sentences:  Allahverdi was born a Christian Georgian, surnamed Undiladze.Like many of his compatriots and fellow Christian Georgians, Armenians and Circassians, he was taken prisoner in the course of one of the Caucasian campaigns of shah Tahmasp I of Persia and converted to Islam to be trained for service in the "gholam" army, a special military structure consisting of Christian captives that was created later by Abbas I to counterpoise the power of the Qizilbash, which constituted the nucleus of the Safavid military aristocracy.In 1589, he took part in the assassination of the powerful minister ("vakil") and kingmaker Morshed-Kholi Khan Ostaglu, who was secretly condemned to death by shah Abbas I.