholars ), were assigned to very important administrative positions by the rulers, and they cooperated with the government in different positions. This paper reviews all the administrative positions given to Shīʿī ʿulamāʾ by the Safavid rulers by synthesizing mostly European visitors’ travelogues about Iran from this period. It also explains the Shīʿī ʿulamā’s responsibilities, their duties, the degree of their authority, and the importance of their political positions in order to understand how influential they were, or consequently, how influenced the state was by religion in the Safavid dynasty. Even though neither the Shīʿī ʿulamā in general nor the ʿĀmilīs, in particular, were involved in the formation of the Safavid empire, their foreign origin and thus their dependence on the state guaranteed their loyalty and made them a counterweight to the powerful Qizilbash families. There are two types of official titles forʿulamāʾ in the Safavid empire. The first category consists of official titles for administrative-political positions related to the government, such as Ṣadr, Shaykh al-Islam, Qāḍī, Wakīl al-Ḥalālīya, and Mullābāshī. The second category includes the titles of positions that were not administrative-political in nature but still related to the government. Mujtahid-e Zamān, Muftī, Pishnamāz, Mudarris, Khādimī, and Mufassir belong to the second category. It is also seen that the process of appointing ‘ulamā’ and the rank of the positions, compared with each other, depended on the level of ‘ulamā’, the importance of the city, and the Shah’s opinion. Keywords: Safavid empire; Shīʿī ʿulamāʾ; ʿĀmilīs, Iran history