The Persian
Revolution of 1905-1909
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THE PERSIAN REVOLUTION
OF 1905-1909
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[This page contains a photograph of the man named below.]
Siyyid Jamalu'Din "al-Afghan"
(died March 9, 1897)
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THE
PERSIAN REVOLUTION
OF 1905- 1909
[By]
EDWARD G. BROWNE
NEW YORK
BARNES & NOBLE, INC.
Publishers Booksellers Since 1873
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[THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY BLANK.]
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
CHAP.
I. Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din, the Protagonist of Pan-Islamism . . . 1
II. The Tobacco Concession and its consequences . . . . . . . . 31
III.
The Assassination of Nasiru'd-Din Shah . . . . . . . . . . 59 IV.
The
Granting of the Constitution by Muzaffaru'd-Din Shah . 98
V. Muhammad 'Ali Shah and the Constitution, until the
abortive Coup d'Etat of December, 1907 . . . . . . . . . . 133
VI. The Anglo-Russian Agreement, as seen through Persian
eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
VII. The Coup d'Etat of June 23, 1908, and Destruction of the
first Majlis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
VIII. The Defence of Tabriz. First Period: June-December,
1908 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
IX. The Fall of Tabriz and the Rising of the Provinces . . . . 259
X. The Nationalist Triumph, the Abdication of Muhammad 'Ali,
and the Restoration of the Constitution . . . . . . . . . . 292
XI. The Accession of Sultan Ahmad Shah, and the Convocation
of the second Majlis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
APPENDIX A. The Bases of the Persian Constitution, namely:
(i) The Farman of August 5, 1906 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
(ii) The Electoral Law of September 9, 1906 . . . . . . . . . . 355
(iii) The Fundamental Laws of December 30, 1906 . . . . . . . . . 362
(iv) The Supplementary Fundamental Laws of October 7,
1907 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
(v) The New Electoral Law of July 1, 1909 . . . . . . . . . . . 385
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APPENDIX B. Notes embodying additional information received
while the book was passing through the Press, namely:
(1) Memorandum on Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din by Mr Wilfred
Scawen Blunt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
(2) Hajji Sayyah, Furughi and the I'timadu's-Saltana . . . . . 404
(3) M. Antoine Kitabji . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
(4) Mirza Ahmad of Kirman and Siyyid Hasan . . . . . . . . . . 405
(5) Hajji Shaykh Hadi Najm-abadi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
(6) The Amiriyya Palace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
(7) Shamsu'l-'Ulama and Aminu'z-Zarb . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
(8) Execution of Mirza Riza of Kirman . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
(9) Shaykh Ahmad"Ruhi"of Kirman and his two companions . . . . 409
(10) Characters of Muzaffaru'd-Din Shah and of the
Aminu'd-Dawla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
(11) The Qiwamu'd-Dawla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
(12) Shapshal Khan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
(13) The Anjuman-i-Makhft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
(14) The Sipahsalar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
(15) Fatwa on the Rights of Zoroastrians . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
(16) Attitude of Baha'is towards Persian Politics . . . . . . . 424
(17) A Russian view of British Foreign Policy . . . . . . . . . 429
(18) The Mujallalu's-Sultan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
(19) Original texts of the Liakhoff Documents . . . . . . . . . 432
(20) The Moving Spirits of the Rasht Rising . . . . . . . . . . 436
(21) Mr H. C. Baskervil]e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
(22) Sattar Khan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
(23) Persia aud the Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443
(24) Execution of Shaykh Fazlu'llah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
(25) The Fate of certain prominent Reactionaries, especially
the Muwaqqaru's-Saltana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
(1) Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din"al-Afghan". . . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece
(2) Prince Malkom Khan . . . . . . . . . . . . . .To face p. 38
(3) Nisiru'-Din Shah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ." " 58
(4) Mirza Muhammad Riza of Kirman . . . . . . . . . . " " 62
(5) Three of Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din's disciples . . . . ." " 94
(6) Muzaffaru'd-Din Shah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ." " 98
(7) Siyyid Muhammad-i-Tabataba'i and and Siyyid
'Abdu'llahi-Bahbahani . . . . . . . . . . . . . ." " 114
(8) Cartoons from the Hashardtu'l-Arz . . . . . . . . " " 116
(9) Members of the First Majlis . . . . . . . . . . . " " 124
(10) Taqi-zada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ." " 130
(11) Muhammad 'Ali Shah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 132
(12) The Aminn's- Sultan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ." " 140
(13) The Salar'ud- Dawla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ." " 142
(14) Shaykh Fazlu'llah- i-Nuri . . . . . . . . . . . ." " 148
(15) 'Abbas Aqa of Tabriz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 150
(16) The Nasiru'l-Mulk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ." " 162
(17) Mirza Ghaffar of Qazwin . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 166
(18) Map of Persia, shewing the"Spheres of Influence" " " 172
(19) The Zillu's-Sultan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 196
(20) Amir Bahadur Jang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 198
(21) Aqa Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din of Isfahan and the
Maliku'l-Mutakallimin . . . . . . . . . . . . . ." " 204
(22) Mirza Jahangir Khan and Hajji Mirza Ibrahim Aqa ." " 208
(23) Two Picture Post-cards of the Revolution . . . . " " 210
(24) Colonel V. Liakhoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 212
(25) The Baharistan after the Bombardment . . . . . . " " 224
(26) Facsimile of Persian Siege-map of Tabriz . . . . .between pp.
248-9
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(27) Siyyids and National Volunteers of Tabriz . . . . To face p. 252
(28) The three great Mujtahids who supported the
National Cause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 262
(29) The Bakhtiyari liberators of Isfahan . . . . . . " " 266
(30) Dervishes in camp outside Isfahan . . . . . . . ." " 268
(31) A Nationalist Council at Rasht . . . . . . . . . " " 292
(32) House of 'Adu'l-Mulk at Tabriz . . . . . . . . . " " 294
(33) Bakhtiyaris in camp outside Isfahan . . . . . . ." " 298
(34) Group of National Volunteers at Rasht . . . . . ." " 300
(35) Bakhtiyaris in camp outside Isfahan . . . . . . ." " 302
(36) Constitutionalists in refuge at the Ottoman
Embassy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ." " 304
(37) Bakhtiyaris mustering in the Maydan at Isfahan . " " 306
(38) The Sipahdar and the Sardar- i-As'ad . . . . . . ." " 308
(39) Bakhtiyaris in camp outside Isfahan . . . . . . ." " 310
(40) Bakhtiyari Khans with the guns . . . . . . . . . " " 316
(41) Sultan Ahmad Shah and the Regent 'Azudu'l-Mulk . " " 324
(42) Shapshal Khan and Sa'du'd-Dawla . . . . . . . . ." " 418
(43) Facsimile of Fatwa on the rights of Zoroastrians p. 422
(44) Facsimile of Letter to Persia Committee . . . . . p. 423 (45)
Mu'izzu's-Sultan and Yeprem Khan . . . . . . . . . . ." " 436
(46) Sattar Khan the Defender and Rahim Khan the
Besieger of Tabriz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 440
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ERRATA
[The errata page was not reproduced here because all the suggested
changes were made to the electronic text directly.]
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POSTSCRIPT
Although incidental mention is made of a few matters (such as the
trial
and execution of the Muwaqqaru's Saltana) which belong to the earlier
part of this current year (1910) the systematic narrative ceases with
the restoration of the Constitution and the occurrernces immediately
connected therewith. No attempt has been made to deal with the most
recent events, of which the assassination of Siyyid 'Abdu'llah-i-
Bahbahani (July 15); the withdrawal of Taqi-zada from the capital to
Tabriz (about August 1); the bombardment and forcible disarmament of
the
fida'is (August 7, 1910); the wounding of Sattar Khan and the
pensioning
of him and Baqir Khan; the intrigues of the Sipahaar-i-A'zam; the
recent
attempt of the Russians to extort concessions as the price of the
withdrawal of their troops (an attempt at blackmailing against which
even the Times has protested); and the death of the late Regent,
'Zudu'l-Mulk, on Sept. 22, are the most important. The accession of
Sultan Ahmad Shah and the restoration of the Constitution mark the
beginning of a new epoch, which in the future may fitly form the
subject
of a new volume.
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PREFACE
[Calligraphic script heads this page; presumably its translation into
English follows below.]
"Ne'er may that evil-omened day befall
When Iran shall become the stranger's thrall!
Ne'er may I see that virgin fair and pure
Fall victim to some Russian gallant's lure!
And ne'er may Fate this angel-bride award
As serving-maiden to some English lord!"
(Verses written in prison at Trebizonde by Mirza Aqa Khan of Kirman in
1896, shortly before he suffered death.)
It is always, I think, helpful to the reader if at the very
threshold of his book the author will indicate in general terms
the thought which underlies it and the point of view from which
it has been written. Now this book, though, in view of the
difficulty of fully examining or impartially criticising contemporary
events, I have not ventured to entitle it a history,
is in fact intended for such; and I have naturally endeavoured
first to collect, co-ordinate and weigh all available information, and
then to present as faithful a summary of the conclusions to
which it has led me as I have been able to frame. It is a
truism, but likewise a truth, and a truth, moreover, often overlooked
in practice, that, even when there is agreement as to the
facts of a case, there will be differences of opinion not only as to
their interpretation in matters of detail, but as to the verdict to
which they lead. Argument can only be fruitful when there is
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a basis of agreement. If two travellers wish to go to Penzance
they can discuss with profit the best way of getting there; but
if one wishes to go to Penzance and the other to John o'Groat's
House, such discussion is obviously futile.
To apply this principle to the present case. In all that
have written in this book I have implicitly assumed:
(1) That in this world diversity, not uniformity, is the
higher law and the more desirable state.
(2) That everything in this world has its own generic
perfection, or, as the Babis quaintly phrase it, its own Paradise,
which
is only attainable by the realization of its own highest
potentialities, not by the adoption or attempted adoption of the
attributes of something else.
(3) That, whether it be a question of individuals or nations, the
destruction of a distinctive type is a loss to the universe and
therefore an evil.
These doctrines or dogmas, like all dogmas which rest on a
philosophical conception of the universe and have been not only
accepted but assimilated, necessarily colour one's whole view of the
many questions to which they relate. But they are, perhaps,
rather "the choice of a soul" than matters susceptible of proof.
Suppose I have a beautiful garden filled with flowers of innumerable
kinds which I love and which fills me with gladness
and pride, and suppose some utilitarian bids me dig up and cast
away these beautiful flowers, and plant the garden with potatoes or
cabbages, or even with one kind of beautiful Rower only, on
the ground that I shall thereby make more money, or produce a
more useful crop, I cannot argue with him, I can on]y oppose
him with all my strength. And when people say (as, unhappily,
many people in this country do say) that Persia is a backward
country, which, in the hands of its own people cannot be
"developed," or only very slowly, and that the best thing that
can happen is that some European Power, whether England or
Russia, should step in and "develop" it, whether its people like
it or not, I feel as I do about the flower-garden, that no material
prosperity, no amount of railways, mines, gaols, gas, or drainage can
compensate the world, spiritually and intellectually, for the loss of
Persia. And this is what the occupation and administration
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of Persia by foreigners would inevitably mean, if it
endured long; and experience shews that "temporary" occupations
of the territories of weak peoples by great European
Powers can only be called "temporary" in the sense that they
will presumably not be eternal.
To discuss the general question of the value of small
nationalities would, however, unduly enlarge this Preface; but,
even those (and in these days they are, alas! many) who would
deny this value will perhaps admit that certain exceptional
races, such as the Greeks in Europe, have contributed so
much to the spiritual, intellectual and artistic wealth of the
human race that they have an exceptional claim on our
sympathies, and that their submergence must be reckoned a
calamity which no expediency can justify. What Greece owes
to this feeling is known to all, and I suppose that few would
deny that modern Greece owes her independence to her ancient
glories. And Persia, I venture to think, stands, in this respect, in
the
same category. Of all the ancient nations whose names
are familiar to us Persia is almost the only one which still exists as
an independent political unit within her old frontiers (sadly
contracted, it is true, since Darius the Great caused to be engraved
on
the rocks of Bagastana or Bisutun, in characters still
legible, the long list of the provinces which obeyed him and
brought him tribute), inhabited by a people still wonderfully
homogeneous, considering the vicissitudes through which they
have passed, and still singularly resembling their ancient forbears.
