structural:expansion, linguistic:translation, structural:scholar_edition
Religion

After being crowned at Tabriz in 1501, Shah Ismail I announced the Twelver branch of Shia Islam as the official religion of the Safavid Empire. As a result of this royal order, the mostly Sunni population of Tabriz was force converted to Shiism. Currently, the majority of people are followers of Shia Islam.

The city has a visible Armenian Apostolic minority who follow Christianity. There used to be a small Jewish community, but most of them have moved to Tehran. There is also a small, embattled community of the Baháʼí Faith in the city.