Again and again Persia has been apparently submerged
by Greeks, Parthians, Arabs, Mongols, Tartars, Turks and
Afghans; again and again she has been brolcen up into petty
states ruled by tribal chiefs; and yet she has hitherto always
reemerged as a distinct nation with peculiar and well-marked
idiosyncrasies.
But it is not so much on the political rdle which she has
played in the world's history that I wish to insist as on her
intellectual induence. In the sphere of religion she gave us
Zoroaster, to whose system Judaism, Christianity and Islam
alike are indebted in different degrees; Manes, who, if not of
Persian blood, was a Persian subject, and made Persia the centre
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of that strange and original creed which for many centuries so
profoundly affected both Christianity and Islam, and of which
recent excavations in the sand-buried cities of Chinese Turkistan have
revealed such wonderful literary remains; Mazdak, the
earliest philosophical Communist; Babak called al-K4urramI,
who for so many years defied the armies of the 'Abbasid
Caliphs; al-Mu4anna "the Veiled Prophet of Khurasan," made
familiar to English readers by Thomas Moore and a host of
others, whose very heresies and extravagances testify to the
fertile mind of the nation which produced them. What Islam,
both orthodox and heterodox, owed to Persia it is almost impossible to
exaggerate; Sufis, Isma'll(s, the ShI'a, the Hurufis,
the Babis, all alike reflect the subtle metaphysics of the Persian
mind.
Throughout the wi`3e ]ands of Islam we are met, almost
at every turn, by something which has its roots in Persian
history, whether in Tunis, where the now decaying port of
al-Mahdiyya recalls the dream of 'Abu'llah ibn Maymun of the
ruin of the Arabian and the restoration of the Persian power; or in
Cairo, where the thousand-year-old University of al-Azhar
reminds us of the fulfilment of that wild dream; or in Syria,
where the ancient fastnesses of the "Old Man of the Mountain"
still hold a remnant of his followers, while hard by Acre sends
forth eager missionaries of a new Persian faith to the New
World In Turkey, and thence eastwards to India and Turkistan,
the signs of Persian influence increase, and alike the language, the
thought and the culture of the Turkish and Indian Muslim
are redolent of Persia.
On the value of Persian art and Persian literature it is hardly
necessary to insist, for the beautiful carpets, tiles, pottery and
IJaintings of Persia are esteemed by all who value such things,
ancl though the vast realms of Persian literature have been
systematically explored by only a few in Europe, the names
of some of her poets at least, Firdawsi, Sa'dl, Hafiz, and in
these latter days, especially in the Anglo-Saxon world,'Umar
Khayyam, are known to all educated people, and are reckoned
amongst the great poets of the world. Nor, in considering what
literature owes to persia' must we limit our attention to Persian
literature, for Arabic literature too, if deprived of the
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contributions made to it by Persians, would lose much of what
is best in it. And if modern science owes little to Persia, the
name of Avicenna alone is sufficient to remind us how deeply
medieval Europe, as well as A_ia, was indebted to one of her
sons for nearly all that was then known of Philosonhv and
Medicine. In short so conspicuous was the pre-eminence of the
Persians in all branches of know Prophet Muhammad (reported amongst
others by Ibn Khaldun)
runs:
[Calligraphic script follows.]
"Were knowledge in the Pleiades, some of the Persians would reach it."
So much for the intellectual and artistic gifts of the Persians. As to
their character, opinions have varied, for while all who
know them have admitted their wit, their quickness of mind, their
pleasant manners, their agreeable address, their amusing conversation,
their hospitality and dignity, they have been charged
with falsehood, treachery, cowardice, cruelty, subserviency, lack of
principles, instability of purpose, and corrupt morals. These vices
were
undeniably common amongst the creatures of the
Court, with whom naturally Europeans having official positions
in Persia come most in contact, but few who have mixed ofl
intimate terms with all classes of the people, and especially the
middle
class, will assert that these vices are general, or will deny that
where
they exist they are largely the outcome of the intolerable system of
government against which the movement
described in these pages is a protest. Conventional falsehoods,
or "white lies," which deceive nobody, are not confined to the
Persians: we a]so say that we are"not at home"when we are
in, and"much regret"having to decline invitations which nothing
would induce us to accept. That the Persians are by no means
devoid of courage is admitted even by those who have criticised
them very harshly in some respects. R. G. Watson (A History
of Persia in...the Nineteenth Century, p. 10) says that "they ride
courageously at full speed over the very worst ground, and by
the very brinks of the most appalling precipices"; that "they
are utter strangers to the fear that comes of physical nervousness and
that "when their courage fails them, as it too often
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does, the fact is to be attributed to moral causes. "Their soldiers he
describes (p. 24) as remarkably hardy, patient and enduring,
requiring scarcely any haggage, and able to march thirty miles
a day for many successive days, while living on nothing but
bread and onions." "No troops in the world," he says in another
place (p. 200)," it may be safely asserted, are capable of so much
continued endurance of fatigue as are the veteran soldiers of
Persia. "So again (p. z`8), in speaking of the defeat of the
Persians by the ltussians at the battle of Ganja in '826, he says,
CouLl the Shah have convinced himse~of the fact that in his
hardy and obedient subjects he possessed the material for an
army capable at any time of defending his dominions against
invaders, provided that his tro~ps should be properly drilled, the I
lesson would have been cheaply paid for by the disaster of
Ganja. "Again (p. g3), he describes" a forced march which
only Persian troops could accomplish," in which (in ~835) they
traversed a distance of eighty miles in little more than thirty
I hours. And once more (on p. 387) he asserts that"Persian
soldiers are beyond comparison the most hardy, enduring and
I patient troops in the world," and adds that"had the adminis
tration oF the A''tr-~-lVizzi~c (Mirza Taqi Khan) been prolonged, the
King of Persia would have been the master of an army of
one hundred thousand men, regularly drilled and accoutred."
And in describing the battle of Muhammara (March 26, '857),
when the Persians were defeated by the English' he says
(P 45~)-'~TEle Persian artillery and the troops in the batterie;s i
had
acted as vvell as they could have been expected to behave'; they had
served their guns well, and had not shrunk from exposure and labour."
But it is not in the conscript soldiers of a despQlic hth that we
must look for the highest manifestations of Persian courage. It is
when
the Persian is inspired by that enthusiasm for a
person, a doctrine or a cause of which he is so susceptible
that his heroism becomes transcendental. If the Babis have
done nothing else, they have at least sheun how Persians,
when exalted by enthusiasm, can meet death and the most
horrible tortures imaginable, not merely with stoicism but with
ecstasy. Every student of their history, from Gobineau, Kazim
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Beg and Renan onwards, has been equally impressed by this
phonomenon. Without dwelling anew on the history of the
earlier martyrs of 1850 and 185-~; of the Bab's companion in
death resisting the prayers of his wife and children that he would
save
his life by a simple recantation; of Mulla Isma'il of Qum
laughing and the aged dervish Mirza Qurban-iAli reciting poetry
under the headsman's knife; of Sulayman Khan, his body flaming
with lighted w~cks, going with dancin~ and song to his death;
of the patient endurance of abominable sufferings b,y the
beautiful Qurratu'l-iAyn, and of a hundred others, let us see
w~at a missionary in Yazd, writing five years ago, has to say
on this subject!. Pemans have _~y strong notions of ~loyalty
to~th to causes a_d_to individua~ he says (p. ~38,)."Nothing
has brought this out more than the history of the Ei,ab' movemeet,
whichl has certainly exhibited the strength of Persian
character. Boys and young men have in this movement~
willingly undergone the most terrible tortures~ viceJ
of dh5~: spiritua~hers and the common cause~ ' passive
courage," he says in another place (p. t55)," the Yazdi possesses to a
very high degree, b,ut he must have a cause for which he
cares sufficiently, if this courage is to be called out. If the
terrible B',ab,' massacres that h~ave taken place from time to time in
Persia have proved nothing else, they have at least strewn
that there is grit somewhere in Persian character. The way in
~vhich mere lads in Yazd went to their death in that ghastly
sumn~er of ~-go3 was wonde~uL...The early Babis shewed good
fighting qualities in the north of Persea,as well as passive courage,
and, as they were chie~dy townsmen, we may presume that there
are military possibilities in the Persian people, even amongst
those who dwell in cities. "And again (p. '76)," the thing which
has opened people's eyes to the enormous strength of Persian
character under partially favourable moral conditions, is the
in which t~le [,abls have exposed themselves to martyrdom, and
have stood firm to their beliefs and cause under tortures too,
horrible for description"And though this writer, who knew
the Persians well, is by no means sparing in his criticism of
certain sides of their character, he concludes his discussion of
1. Five Years in a Persian Town, by Napier Malcolm, London, 1905.
+Pxviii
it (p. 185) as follows:"Most Europeans who have lived in Persia
find it rather difficult to explain why they like the people. In the
Yazdi there is certainly much to lament, but there is something to
admire, and very much more to like. A people who are
open-handed, good-natured, affectionate,not always extravagantly
conceited, and above all intensely human, are a people one cannot help
getting to like when one lives among them for any time."
Such quotations might be multiplied indefinitely, but I think
that those already given will suffice to shew that I am not alone in
believing that the Persians possess very real virtues, and are
capable,
under happier conditions than those which till lately
prevailed, of recovering the position to which their talents entitle
them. It u ill be observed that those who speak slightingly and
contemptuously of them arc generally citller exponents of Wel`f~olitz,
wllo, because they E~spire to "think in continents," cannot
spare time to investigate with patience and form an independent
judgement of national character; or globe-trotters, who, after a hasty
journey from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea, retail
the stories and opinions they have picked up from Europeans
whom they have met on the way, always with a view to the
entertainment of their readers, and often with preconceived ideas
derived from experiences of other Eastern lands which differ as
much from Persia as Norway does from E'ortugal; or disappointed
concess?on?lalres; or cynical and blase diplomatists.
Those, on the other hand, who have had intimate relations
with the Persrans and are acquainted with their language have
generally found, as Mr Napier Malcolm found, much that is
]oveable and not a little that is admirable in their character.
Speaking for myself, I confess to a very sincere affection for
them! an~a-conviction tl~at the best type of Persian is not onl
the ,~IElFghttul companion ima~inable. but can be one of
the most ~t ful and devoted friends whom it is possible to
The supporters of the movement whereof I have attempted
in the following pages to describe the genesis and trace the
development and history ;~re indifferently spoken of as
"Constitutionalists" (Mashrzi~a kI~JaJ~) and "Nationalists" (Millarf).
Mash,-~ta means"conditior~ed"as opposed to`'absolute"government
+Pxix
and Mashruta-khwah means one who desires such"conditioned"
or constitutional rule, instead of the old autocracy or
absolutism (fstiba'ad?, which made the King the uncontrolled
arbiter of his people's destinies, and the unquestioned master of
their
lives, honour and possessions. Miliat means"the Peopie"
or "the Nation," and is opposed to Dar''ia`, "the State," 'the
Government,', or practically, under the old regime, `' the Court." The
MasAnita-kf~w~, or Constitutionalist, is opposed to the
Musfahzdd, or partisan of the Autocracy, and perhaps these
terms might best be rendered by"Parliamentarian"and
"Royalist. "Here the antithesis is natural and familiar
enough, but the antithesis between the Milla~ and the
Da7vCa'! needs a few words of comment. Undcr ideal conditions
it is evident that there should bc 110 such antithesis,
and that the interests of the State (Dawlat) and of the People or
Nation
(AlilIRf) should be identical, or at least closely related. And the
Persians are by nature so obedient and so loyal to their Kings
`,`"SI'aJ~-parast" 'King-worshippers," as they say) that I do not
myself believe that the demand for o ular or constitutlonal government
would have arisen at all, or at any rate in our
time, if recent Shahs of Persia had strewn themselves even
moderately patriotic, or just, or far-sighted. Against a Shah
Isma'il, an 'Abbes the Great, or a Karim Khan the Persians
would never have revolted. It was when they l~ecame convinced
that their country was despised abroad, that their intere*ts were
betrayed for a vile price, and that their religion and their
independent
existence as a nation were alike threatened with
destruction, that they began to demand a share in the government of
their country. Many European journalists and other
writers have made merry over the idea of a Persian Parliament,
repeating like so many parrots the expression"comic opera"on
almost every page. Yet I venture to think that there was more
reality and more grim determination in this Persian struggle
than in our own English politics, with their lack oF gniding
principles, their conferences, their coalitions, and their sham
conflicts. Throughout the struggle the Persians have consciously been
fighting for their very existence as a Nation,
and in this sense the popular or constitutional party may very
+Pxx
properly be termed"Nationalists. "Yet having regard to
prejudices existing in England, especially at the present timer
the term is not altogether a happy one, and has undoubtedly
done much to prejudice a considerable section of English
opinion against those to whom it is applied. Most men are
ruled by names rather than by ideas, and I have no doubt
that many a staunch Unlonist and many an Anglo-lndian
or Anglo-Egyptian official has transferred to the so-called
"Nationalists" of Persia all the prejudices with which this
term is associated in his mind. The main point, however, on
which I wish to insist is that in Persia the party which is
variously termed" Nationalist," (:onstitutionalist" and "Popular"
is essentially the patriotic party, which stands for progress,
freedom, tolerance, and above all for national independence
and i' Persia for the Persiar~s," and that it was primarily called
into
existence, as will be fully set forth in the following pages, by the
short-sighted, selfish and unpatriotic policy inaugurated Nasiru'd-Din
Shah under the malign influence of the ex-Shah Muhammad 'Ali.
And now a few words as to this book. Not willingly or
without regret have I forsaken for a while the pleasant paths of
Persian
literature to enter into the arid deserts of international politics.
But
the call was imperious and the summons urgent
to neglect nothing of that little which lay in my power in order to
arouse in the hearts of rny countrymen some sympathy for
a people who have, in my opinion, hitherto received less than
they deserve. Powerful interests and prejudices have been
against them, and misapprehensions as to their aims and motives
have prevailed. These misapprehensions I trust that this book
may serve in some measure to dispel.
There are, as 1 am well aware, others who could, if they
would, write a much better and more authoritative account of
the Persian Kevolution than this, but to most of them is applicable
Sa'di's well-knownn line:
[Calligraphic script follows.]
"He who possesses information, repeats if not";
+Pxxi
or the equally familiar verse:
[Calligraphic script follows.]
"He takes the tongue from the guardians of the secret,
Lest they should repeat the secret of the King."
That I have not myself been privileged to witness the events
here described is, I readily admit, a serious disqualification.
But, on the other hand, I have seen and conversed with not a
few of the principal actors ;n these events, while many correspondents
in Persia, both Persians and Europeans, friends and
strangers, knowing, the intensity of my interest in all that
touches Persia's welfare, have been kind enough to communicate
to me a mass of information, out of which, in addition to
what has been published in Blue Books and White Books and
in the Persian and European newspapers, I have endeavoured
to construct a coherent, and, I trust, a critical narrative. And
inasmuch as fro~m mv eighteenth year onwards, that is for
thirty years, hardly a day has passed on which I have not read,
written or spoken Per_an, striving always to penetrate furthe;r
into the spirit of the langua3;e and the mind of the people of
Persial it is possible that I may have entered more fully
into Elicir thoughts! hopes and ideals than many foreigners who
have spent a much longer time in the country than myself.
Moreover the publication of this book will certainLy elicit
information which would otherwise remain hidden and eventually
be lost, just as the publication in Januaryl 1909, of my
Short Ac`:oz~n~ of Recen' ~vents iJZ Persia led directly to the
publication of the excellent"History of the Awakening of the
Persians"(7~a'ri~h-i-Biciariy-i-/raniyaiz) which I have so often had
occasion to cite in these pages.
The system of transliteration of E;ersian names and words
adopted in this book is essentially the same as that which
I have employed in previous works, but I have been more consistent
(some
of my critics will, no doubt, say ' more pedantic")
in its application than heretofore. Persian phonetics are very
simple-simpler than Arabicl where the hard or"coarse"consonants
modify the vowel-sounds! and much simpler than
Turkish-and there is no occasion to complicate them by
+Pxxii
adopting on the one hand Arabic and Turkish pronunciations
such as "Mohammed"(Mahommed," and, still worse, "Mahomed,"
"Mahomet," "Mehmed," end the like, are monstrosities
of which no Orientalist should countenance the use), or, on the
other hand, usages based upon the phonetics of French and
German. There are in Persian only three vowel-sounds, each
of which may be long or short; and it is essential, both to
correct pronunciation and to correct comprehension, to distinguish the
long vowels either by a long mark, or (which I
prefer) by an acute accent. These vowels are:
a (short) as in "man "; a (long) as in "all ";
i (short) , "sin"; ~ (long) , "machine";
~ (short) , "pull"; ~ (long) , "rule"or "pool."
There are also two so-called diphthongs, consisting of the short a
followed by one or other of the weak consonants zo and y.
Of these aw is pronounced exactly as the same combination
is pronounced in Welsh (t' mawr "), or like the English on
("house," "out"), or like the German au ("auf," "aus"); while
ay is pronounced like the English ey in "hay," "may." There
is therefore no occasion to use e and o at all, nor, as a matter of
fact, do those who use them do so consistently. ~hose who
write "Yezd," "Resht," "Enzeli," and the like (to indicate,
presumably,
that the vowel is short), should, to be consistent, also
write "Tebriz," "Hemedan," and "Isfehan. "And if it be said
that some of these inconsistencies are sanctioned by usage, and
that they ought not to be altered, the answer is that it is both
easier
and more philosophical to transliterate on a fixed and
definite principle than to decide in each case whether a given
spelling has or has not been sanctioned by usage. Therefore
even in the case of the most familiar place-names I have rigorously
applied the system which I have adopted, writing always
"Tihran" (not "Teheran"), "Anzal "(not "Enzeli "), "Najaf"
and "Karbala "(not "Nejef" and "Kerbela"). Similarly, in
speaking of the Babis, I have abandoned the spellings "Ezeli"
and "Beha'i," which I formerly used, in Favour of "Azali" and
"Baha'i." It must also be borne in mind that in the case of
Arabic derivatives, which are of constant occurrence in Persian
+Pxxiii
and enter into almost all Persian titles, not only the pronunciation
but also the meaning is often altered by an alteration
in the quantity of a vowel. Thus from the root 7lasara, "to
help,~' we have the verbal noun ?tasr, "help"; the active participle
Hasir, "helper"; and a passive form nasfr, "helped";
and each oF these forms commonly occurs as a component part
of such names or titles as lVasn''d-D~z ("the Help of Religion"),
lVasir'~'a`-Dfiz ("the Helper of Religion "), and Nasirz~'d-Dfn
t' Helped bv Religion "). Were there only the one form, it
would not so much matter if it were inaccurately spelt, since
any scholar who wished to look the word up in the index of an
Oriental history or biography would know what the correct
spelling was; but in the case under consideration the slovenly
transliteration "Nassr-ed-Din"(favoured by the 7~i'~es) leaves
it quite uncertain (apart from particular knowledge of the person or
titles is
meant, and so, in consulting an Oriental index, the three
possibilities must all be kept in view, a circumstance which
causes needless embarrassment to anyone using Oriental as well
as European books. It is not, therefore, mere pedantry which
demands an adequate discrimination.
Although he Persian alphabet comprises 3z letters (ie. the
28 letters of the Arabic alphabet with four additional letters,
~ _ _
,t cJz, zYz and hard ~, required to express sounds occurring ig
Persian
but not in Arabic), the number of consonantal sounds
actually distinguishable does not exceed, if it reaches, ~4, since the
modern Persians (as their own grammarians admit) do not
(unless they affect, as some of the learned do, somewhat of the
Arabian pronunciation) distinguish between ~ (~), , (s) and
,~o (s), ail of which they pronounce like English s in "sin "(never
like
s?; or between ~ (0 and ~ (~); or between S (dJ~), j (z),
'o (z) and ~ (z or dJ2); or between ~ (~) and ~& (~); while the
guttural consonant 'ay'i (') is pronounced feebly, if at all, save by
those who have been influenced by Arabic. Leaving this
out of account, the following 23 symbols represent all tl~e con
sonantal sounds actually employed in Persian: [, ,t, d, t, j (as in
"jam
"), cJ' (as in "churcl1 "), ~ (always aspirated, not only at the
beginning but in the middle and at the end of words), ~ (like
alluded to) which of these equally possible names
+Pxxiv
Welsh or German ch, Spanish j or x, or modern &reek X, never
like k), z, zh (French ,; or the z in "azure "), s, ski, ~ (always
hard,
as in "garden "), B;~ ~ like modern Greek, something like the
Northumbrian r or French rg:rasse,~ri), ~ (much harder and
produced much more deeply in the throat than k), f, r (always
trilled, as in Italian, and never affecting the quality or quantity of
the preceding vo~vel, as in English), f, "z, n, w (inclining to u when
placed between two vowels), and y. Of these sounds
the gutturals kh, gh ano especially 4 are the only ones which
present an), difficulty to an Englishman, and a correct pronunciation
of these is most important if it be desired to avoid
some very grotesque and awkward confusions of "ords It is
best for one who cannot master the correct pronunciation of
these letters to pronounce ~ like, not like k; and gh and y
like hard g, as in ' gold," l~ut these are, of course, only
approximations. The aspiration c~f the h in the middle and at the end
of words also needs attention.
Something must also be said concerning Persian names and
titles, which are ~ery con fusing to foreigners. There are in
Persia no surnames and the number of names in ~eneral use
is not very lar~e, the commonest being those of the Pronhet and
the twelve llrams; the same with a prefix or suffix indicatin~
"servant of..."(eg:. Ghulam 'All, 'Ali-qull, Husayn-qull, Mabdiq~.);
the combir~ation of 'Abd (servant or slave) u ith one of
the Names or Attril~utes of God (e.g. 'Abdu'llah, 'Abdu'r-Rahman,
'Abdu'l-Wahhab, etc.); so~ne names of months (e.g. Ramazan,
Safar, Rajab, generally in combination with a name like 'Ali,
such as Rajab'Alf, Safar 'All); and some old Persian na;nes,
like llustam, Isfandiyar, Elahram, Bahman, etc. Thus ~the
number of Persians bearing na~ncs like Muhammad 'A1l, 'All
Muhammad, MuhalT~mad Hasan, Muhammad Husayn, etc., is so
lar~e that further d~stinction is essential, and this is effected
partly
by prefixing such titles as lJsta, Aqa, Mirza (which, however,
if it iO/f~US the name instead of preceding it, means "Prince "2,
MuLla,
Siyyid, Ha~ji, Kart~ala'i, Mashhadl, and the like; partly by adding
after the name an epithet indicating the town tr,
which the person in question belongs (as Isfahanl, Shiraz;,
S'azd~ or the trade which he follows (as Kit~-f~`rdsh, "the
+Pxxv
bookseller," Nu~z~d-biriz, "the pea-percher," Pfa-dde, "the
cobbler," Sarr4, "the saddler "), or a nick-name, derived from
some personal peculiarity (as Kay-kz~ldh, "Crooked-cap ").
A large proportion of Persians belonging to the official and
learned classes have a title as well as a name and the multitude and
grandiloquence of these titles ~vere severely criticized even in the
eleventh century of our era by the ~reat historian, antiouarY and
mathematician Abu Ravhan aE Blrunl. Those conferred
~ on off;cks are generally compounded with the words ~z~
("Kingdom "), Oawla ("State "), Saita7za ("Sovereignty "),
Sz~ltan ("Sovereign"), etc., e.g. A'nz'~z~c's-S~Ifan ('~he Trusted of
the King"), A)~fn~'d-Dawla ("the Tr~sted of the State",
Wasir'~'l-AluIk "the Helper of the Kin~dom "), 'Ayn?''d-Dawla
("the Eye of the titate "), Mushit7`'d-Sallana ("the Counsellor of the
Sovereignty "), Sa'dz~'d-Dawla ('' the Fortune of the
State"), A?`'tarnad-i-~ian ("the Confidant of the Prince"),
and the like. Military officers have such titles as Sardar-i-As'ad
("the
Most Fortunate Captail'") and Sipal~dar-i-A'~am. ("the
Most Mighty General"), while for doctors of Divinity titles like
Sha~ns?`'l-'lJ/ama ("the Sun of the Learned "), and for physicians
titles like 17akhr'~'l-Atib~ (4'the Pride of Physicians") are deemed
more appropriate. One who possesses a title is generally known
_by_rather than bv his nam~ but if he dies, or is disgraced, or
promoted to a higher title, his original title becomes free, and may
be
conferred on somebody else. This adds greatly to the
difficulty of studying Persian history, for we shall generally find,
at
any period, a N=ama'l-Mulfe, a Mu'`ama^'d-Dewla, etc.,
and it is always necessary to consider what particular person
bore that title at the time in question, To make matters quite clear,
the whole name and title of each person ought to be given, but this
not
only conduces to undue prolixity, but has a somewhat forbidding effect
on the foreign reader. Thus the name of
my friend the Wabl~f~'l(-M'`~z ("Unique one of the Kingdom "),
who was for a time l'ersian teacher at Cambridge, is'Abdu'l-Husayn; he
is originally of the town of Kashan; he has made
the Pilgrimage to Mecca; he has the title of ~fr~a (corresponding
roughly to "Esquire"~vhen placed l~efore the name); and
also the higher title of King" (which always follows the name);
+Pxxvi
so that his full designation is "Hajji Mirza 'Abdu'l-Husayn
Khan-i-I(ishan! Wah~''f-At2~. "This appallin~ complexity
of normenclature is no doubt one of the ~reat obstacles to the
popularization of Persian history. Nor are the titles easily
remembered unless their signification be understood, and the
only alternative would appear to be to translate them and use
their English equivalents, though the e~ect of this would he
rather quaint, as may be seen by applying this operation to
five lines (~4-~8) on p. ~65 of this book, which would then read: "The
King then moderated his demands, merely asking for
the expulsion of some of tl~e deputies (Taqf's son, He-whose-
counsel-is-sought-by-the-State, and Master Help-of-God), and
the great preachers Mastcr Beauty-of-the-Faith and Pilgrim
King-of-the-Orators."
Throughout this book I have, as a rule, placed titles in italics, but
not always, else the name of the lately deposed Sh~h,
Muhammad 'Ah, would have been in roman type, and that
of his grandfather ~Ja's~rn'd-~ ("the Helper of the Faith")
in ilalics, whicll seemed to rne incongrnous.
I should like in conclusion to thank the numerous friends
who have aided me in the co[npilation of this work, and especially
Mirzi
Muhammad of Q;`zwin, wllo read all the proofs and
supplied me w ith numerous valuable notes and corrections;
Shayl~h Hasan of Tal~nz, who gave me similar assistance for
part of the book; and~Mr Alfred llogers, who l~indly undertook
the laborious task of preparing the Index. My thanks are also
due to the University Press for the care and taste to which this book,
and the illustrations wllich it contains, owe so much, and to many
friends and correspondents in Persia who have supplied
me with information, suggestions and illustrative materials.
The warm sympathy with the Persians by which several of
them are animated has done much to kindle and sustain my
own enthusiasm' and it is my earnest hope that tbis book may
do the same for others.
EDWARD G. BROWNE.
September 3, 1910.
+P1
CHAPTER I.
SIYYID JAMALU'D-DIN, THE PROTAGONIST
OF PAN-ISLAMISM.
In the summer of 1902 I was requested to deliver a lecture
on Pan-Islamism to the University Extensionists who were then
visiting Cambridge. In that lecture I expressed some doubts as
ta the existence of Pan-Islamism, which I defined, somewhat
flippantly perhaps, in the words of a Muhammadan friend, as
"a mare's nest discovered by the Vienna correspondent of the
Times. "I still think the term open to objection, since Pan-
Islamism is generally understood in the West as connoting a
certain quality of "fanaticism," and it is certainly no more
fanatical than Pan-Germanism, or Pan-Slavism, or British Imperialism,
and, indeed, much less so, being, in the first place,
defensive, and, in the second, based on the more rational ground of a
common faith, not on the less rational ground of a common
race. But without doubt recent events have done much to
create amongst the Muslim nations a sense of brotherhood and
community of interests. Just as the activity of Trades Unions
led to the formation of Masters~ Unions, so the threatened
spoliation of the few remaining independent Muhammadan
States (Turkey, Persia and Morocco) by European Powers,
acting singly or in conjunction, has awakened these states to
a sense of their common dangers, and is gradually but inevitably
leading
them towards a certain solidarity. In this sense we
may, if we choose, speak of a Pan-Islamic movement.
The awakening of the Muslim world, of which more or less
striking manifestations, political or religious, have taken place
within
the last thirty or forty years in Turkey, Persia, Egypt'
Morocco, the Caucasus, the Crimea and India, was, without
+P2
doubt, greatly accelerated and accentuated by the Japanese
victory over Russia, which demonstrated that, equally armed
and equipped, Asiatics were perfectly capable of holding their
own in the field against even the most formidable armies of
Europe. But that awakening goes back very much further.
The Turkish reform movement, inaugurated by Shinas~ Effendi,
~iya Pasha and Kemal Bey, the first of the so-called "Young
Turks"( Ye,~i 7~urkler, more correctly "New Turks "), goes back
nearly fifty years', culminated in the granting of the Constitution on
l~ecember z3, '87G, languished during the dark days of the
Russo-Turkish war, and appeared to have been completely
stifled under the repressivre rule of Sultan 'Abdutl-Hamld until its
sudden, glorious and utterly unexpected revival on July 24'
1908, almost exactly a month after the destruction by the Shah
and his Russian mercei~aries of the first Persian Parliament.
The Egyptian national movement, which began about ~87' and
culminated in the revolt of'Arab1 Pasha and the British Occupation of
Egypt in :88z, is still very far from extinction, and has
shown various signs of activity during the last few years. The
Persian "Risorgimento," which culminated in the granting of
the Constitution by the late Muzaffaru'd-Din Shah on August 5,
1906, and was checked, though only for a time, by the co~p d'/iat of
~une z3, '~o8, really dates back, so far as its outward mani
festations are concerned, to the successful agitation against the
Tobacco Monopoly in ~89~, while the ideas which gave rise to
that unexpected outburst of popular discontent began to be
promulgated h~ Persia, at least five or six years earlier, by the
remarkable man of whom I propose to give some brief account
in this chapter.
It is a matter still open 'to discussion wilether great men give rise
to great movements, or great movements to great men, but
at least the two are inseparable, and in this movement towards
the unity and freedom of the Muslim peoples none played so
conspicuous a ?~OA/e as Siyyid Jam~'tlu'd-Dhl, a man of enormous force
of character, prod~glous learning, mltiril]2, activity dauntless For
an
excellent account oF the literary aspects of the "Young Turkish "mo~e
ment, see Vol. Y of the late hIr E. J V. Gibb's History of Ottoman
Poetry (London: Luzac, '907), especially Chapter I on "The Dawn of a
New
Era."
+P3
courage, extraordinary eloquence both in ~eech and writing, and
an appearance equally strikin~ and majestic. He was at once
philosopher, writer, orator and iourrialist1 but above all politician,
and was re~arded by his admirers as a great patriot and by his
antagonists as a dan~erous agitator. He visited, at one time or
another, most of the lands of Islam and a great many European
capitals, and came into close relations, sometimes friendly, more
often
hostile, with many of the leading men of his time, both in the East
and
the West.
The materials for his biography are fortunately copious, but
are mostly in Arabicl. There is a short account of his life
prefixed to the Arabic translation of his Refutation of ~the
Maferzalists (originally composed in Persian at Haydar-abad
in the Deccan about ~ 880), published at Beyrout in ~ 885-6
(A.H. ~303). Another biography, carried down to his death in
t8g7, is given in the second part of Jurji Zaydan's Mash~hiru'sh-Shar~
(`'~astern Celebrities"), pp. 54-66, published at Cairo
in 1903. Still more recently the Egyptian magazine ai-Mandr
has published, and is still publishing, new and copious materials
illustrating almost every phase of his active and eventful
career. His greatest and most eminent disciple was Shaykh
Muhammad 'Abduh, the late Grand Muft' of Egypt, who,
though undoubtedly one of the greatest Muhammadan thinkers
and teachers of our time, was proud to call Siyyid Jamalu'd-
Din his master. They first met in Egypt about 1871, and
from this date onwards we have ample and trustworthy materials
for the Siyyid's biography, but for his early life and adventures we
have practically but one account, which is not only somewhat
meagre, but presents this difficulty, that while it represents
Afghanistin as his birth-place and the scene of his youthful
ac~evements, it is affirmed by all Persians. and by so great
an authority on Persian affairs as General Houtum Schindler,
Since this chapter was written I have received from Persia the
opening portion of a most admirable flis~o?y of ~h' Azoakei~ of thr
Pcrsians (7a'rikh-i-13f~, t-i ~iy3~, compiled by ~drimu'f-lsidm of
Kirman, and enriched with riumerous documents of great historical
importance. The Introduction to this work, of which 11: pages are now
in my hands, contains a long account of Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din. I shall
refer to it in the foot~notes as "rhe Awaksnig," and shaU quote more
fully from it in a Note at the end of the volume.
+P4
that he was in reality born not at As'ad-abad near Kabul, but
at Asad-ab~`d near Hamadan in Persia, in which case he can
[ardly have been so closely associated with Afghan politics in
iSS7~8 as he asserts. It has been suggested that, bein'~r in
reality a Persian, he claimed to be an Nfghan, partly in order
to be able to pass more conveniently as an orthodox SunnL
Muhammadan, and partly ir~ order to withdraw himself fror,1
the dubious "protection" accorded by the Persian government
to its subiectsl.
According to his own account, then, Siyyid Muhammad
Jamalu'd-Din was born in the village of As'ad-~`bad near Kanar,
a dependency of Kabul, in the year A.H. 1254 (= A.~. 1838-9~.
His father was Siyyid SaDdar, who claimed to be descended
from the great traditionist Siyyid 'All at-Tirmidhi, and ultimately
from
the Prophet's grandson al-Husayn, the son of 'Al',
the son of Abu Talib. While he was still a ch~ld, his father
moved to Kabul2, the capital of Afghc'mistan. From his childhood he
shewed great intelligence and quickness of apprehension,
and when he was eight years old his father himself undertook
his education9. During the succeeding ten years his studies
embraced almost the whole range of Muslim sciences, namely,
Arabic grammar, philology and rhetoric in all their branches,
~ This question is fully discussed i'1 the Awe~ni?`gaf `fic P=ssas
lpp.
96-97, etc.~. The author of that work gi~es a Persian translation of
the
account which appears in the Arabic sources here cited, and then
produces evidence to show that Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din was really a
Persian,
and only assumed the title of Afghan from the motives which I have
suggesle~l in the text, regarding Persian nationality as but poor
guarantee of security. It is stated in one of the biographies that
Dust
Muhammad Khan,
the grandfather of the Arnir 'Abdu'r-Rahman Khan, cor~fiscated Siyyid
Safdar's property and c'?mpelle~l hin~ to reside at ICabul, presumably
in order that he might keep him under closer super`-ision. 3 According
to the A~ua~nsag of ~hc Pcrlia~sr, Siyyid Jan~alu'd-Din's birth~place,
Asarl-abad, is situated 7 parasangs from Hamadan and 5 from
Kangawar, and contains about 8r~o households con~prising some 40co
souls. Many of Ja~nalu'd-Din~s rel:rlio~'s still liv-e tl~ere. Iiis
father, Sayyirl .SaRlar, was poor and illiternte. I rorrZ his fifth to
his tenth ye:`r Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din stl'dierl in tl~e local school.
ancl
:~t eight coulc, read and u rile Persian and also knew Turhish. At the
age of ten he ran away from his father, and went successively to
Hamadan, Isfahan, and bIashbad, and later to Afghanistan, where he
learned some English. He refused, however, to a~ln~it his Persian
nalionality, and disliked any reference to his conneclion ~vith Asad-
abad near Hamadan.
+P5
history, Muslim theology in all its branches, Sufiism, logic,
philosophy, practical and theoretical, physics and metaphysics,
mathematics, astronomy, medicine, anatomy, etc.
At the age of eighteen he visited India, where he remained
or a year and some months, during which time he learned
something of the European sciences and their methods. From
India he performed the pilgrimage to Mecca' whither he journeyed in a
leisurely fashion, ultimately reaching the sacred city
in A.H. 1,73 (=A.D. 1887). He then returned to his own
country and entered the service of Dust Muhammad Khan,
whom he accompanied in his campaign against Herdt, which
was occupied by his cousin and son-in-law, Sultan Ahmad
Shah.
Dust Muhammad died and was succeeded by Shar 'Ali in
A.H. 128O (=A.C. 1864). At the advice of his woz~r, Muhammad
Raflq Khan, the new Amir prepared to seize and imprison his
three brothers, Muhammad A'zam, Muhammad Aslam, and
Muhammad Amin, to the first-named of whom Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din
had attached himself. The brothers fled, each to his
own province; civil war ensued; and ultimately Muhammad
A'zam and his nephew, ~Abdu'r-Rahman (the late Amir), occupied
the capital, released Muhammad Afzal, the father of
fAbdu'r-Rahman, from the prison in which he was confined at
Ghazna, and proclaimed him Amir. He died, however, about a
year later, and was succeeded by Muhammad A'zam, who made
Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din his prime minister, and, guided by the
Siyyid's wise statecraft, might have succeeded in bringing the
whole country under his control but for his jealousy of his
relatives and his unwillingness to employ any of them, save
the youngest and most inexperienced of his own sons, in his
service.
Meanwhile the rival Amir, Shir 'All, continued to occupy
Qandahar, where he was presently attacked by one of his
nephews, a son of Muhammad A'zam, who hoped by some
doughty deed to secure his father's special favour. Instead of
this, however, he rashly isolated himself, with some two hundred of
his
men, from the bulk of his army, and was taken prisoner by Ya'qub Khan,
one of Shir 'All's generals. Thus encouraged, Shir
+P6
All renewed the war with vigour, and, supported by the English,
who supplied him liberally with money, he ultimately succeeded
in vanquishing his brother, Muhammad A'zam and his nephew
'Abdu'r-Rahman, of who~ the former escaped to Nishapur in
Persia, where he died a feu, months later, and the latter to
Bukhara.
Siyyid Jamalu'd-D;n, however, remained at Kabul, protected
from Shir 'Al`'s vengeance alike by his holy descent and his
personal influence with the people; but after a while he deemed
it prudcut to leave his country, and so asked and obtained permission
to perform again the pilgrimage to Mecca. This was
accorded to him, on condition that he avoided passing through
Persia, where it was feared that he might foregather with his
late master Muhammad A'zan1, and he accordingly set out for
Mecca by way of India in A.H. 1285 (A.~. ~86g). There he was
received w ith honour by the Indian gosernment, which, however,
prevented him from meeting the leaders of Muslim opinion save
under its supervision, and, a month after his arrival, sent him in one
of its ships to Suez. Thence he visited Cairo for the first
time, and remained there forty days, frequenting the great
11niversity of al-Azhar, holding cmlverse with many of its
teachers and students, and lecturing to a chosen few in his
own lodging.
Instead of proceeding to Mecca, Siyyid Jamilu'd-Din decided
to visit Constantinople, where he was ~vell received by'5ll Pasha, the
Grand Wazlr, and other notables of the Ottoman capital.
Six months after his arrival he was elected a member of the
~4?yi`'''an-i-DAn~s12, or (urkish Academy, and in Ramazan,
A.H. ~87 (Nov.-Dec., 1870) he was invited by Tahsin Effendi,
the director of the Dff,~c'l-ti`~' or University, to deliver an
address
to the students. At first he excused himself, on the
ground of his inadequate knowledge of Turkish, but ultimately
he consented He wrote out his speech in Turkish and submitted
it to Safvet Pasha, who v~as at that time Minister of Pul~lic
Instruction, and also to Shirvam-Zade, the Minister of Police,
and Mun~f Pasha, all of whom approved it. Unhappily the
Shaykhu'l-Islam, Hasan Fehml Effendi, was jealous of the
Siyyid, whose influence he was eager to destroy, and when
+P7
the latter delivered his address to a large and distinguished
audience, which included many eminent Turkish statesmen and
journalists, he was watching carefully for some expression on
account of which he might be able to impugn the speaker's
orthodoxy. Now the Siyyid in his address compared the body
politic to a living organism, of which the limbs were the different
crafts and professions, and he described the king, for instance, as
corresponding to the brain, iron-workers to the arms, farmers to the
liver, sailors to the feet, and so on. Then he said: "Thus is the body
of human society compounded. But a body cannot live
without a soul, and the soul of this body is either the prophetic or
the
philosophic faculty, though these two are distinguished by the fact
that
the former is a divine gift, not to be attained by endeavour, but
vouchsafed by God to such of his servants as He
pleases..., while the latter is attainable by thought and study. They
are also distinguished by this, that the prophet is immaculate and
faultless, while the philosopher may go astray and fall
into error...."
The Shaykhu'l-Islam, Hasan FehmI Effendi, seized upon these
words, and accused Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din of describing the prophetic
office as an "art "or "craft," and the prophet as an
"artificer'? or "craftsman."The matter was taken up in the
pulpit and the press, and warmly debated on both sides, the
Siyyid insisting upon defending himself and refusing to let the
agitation work itself out, until finally, for the sake of peace
and quietude, the Turkish Government ordered him to leave
Constantinople for a time. Thereupon he again returned to
Egypt, where he arrived on March ~, ~87~.
Siyyid Jamalu'd-D[n's original intention was to remain in
Egypt only a short while, but Riy~z Pasha met him, was greatly
impressed by his abilities, and obtained for him a government
allowance of a thousand piastres a month, "not for any specific
services, but to do honour to an illustrious visitor."Students
and others whom his fame had reached Rocked to him and
persuaded him to lecture to them in his house, and he expounded
to enthusiastic audiences some of the most advanced
text-books on various branches of Lluhammadan theology,
philosophy, gunsprudence, astronomy and mysticism. His influence
+P8
and fame continued to increase in Egypt, and he began
to direct his attention to teaching his students the art of literary
expression, encouraging the~n to write essays and articles on
various subjects, literary, philosophical, religious and political.
Hitherto there had been but few capable writers in Egypt, the
most eminent at that time teeing 'Abdu'llah Pasha Fikn, Khayn
Pasha, Muhammad Pasha, Mustafa Pasha Wahbf and a few
others; but now, thanks to the Siyyid's efforts, the number
of able young writers increased rapidly.
Here again, however, he aroused enmity and 3ealousy in
certain quarters. The old-fashioned theologians reprobated his
attempts to revive the study of philosophy, while Mr (afterwards Lord)
Vivian, the British Consul-General, suspicious of his ~oolitical
activities, succeeded in inducing Tawftq Pasha, who had
recently succeeded as Khedive, to order his expulsion from Egypt,
together with that of his faithful disciple, Abu Turabl.
This happened in September, ~879, and the Siyyid again made
his way to India, and took up his abode at Haydar-abad in the Deccan,
where, as has been already mentioned, he composed his
Refilmlion of ll~e Materialisis, of which the original Persian text
was
lithographed ill A.H. 1298 (= A.n. 1881).
In ~882 the' Young Egyptian"movement, with which Siyyid
Jamalu'd-D1n had identified himself, and which aimed primarily
at limiting the Khedive's e~ctravagance and autocratic power and
checking foreign intervention and control, culminated in the revolt of
'Arab; Pasha, the bombardment of Alexandria, the battle of
Tel-el-Keb~r and the British occupation. Before hostilities broke out
Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din was summoned by the Indian Government
from Haydar-abad to Calcutta, and there detained until
the struggle was over and the Egyptian Nationalists were
defeated, when he was permitted to leave India. He came
first to London, where he remained only a few days, and then
went to Paris, `~,here he abode for three years.
While at Paris he was joined by his friend and disciple
1. According to the Awakening of Persia, (p. 98), Abu Turab
was originally in the service of the great Mujtahid Aqa Siyyid
bluhan~mad Tabataba'i but was led by his devotion to Siyyid
Jamal'u-Din to attach himself to him and accompany him on his
journeys.
+P9
Shaykh Muhammad 'Abduh, the late MuftI of Egypt', who had
been exiled from his country on account of his participation in
the Nationalist struggle of ~88z, and these two started an Arabic
weekly
newspaper entitled al-'Ur:oatu'l- Wuth~7a, mainly political and
strongly
anti-English. Of this paper, which also bore the
French title Je Lie?` ~disso~6Ce, and was edited from No. 6 in
the Rue Martel, I possess only one copy, No. ~7, dated September z5,
~884, from which date it may be inferred that it was
founded about hiay of that year. The next number (No. t8)
was the last, for the British Government, alarmed at the fierceness of
its attacks, and at its growing influence, stopped its entrance into
India and probably employed other means to put an end to
its existence. While in Paris, Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din, who had
succeeded in learning a certain amount of ~ rench, gave publicity to
his
views in the European Press, and also carried on a philosophical
controversy with Renan on '` Islam and Science."His
political articles on England, Russia, Turkey and Egypt were
largely quoted in the English Press, and he was regarded by the
leading English politicians of that time as a personality equally
remarl;able and formidable. In spite of this, he came to London
during this period (in ~ 885) and was interviewed by Lord
Randolph Churchill, Sir Drummond Wolff' and I think Lord
Salisbury, who wished to learn his views as to the Mahd! who
had appeared in the Sudan, and especially, as would appear from
Mr Wilfrid Blunt's narrative, as to the possibility of coming to terms
with him.
On the collapse of aJ-'Urwatu'l-W'`/J~qa, Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din
left Paris for Moscow and St Petersburg, where he was
accorded a very favourable reception, and where he remained
four years2. During this period he rendered a great service
1. An excellent and very full biography of the late Mufti by his
friend
and disciple Siyyid Muhammad Rashld Riza, editor of the
monthly Arabic review al-Mandr. was published at Cairo in A.H. 1334
(A.D. 1906). I possess only Vols. II and Ill, of which the fonner
contains 560 and the latter 428 pages.
2. He appears to have visited Russia twice at least, once in 1885,
after
his failure to arrive at any satisfactory understanding with the
English
Govemment, and again in 1889, after his meeting with Nasiru'd-Din Shah
at Munich, when the Aminu's-Sultan entrusted him with a confidential
mission to the Russian Foreign Office. According to the biography in
the
Mashahiru'sh-Sharq (p. 62), the Siyyid first visited Persia in
response
to a telegraphic invitation from Nasiru'd-Din Shah ear]y in 1886, was
made Minister of war, visited the Zillu's-Sultan at Isfahan, and was
finally permitted to leave the countr`y ror change Gf a;r,' whereupon
be went to Russia. His second visit to Persia was in '889, and his
second expulsion in 1890.
+P10
to the Muslim subjects of Russia by inducing the Tsar to allow
them to print the Q''r'nn and other religious books.
While the Siyyid was still resident at the Russian capital, it
was visited by Nasiru'd-lDin Shah of Persia, who expressed a
desire to meet him, but he ignored the royal intimation, though
shortly afterwards a meeting between the two took place at
Munich. The Sh'th urged the Siyyid to retur~j~h~jm~o
Persia, offering to make hi rn Prime Minister, but he at first
~ed, on the ground that he wished to visit the Paris Exhibition, until
l~e was finally overcome bv the Shahts insistencg, in spite of the
warnings of his friend Shaykh ~Abdu'l-Qadir al-MaghribL
who said to him," How can he invite you to fill such a position,
seeing
that you are notorious for your efforts to strengthen the Sunni faith
7"To this the Siyyid replied, `'DIere fancy and
folly on his part," but nevertheless he accompanied the Shah to
Persia and remained there for some time. After a while, however,
observing an unf;~vourable change in the Shah's attitude
towards him, he asked perInission to return to Europe, which
was refused him with some discourtesy. Thereupon he took
roast in the Shrine of Shah 'Ahdu'L-'Azim, where he remained
seven months. His hostility to the Shah was now declared:
he denounced him in speech and writing, advocated his
deposition, and gathered round himself a number of disciples,
of whom twelYe were esp~p~t. Amongst these were
included Shaykh tAlf of Qazwin, one of the chief judges (~oyndi-
i'~liyra) in the time of the fi rst National Assembly of Persia, and
one of the captives in the Bagh-;-Shah, oh whom the ex-Shah's
wrath fell most hea`'ily; Mirza ~qa Khan, afterwards sub-editor
of the I,ersian ~kiztar,r"Star") at Constantinople, ultimately put to
death secretly at Tabrtz with Shaykh Ahtmad of Kirman on
July 17, 1896; Mirza RizI of Kirman, who shot N7asiru'd-D'n Shah on
May
1, 1896, and was hanged at Tihran on Au~ust 12 of the
same year; and Mirza Muhammad 'Ali Khan of Tibrin, who
composed a work in refutatiotl of religions (Radd-i-Madhahib).
Finally the Shah decided on deporting him from the country,
+P11
though it involved the serious step of violating the renowned
sanctuary in which he had taken refuge, and sent a body of
500 horsemen to arrest him (though he was at the time confined
to his bed by illness), and convey him under escort to the
Turkish frontier. This act caused great indignation amongst
the Siyyid's admirers, and, as will appear from a later chapter, was
one
of the chief causes which brought about the death of
Nasiru'd-~In Shah in '8g6.
I do not know the date of Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din's expulsion
from Persia, but it must have been about the end of '890 or
in the early part of 189~. In the autumn of ~89~ he was in
London, and I met him by invitation of the late Prince Malkom
Khan at the house in Holland Park which, until that eminent
diplomatist's quarrel with the Shah in- ~889, was the Persian
Legation. My personal impressions of the Siyyid will be given
in the subsequent chapter dealing with the Tobacco Concession.
Durin~ his stay in London he addressed several meetings and
wrote sundry articles on_"the Rei~n of Terror in Persia,"
attacking the Shah's character, and even his sanity, with ~reat
violence.
In ~892 the Siyyid again went to Constantinople. where the
remainin~ five years of his life were spent. The Sultan
'Abdu'l-Hamid, with whom he stood in high favour, at any rate
until a year before his death, asked him to discontinue his
attacks on the Shah of Persia, saying that the Persian Ambassador had
thrice approached him on the subject, and that, though
he had excused himself from intervening on the first two
occasions, he had finally promised to use his influence in the
way proposed. To this the Siyyid replied, "In obedience to
the commands of the Caliph of the age, I forgive the Shah of
Persia, I forgive the Shah of Persia."Then the Sultan said,
"Verily the Shah of Persia stands in great fear of you."This
fear, as subsequent events showed, was not unfounded.
On the assassination of Nisiru'd-Din Shah on May 1, 1896,
by Mirza Muhammad Riza of Kirman, suspicion, which had at
first (unjustly enough) fallen on the Babis, soon fell qo Siyyid,
Jamalu'd-Din, on another of his disciples Mirza Aqa Khan, and
on Shaykh Ahmad of Kirman and Hajji Mirza Hasan Khan
+P12
Khabiru'l-Mulk, and the extradition of these four was demanded
by the Persian from the Turkish government. The
three last-named were finally surrendered to the Persian
authorities, and were secretly put to death at Tabriz, as will be more
fully narrated in the subsequent chapter dealing with the
assassination of Nasiru'd-Din Shah, but the Sultan refused to
surrender Siyyid lamalu'd-Dm. The question of his nationality
was raised at this time, for if he had been really an Afghan, he would
have been entitled to claim protection, or at least a fair trial, from
the British Embassy, since Afghinistan has no representatives abroad,
and England is responsible for safeguarding
the interests of her subjects in foreign countries. The Siyyid,
however, whether because he was not really an Afg,han, or
because he did not wish to be indebted for his safety to a Power of
which he had consistently proclaimed his detestation, seems
to have left himself in the Sultan's hands' and the Sultan, as
already said, declined to give him up.
Touards the end of ~896 he was attacked by cancer of the
jaw, w-hl~h soon spread to the ne~,
t8~7, and he was buried with great pomp and circumstance m
the "ShavEhs' Cemetery"(SIzeyieJ~ler Mezarlif:J:i) near Nis~
Tash. It is asserted by most Persians, and denied by most
~s, that he did not die a natural death, but was inoculated in
the lip with some poisonous matter, which caused a pathological
condition superficially resembling cancer, by one of the Sultan's
courtiers named Abu'l-Huda. Al-'ilmn 'inda'll~-"God alone
knoweth!"
Such, in brief outline, was the career of this remarkable
man, who, during a period of at least twenty years, probably
influellced the course of events in the Muhamlnaclall East more
than any other of his contemporaries. To write his history in
full would be to write a history of the whole Eastern Question
in recent times, including in this survey Afghinistan and India, ancl,
in a much greater degree, Turkey, Egypt, and l~ersia, in
wllich latter countries his inRuence is still, in different ways, a
living force. A bare record of the events of his life does not
adequately reveal him. Ha~ing striven to describe his career
impartially, concealing nothing that I know, and extenuating
+P13
nothing, I am conscious that a majority of those of my country
men who have read this chapter thus far will unhesitatingly put
him down as a singularly dangerous and unscrupulous intriguer,
who was prepared to go to any length to attain his ends.
Before discussing more fully his political ideas, and the one
deep and passionate conception which consistently underlay
them, I shall, in order to pourtray the man more clearly, give in an
abridged form the account of his personal characteristics
which concludes his biography in the Mash~lYu'sh-Sharq.
In appearance he was of dark complexion, like an Arab of
the Hijaz, squarely built, thick-set and sturdy, with Rashing
black eyes. His glance was penetrating, notwithstanding the
fact that he was short-sighted, and, since he would not wear
glasses, he was obliged to hold any book which he read close to
his eyes. He wore his hair long, did not shave, and habitually
dressed in the fashion prevalent amongst the 'ulamd of Constantinople.
He ate sparingly, generally once a day, but drank tea,
in true Persian fashion, continually. He was also a confirmed
smoker, and so particular as to the quality of his tobacco that he
always bought it himself. Unlike most Asiatics, he preferred
cigars to cigarettes. During his final residence in Constantinople he
received (75 T. a month from the tiuitan, who also
provided him with a house at Nishan Tash, with furniture,
and a carriage and horses from the Royal stables. He generally
stayed at home all day, and only drove out to the Sweet Waters
of Europe (Kyaghid-Khand), or some other pleasure-resort of
the Turkish capital, towards evening. He slept little, retiring
late and rising early. He received those who came to visit him
with kindness and courtesy, the humblest as much as the most
distinguished, but was chary of paying visits, especially to
persons of high rank. In speech he was clear and eloquent,
always expressing himself in choice language, and avoiding
colloquial and vulgar idioms, but carefully adapting his words to the
capacity of his hearers. As a public speaker he hacl har(lly a rival
in
the East. He was serious and earnest in speech and
little given to jesting or frivolous talk. He was abstemious in
his life, caring little for the things of this world; bold and
fearless
in face of danger, frank and genial, but hot-tempered, affable
+P14
towards all, but independent in his dealings with the great. It
is related that when he was expelled from Egypt, he arrived at
Suez with empty pockets. The Persian Consul, accompanied by
several Persian merchants, offered him a sum of money, either
as a loan or a gift, but he refused it, caying, "Keep your money, for
you need it more than I do. The lion, whithersoever he goes, will find
the wherewithal to eat."His intellectual powers and
his quick insight and discernment were equally remarkable,
so that he seemed able to read men's thoughts before they had
spoken. He possessed a wonderful personal magnetism and
power of carrying his hearers with him. His knowledge was
extensive, and he was especially versed in ancient philosophy,
the philosophy of history, the history and civilization of Islam, and
all the Muhammadan sciences. He was a good linguist,
and learned l;rench in three months without a master sufficiently well
to read and translate. He knew the Arabic, Turkish,
Persian and Afghan languages well, together with a little
English and Russian'. He was a Yoracious reader, especially of
Arabic and Persian books. He appears never to have married,
and to have been indifferent t~_
The~concluding E~aragraph of his biography in the
Alashabirn'sJ'-Sk:erq,
which summarizes his political aspirations, runs
as follows (pp. 65, 66):
"It will be gathered from this brief summary of his life and
deeds that the goal to~vards which all his actions were directed, and
the pivot on which all his hopes turned, was the unanimity
of Islam and the bringing together of all Muslims in all parts of the
world into one Islamic Empire under the protection of one
Supreme Caliph2. In this endeavour he spent all his energies,
and for this end he abandoned all worldly ambitions, taking
to himself no wife and adopti'~g no profession. Yet withal he
failed in his endeavour, and died without leaving any written
1. So also in the Awakening of the Persians (p. 98) it is stated that
he knew these seven languages, and of Turkish two dialects, that of
the
Ottoman Empire, and the Persian-Turkish dialect of Hamadan.
2. According to the A'un~ni~sg (p. IO]) he found~ at Mecca a
Pan-Islamic
Society named Umn:~`'i-Qurd, which 3 imed at creating one Caliph ot
the
whole Muslin' world, either at Constantinople or KuFa. It printed and
circulated its rules and constitution, but was suppressed by Sultan
'Abdu'l-Hamid within a year of its foundation.
+P15
record of his thoughts and aspirations save his treatise in
refutation of the materialists and sundry isolated letters and
pamphlets on various subjects, of some of which mention has
been already made. But he raised up a living spirit in the hearts of
his
friends and disciples which stirred their energies and
sharpened their pens, and the East has profited and will profit
by their labours '."
Siyyid Muhammad Rash1d' the editor of al-Mazzar, has
published three noteworthy documents from the pen of Siyyid
Jamalu'd-D~n, which illustrate in a remarkable manner both the
nature and the extent of the influence exerted by him on the
course of the events in Persia which will be dealt with in the
following chapters. The first of these documents is the letter
which he addressed to Hajji M;rza Hasan-i-Shlrazi, one of the
chief Mzzjtabid~s at Samarra', whereby that high ecclesiastic was
stirred to take action in the matter of the Tobacco Concession,
and so to take the first step in identifying the powerful clergy of
Persia with the popular or Nationalist party. The two others are
articles contributed in February and March, 1892, to an Arabic
periodical entitled .Ziya'u'l-K/zafiqayn i~"The Light of the Two
Hemispheres "), both of which deal with the state of Persia at
that time. To each of these the editor has added a few pregnant
remarks, which I shall translate, together with selected portions of
Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din's letters, since these are too long to be
translated
here in full.
LETTER TO THE CHIEF MUJTAHID, WRITTEN FROM
BASRA TO SAMARRA 3.
In the Name of God the Merciful the Forgiving.
"The truth I tell: verily this letter is an invocation to the
spirit of the Muhammadan Law, wherever it is found and
1 It is worth noting that these words vvere written by a Syrian
Christian, not by a Muslim. They vvere published five years ago, since
when it has been abundantly Shown-especially in Persia-that the forces
set in motion by Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din are still actively at work.
2. He died in March, 1895.
3. The text of this letter, ~Yhich must ha~e beeli written
irnmediately
after Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din's expulsion from Persia in 1891, is also
given
in the Awakening of the Persians (pp. 108 et seqq.). The mujtahid's
fatwa, ordering all true believers to abstain frun1 tobacco until tl~e
Concession was withdrawn, was issued early in December in that year,
but
the agitalion against the Concession was aIready violent in the
preceding June. The texl of this brief but importantfatwa is given on
p. 16 of the Awakening.
+P16
wherever it dwells, and an appeal made by the people to all true souls
~vho believe in this La`v and strive to give it effect, whencesoever
they have arisen and wheresoever they flourish, to wit
the doctors ('uicz?~za) of Islam. And this appeal I desire to make
unto
all of these, though it be addressed to one in particular.
"Pontiff of the people, Ray of the Imams' Light, E,illar of
the edifice of Religion, Tongue attuned to the exposition of the
Perspicuous Law, Your lleverence Hajji MIrza Muhammad
Hasan of Shiraz-may God protect by your means the fold of
Islam, and avert the plots of the vile unbelievers!
"God hath set thee apart for this supreme vice-gerency, to
represent the Most Great Proof, and hath chosen thee out of the
true communion, and hath committed to thy hands the reins to
control the people conformably to the most luminous Law, and
to protect their rights thereby, and to guard their hearts from
errors and doubts therein. He 1lath entrusted to thee of all
mankind (so that thou art become the heir of the Prophets) the
care of those weigllty interests wherel?y the people shall prosper in
this world and attain happiness hereafter. He hath assigned
to thee the throne of authority, and hath bestowed on thee such
supremacy over his people as empowers thee to save and defend
their country and testify for them to the ways of those who
have gone before.
"Verily the people, high and low, settled and nomad, noble
and simple' have submitted themselves to this thy high and
divine authority on bended kr~ees and with prostrate bodies, their
souls
looking towards thee in every emergency which befalls
them, their glances fixed on thee in every calamity which overtakes
them, believing that their happiness and welfare are from
thee, and their salvation and deliverance by thee, and their
security and the accomplishment of their hopes in thee."
The writer then goes on to say that the Persian people are
rendered desperate by the oppressions which they suffer and the
sight of their country-"the E lome of Religion "(~trin'd-~*~)sold to
and
overrun by foreigners and unbelievers, but that, in
+P17
the absence of a leader, they are distracted, divided and impotent,
and
that they begin to murmur and lose faith because
no sign or direction comes from the M'~ylabid whom they
regard, and have a right to regard, as their guide an`1 leader in all
things touching the welfare of 3 slam. "They think," ' he
adds, "and this is the truth, that shine is the word which will
unite them and shine the proof which shall decide, that thy
command is effective, and that none wili contest thy authority,
and that, didst thou so desire, thou couldst combine their
scattered units by a ~vord on thy part..., thereby filling with fear
God's enemy and theirs, guard them from the malice of the
infidels, dispel the trouble and misery which surround them, and raise
them [rom their hard life to what is more ample and easy.
So shall the Faith be defended and protected by its adherents,
and Islam exalted and uplifted."
He then continues, after an intervening paragraph
4'O most mighty Pontiff! Verily the King's' purpose
wavereth, his character is vitiated, his perceptions are failing ancl
his heart is corrupt. He is incapable of governing the
land, or managing the affairs of his people, and hath entrusted
the reins of government in all things great and small to the
hands of a wicked freethinker3, a tyrant and usurper, who
revileth the l'rophets openly, and heedeth not God's Law, who
accounteth as naught the religious authorities, curseth the
doctors of the Law, rejecteth the pious, contemneth honourable
Siyyids3 and treateth preachers as one would treat the vilest of
mankind. Moreover since his return from the lands of the
Franks he hath taken the bit between his teeth, drinks wine
openly, associates with unbelievers and displays enmity towards
the Yirtuous. Such is his priYate conduct; but in addition to
this he hath sold to the foes of our Faith the greater part of
the Persian lands and the profits accruing therefrom, to wit the
mines4'
the ivays leading "hereunto, the roads connecting them
1. i.e. Nasiru'd-Din Shah.
2. i.e. the A"r~n't's-Sullfin, who ~,as at this time PrinZe Minister
of
Persia. 3. i.e. descendants of the Prophet.
4. The concession granted to Baron Julius de Reuter in January, 1889,
included the right of exploiting the nnineral `~,ealtl, of Persia,
though this u-as ceded in the following year to the Persian Bank
Mining
Rights Corporation.
+P18
with the frontiers of the country, the inns about to be built by the
side of these extensive arteries of communication which will ramify
through all parts of the kingdom, and the gardens and
fields surrounding them. Also the river Karun' and the guesthouses
which
will arise on its banks up to its very source, and
the gardens and meadows which adjoin it, and the highway
from Ahwaz to Tihran, with the buildings, inns, gardens and
fi elds surrounding it. Also the tobacco (tun~)', with the chief
centres of its cultivation, the lands on which it is grown, and the
dwellings of the custodians, carriers and sellers, wherever these are
found. He has similarly disposed of the grapes used for
making wine, and the shops, factories and wine-presses appertaining to
this trade throughout the whole of Persia; and so
likewise soap, candles and sugar, and the factories connected
therewith. Lastly there is the llank: and what shall cause thee
to understand what is the Bank ? It means the complet
handing over of the reins of gover~lment to the enemy of Islam3, the
enslaving of the people to that enemy, the surrendering of
them and of all dominion and authority into the hands of the
foreign foe.
"Thereafter the ignorant traitor, desiring to pacify the people
by his futile arguments, pretended that these agreements were
temporary, and these compacts only for a limited period which
would not exceed a hundred years! God! what an argument,
the weakness of which amazed even the traitors ~
"Then he offered what ~vas left to Russia4 as the price of her
silence and acquiescence (if indeed she will consent to be silent),
namely the Murdab (lagoon) of Rasht, the rivers of Tabaristan,
and the road from Anzall to Khurasan, with the houses, inns
and fields appertaining thereto. But Russia turned up her nose
at this offer, and declined to accept such a present; for she is bent
on the annexation cf Khurasan and the occupation of
1. The boasts uttered by Lord Salisbury at the Guildlhall Banquet on
Nov. 9, 1888, concerning the Karun River Concession greatly alarmed
the
Persian Government, and caused some restuctions to be introduced into
the original scheme.
2. The Tobacco Concession was granted on March 8, 1890, and
registered
at the British Legation on May 9 of the same year.
3. He means England.
4. This refers to the concessions made to Prince Dolgorouky in
February,
1889.
+P19
Azarbayjan and Mazandaran, unless these agreements be cancelled
and these compacts rescinded-agreements, namely, which
involve the entire surrender of the kingdom of Persia into the
hands of that most contentious foe. Such is the first result of
the policy of this madman.
"In short this criminal has offered the provinces of the
Persian land to auction amongst the Powers, and is selling the
realms of Islam and the abodes of Muhammad and his household
(on whom be greeting and salutation) to foreigners. But
by reason of the vileness of his nature and meanness of his
understanding he sells them for a paltry sum and at a wretched
price. (Yea, thus it is when meanness and avarice are mingled
,with treason and folly!)
"And thou, O Proof, if thou wilt not arise to help this
people, and wilt not unite them in purpose, and pluck them
forth, by the power of the Holy Law, from the hands of this
sinner, verily the realms of Islam will soon be under the control of
foreigners, who will rule therein as they please and do what
they will. If this opportunity is lost by thee, O Pontiff, and this
thing befalls while thou art alive, verily thou wilt not leave
behind thee a fair record in the register of time and on the
pages of history. And thou knowest that the '~la,72a of Persia
and the people thereof with one accord (their spirits being
straitened and their hearts distressed) await a word from thee
wherein they shall behold their happiness and whereby their
deliverance shall be effected. How then can it beseem one
on whom God hath bestowed such power as this to be so chary
of using it or to leave it in abeyance ?
`'I further assure Your Eminence, speaking as one who
knoweth and seeth, that the Ottoman Government will rejoice
in your undertaking of this effort and will aid you therein, for it is
well aware that the intervention of Europeans in the Persian
domains and their ascendancy therein will assuredly prove
injurious to its own dominions. Moreover all the ministers and
lords of Persia will rejoice in a word in this sense uttered by
thee, seeing that all of them naturally detest these innovations and
are
constitutionally averse from these agreements, which your endeavour
will
give them the opportunity to annul, that perchance
+P20
they may restrain this evil of covetousness which hath been
sanctioned and approvecl ...AII is from thee, by thee and in thee, and
thou art responsible far all before God and men....
"No doubt the Pontiff of the people hath heard what the
ring-leaders of infidelity and the confederates of unbelief have done
to that learned, accomplished and virtuous Hajji Mulla
Fayzu'llah of Darband; and thou wilt shortly hear what these
cruel miscreants did to the learned, pious and righteous muj~ahid
Hajji
Siyyid 'A1; Akbar of Shlraz. Thou wilt also learn what
killing, beating, branding and bonds have been inflicted on the
defenders of their country and their faith. Of such victims was
that virtuous youth MIrz~ Muhammad Riza of Kirman', whom
that apostate [i.e. the A m2'nn's-SuI~] killed in prison2, and the
eminent and virtuous Hajji Sayyah. (MahallatI), the cultured
and accomplished Mirza Furughi, the noble and talented Mirza
Muhammad 'Ah Khan, the well-proved and accomplished
I'/i~'ad~'s-Sal~a?2`z3 and others.
"As for my own story and what that ungrateful tyrant did to
tne...the wretch commanded me to be dragged, when I was in
sanctuary in the shrine of Shah 'Abdutl-'Azim and grievously
ill, through the snow to the capital with such circumstances of
disrespect, humiliation and disgrace as cannot be imagined for
wickedness (and all this after I had been plundered and
despoiled). ~Jerily we belong to God and verily unto Him
do we return !
"Thereafter his miserable satellites mounted me, notwithstanding my
illness, on a pack-saddle, loading me with chains,
and this in the wirlter season, amidst the snow-drifts and bitter, icy
blasts, and a company of horsemen conveyed me to
Khaniqln4, guarded by an escort. And he had previously
1. The same who afterwards killed Nasiru'd-Din Shah, as will be fully
set forth in the next chapter but one.
2. This is, of course, an error, but it is not easy to ascertain the
fate of political prisoners in Persia until long after their arrest.
3. Muhammad Hasan Khan I'timadu's-Saltana, of Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din's
disciples, was a man of letters, and was for a time Minister of the
Press and of the Translation Bureau. He wrote several useful works,
such
as the Kitab't Ma'~f~ir sua'l-Athdr (on the Institutions of Nasiru'd-
Din Shah, the chief events and most notable men of his reign, etc.),
lithographed at Tihran in A.H. 1306 (A.D. 1888).
4. This is the Turkish fro'Ztier-post on the road between Persia and
Baghdad.
+P21
written to the Wali (Turkish governor), requesting him to
rcmovc me to Ba.sra, knowing well that, if he IcEt mc alone,
I should come to thee, O Pontiff, and inform thee of his doings
and of the state of the people [of Persia], and explain to thee
what had befallen the lands of Islam through the evil deeds of
this infidel, and would invoke thy help, O Proof, for the True
Faith, and induce thee to come to the succour of the Muslims.
For he knew for a certainty that, should I succeed in meeting
thee, it would not be possible for him to continue in his office,
involving as it does the ruin of the country, the destruction of the
people, and the encouragement of unbelief....Moreover his
conduct was made more culpable and mean in that, in order to
avert a general revolt and appease the popular agitation, he
accused the party whom zeal for religion and patriotism had
impelled to defend the sanctuary of Islam and the rights of the
people of belonging to the Babi sect. So also (may God cut out
his tongue !) he spread it abroad amongst the people that I was
uncircumcised (alas for Islam !~. What is this weakness ? What
this cowardice ? How is it possible that a low-born vagabond
and contemptible fool should be able to sell the Muslims and
their lands for a vile price and a paltry sum, contemn the
'2cla?J2a, treat with disrespect the descendants of the 1,rophet, and
slander in such fashion Siyyids of the House of 'All? Is
there no hand able to pluck up this evil root and so to appease
the wrathful indignation of the Muslims, and avenge the descendants of
the Chief of God's Apostles (upon whom and whose
household be blessings and salutation)?
"Wherefore, seeing myself remote from that high presence,
I refrained from uttering my complaint....But when that learned
leader and ~nz~ylab~t FIajji Siyyid 'All Akbar came to Basra, he urged
me to write to that most high Pontiff a letter setting forth these
events,misfortunes and afflictions, and I hastened to obey his
command,
knowing that God will e~ect something by thy hand.
"Peace be upon thee, and the Mercy of God, and His
Blessings."
And in truth Savyid Jamalu'd-Din's hopes and expectations
were not deceived, for it was apparently this letter which induced
+P22
the great mujtahid, Hajji Mirza Hasan of Shiraz, to issue his
fatwa declaring the use of tobacco to be unlawful until the
obnoxious concession was withdrawn; it was this iatwe' which
gave to the popular resentment the sanction of Religion, thus
enabling it to triumph over the Shah, ;he Am;nu's-Sultan and
the foreign governments and co?Icessio?zaires; and amongst the
ultimate results of all this were the violent deaths of Nasiru'd-Din
Sh~h and the Aminu's-Sultan, the successful demand for a
Constitution, rendered possible only by the alliance between the
clergy
and the people, and the whole momentous struggle which
has convulsed Persia during the last four years, and of which the
history will be traced in these pages.
The remarks appended by Siyyid Muhammad Rashid to the
text of this letter are wortl1 quoting, and run as follows:-
"This letter insl~ired a spirit of heroism and enthusiasm in
that great doctor, who possessed so strong a spiritual infIuence over
the Persian people, and he accordingly issued an edict
(fatwa) forbidding the use and cultivation of tobacco'. The
'ulan~a published hisJa`~,a abroad with lightning speed, and the
people
bowed their necks to it to such a degree that it is related that on
the
morning of the day succeeding the arrival of the
Jaswa' at Tihr;in the Shah called for a ?ia?'gi~ (]alya7', or
waterpipe), and was told that there was no tobacco in the Palace, for
it had all been destroyed. He demanded with amazement the
reason of this, and was informed of theiatzoe of the Proof of
Islam (i.e. Hajji Mirza Hasan-i-Shiraz;, the '~izJlahzd); and
when he asked why they had not asked his permission first,
they replied, 'It is a religious question concerning which there was
no
need to seek such permission!' Thereafter the Shah
was compelled to rescind the concession and satisfy the English
company by a payment of half a million pounds. Thus did
Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din save Persia from an English occupation by
abolishing the cause which would have led to this, namely this
I See the A?~aken~ng of ~e ~,RSM"S, p. ~6. The translation of
thefaZ=d,
as ~ere given, runs as follows:-"In the Name of Cod the Merciful, the
Forgiving. To-da, the use of tunbJ~ anti tobacco, ir~ whatever
[ashion,
is reckoned as vvar against the Imam of the Age (may God hasten his
glad
Advenl ')."This f=wa uas published in Persia by Hajji M;rza
Hasan~i-Ashtiyan;, and, though confirmed later by Mirzi
Hasan-i-Shirkl, il has been asserted that it originally emanated from
him.
+P23
concession, and the other concessions of which you have read
the description in his letter. Such are true men and such are
true 'ulamaa!
"Now1 the effect of the influence of the clergy is fully
manifested in Persia, inasmuch as it hath changed the order of
government and converted it from despotic to constitutional
rule. Perhaps this event is the first intimation to the 'uiaI?la that
the matter is in their hands. Yet none the less Siyyid
Jamalu'd-Din was the prime mover in this revolution, as he was
also the cause of the revolution which took place in Egypt,
where the action of his Society was the first effort made to resist
and
destroy the authority of Isma';l Pasha, and to inspire in
TawEiq the spirit of progress, so that he assured the Siyyid and his
supporters that' if he succeeded to the throne, he would
establish a Chamber of Deputies and effect other reforms. But
thereafter the intervention of the army in politics brought the
plan to naught.
"But the success of the 'u~a?ne, prompted by his efforts and
guided by him, in hindering foreign intervention in Persia, was
not the only indication that the power of the clergy and the
people transcended the power of kings; the warning was completed
thereafter by the killing of the Shah, and what was
asserted as to the slayer being one of the followers of Siyyid
Jamilu'd-D;n.
"The Siyyid did not content himself with urging the chief
m'`,ifebid and the other 'ulame' to withstand the Shah and his
Minister, nor with his success in arousing them against him. He
went from Basra to Europe and began to censure them in speech
and writing. He founded, or helped to found, there a bilingual
monthly magazine, published in Arabic and English, named
.Ziya iz'l-Khaf57ay?' (' the Light of the two Hemispheres '), to each
number of which he used to contribute an article on Persian
affairs, over the well-known signature ' the Siyyid,' or 'the
Husayn; Siyyid.' Its remarks on Egypt were, ~Ico ~mon~ct itc
most important topics.
In his articles on Persia he used to censure unsparingly its
These Y ords ~vere written about the beginning of the year ~908. I
received the sheet in u~hich they occur on lIurch ~ of that year.
+P34
government and Shah, so that the Persian Minister in London
sought him out and strove to win hi~n over and pacify him, that
perchance he might desist from speaking and writing about this,
offering him a large sum of money to do so. But the Siyyid
said to him, 'Naught will content me save that the Shah shall
~oe killed, and his belly ripped open, and his body consigned to the
tomb.' This saying of his lends colour to the belief that
the Shah's assassin was one of the Siyyid's follo~vers.
"Here we shall reproduce," the editor concludes, "some of
what he ~vrote about Persia i n the ' ~ igh! of ~e two ~c~n'zs,
heres,'
in order to ~mmortalize him in history. This is what he wrote
in the second number of that periodical, published on March I,
~892, urging the 'nia'~a to depose the Shah and devote themselvcs to
the
intcrcsts of the people."
The article to which reference is made above is addressed to
a numl~er of the principal 'niama of Persia, who are mentioned
by name in the exordium. They are the Chief m?cjtabia, of
Karbala, Hajji Mirza Muhammad Hasan of ShirazJ Hajji Mirza
HaLfbu'llah of Rasht, HaJji MIrza Abu'l-Qasim of Karbala,
[qa Hajji M;rza Jawad of Tabriz, Hajji Siyyid'Ali Akbar of
Shlraz, Hajji Shaykh Had' of Najmabad, Mirza Hasan of
shtiyan, the Sadrn'l-'L~na, Hajji Aqa Muhsin of'Ir~q, Ha~ji
Shaykh Muhammad Tagl of Isfahan, Hajji Mulla Muhammad
Taqi of Bujnurd, and others not specified.
Siyyid Jamalu'd-Din begins by emphasising the danger to
~vhich Muslim countries are exposed by the greed of European
Po~vers, to whose sinister designs, he declares, the 'u~)na offer the
chief obstacle. Where their power was restricted or broken
by the rulers of the country, as in India and Transoxiana,
Europeans easily succeeded in intervening in the affairs of the
country, and finally taking passession of it; while, on the other
hand,
the strength of Afghanistan in resisting the attacks of the English
time
after time is due to the influence wielded by the
m'`lfas in that country. He then proceeds to describe the policy of
Nasiru'd-Oin Shah as follc~vs:-
"When this Shah, this viper and man of sin, obtained control
of the 3`ingdom [of Persia], he began gradually to infrdlge the
rights of the '~iame, lo~ er their status, and diminish their
+P25
influence, on account of his desire to exercise despotic authority in
his vain commands and prohibitions, and to extend the
scope of his tyranny and oppression. So he drove forth many
from the country in disgrace, and by contempt prevented others
from maintaining the Holy Law, and brought others from
their homes to the Abode of Tyranny and Abuses (Tihran),
where he compelled them to abide in humiliation. Thus the air
was cleared for him, and he crushed down the people, ruined the
country, ran through a whole cycle of shameful deeds, publicly
indulged in all manner of vices, and expended on his vile
pleasures and beastly indulgences what he had ~vrung from the
blood of the poor and needy and extracted by force from the
tears of wido~vs and orphans. (Alas for Isl;im!)
"Then when his [oily h;lcl increased in all its various forms,
he choose as his Minister, a foolish wretch, who had neither
religion to control trim' understanding to check him, nor personal
honour to restrain him. No sooner had this man of sin become
invested with authority than he set himself to destroy religion
and make war on the Muslims, while his low origin and mean
extraction impelled him to sell the lands of Islam for a paltry
price.
"So the Franks supposed that the time had come to take
possession of the Persian realm, without opposition or war' end
imagined that the power of the '~lamci, who used to defend
the citadel of Islam, had waned, and their influence departed,
and all rushed open-mouthed, eager to gobble up a portion of
this kingdom.
"Then the Truth arose, angered against the False, and
crushed it' disappohlting its endeavour and humbling each
obstinate tyrant. I speak truly: you, O leaders, have glorified
Islam by your resolve, have exalted its authority, and have filled
men's
hearts ~vith fear and awe. All foreigners have learned
that yours is an authority not to be resisted, a strength not to be
overcome and a word not to be ignored; that you are the salt
of the earth and that you control the people. But the danger
is now great and the emergency critical, [or the devils have
1 hlirza 'Alf Asghar lChan A,nrn~'s-Sr`Itan, on ivEom at a later date
was con ferred the higher title of AMbak-i-.4'2arn. ~
+P26
combined to repair the hurt which they have sustained, and are
eager to attain their end, ancl they are determbled to mislead that
man
of sin into the expulsion of all the'~flamf from the country. So they
have explained to him that only by the obedience of
the officers of his army can effect be given to his commands,
and that these officers [being at present Persians and Muslims]
will not act contrary to any command emanating from the
'ulen~a, and will not consent to inflict on them any injury, so
that, in order to establish th~ authority of the government, they must
be replaced by European officers; and they have exhibited
to that foolish traitor as a specimen [of what they propose] the
command
of the Royal Body-guard and the control of the
Cossack Brigadet. So now this infidel and his counsellors in
heresy are exerting themselves to introduce foreign officers, and the
Shah in his chronic madness approves this plan and is filled with
delight thereat.
"By God's Life! Madness and infidelity are leagued together,
and folly and greed are allied to destroy religion, to abrogate
the Holy Law, and to hand over the Home of Islam to foreigners
without striking a blow or offering the least resistance.
"O guides of the people! If you leave this wretched
l'haraoh, or suffer him to continue on his throne of madness,
and do not hasten to depose him from the high place of his
error, then the matter is finished, and will be hard to cure and
difficult to remedy."
The remainder of the article deals with the deposition of
Nasiru'd-Dm Shah, an achievement which it declares to be not
difficult of accomplishment on account of the general discontent at
his
rule and the prestige enjoyed by the '~lama since they
espoused the cause of the people in opposing the obnoxious
Tobacco Monopoly. The editor, Muhammad Rash~d, adds a
note on the great influence wielded by the '`~lam~z in Persia, and
observes how necessary it is for the welfare of Islam that they
should not receive payment or pensions from the government.
It s:lys much for the Say7~d's foresight that Colonel Liakhoff stad
the
other Russi:ln officers ~r~ the service of the present Shah should
have
been the instruments wherewilh the deplorable roup a'`tot of June :3,
1908, was effected. The Cossack Brigade ~vas originally instituted in
1 882, and Colonei Kozakofski was the first officer to command it.
+P27
"Islam cannot prosper," he concludes, `'unless the `nlama be
independent, and not obliged to rely for their daily bread, in
learning, teaching and directing, on kings and nobles, as has
hitherto been the case."
The last article quoted is from the February number of the
above-mentioned Ziy~'u'l-Kh4fiqayn for ~8gz. Though shorter
than the two preceding documents, it is too long to quote in full, and
a short specimen must suffice. It deals with the miserable
condition of Persia, the tyranny and exactions of the go~erning
classes, whicl~ are depopulating the country and driving numbers of
its
people into exile, the corruption of all branches of the
administration, the sale of governments and government offices,
the absence of all law, the prevalence of every kind of cruelty
and torture, and the lack of discipline amongst the unpaid and
vagabond soldiery, who live by plunder and robbery, and are
dangerous only to their peaceful and industrious compatriots.
"The government has over-ridden and destroyed the Holy
Law, detests and repudiates civilized administration, despises
and ignores the laws of reason and common sense. Passion
alone holds sway, greed alone dominates, violence and brute
force alone rule. The sword, the scourge and the branding-iron
only govern. It delights in the shedding of blood, glories in
dishonour, and exults in robbing widows and orphans of their
possessions. In those lands is no security,and their inhabitants see
no
means to save their life from the teeth of tyranny save by flight.
"A fifth of the Persians have fled into Turkish or Russian
territory, where you may see them wandering through the streets
and markets as porters, sweepers, scavengers and water-carriers,
rejoicing in spite of their tattered garments, their sombre
countenances, and the meanness of their avocations, in their
deliverance, and thanking God for sparing tneir lives....
"The governor and his satellites, in order to recover srhat
they disbursed at first [in bribes to the Court] and to ol~tain
what they have undertaken to remit [to the capital], during the
whole period of their authority (which is undetermined) leave no foul
deed, or disgraceful act, or horrid iniquity undone....They hang up
women by their hair, put men in sacks with savage
+P28
dogs, nail their ears to wooden boards, or put a leading-rein through
their noses and then parade the wretched victim in such pitiful plight
through the streets and markets. Their lightest punishments are
branding
and scourging with whips."
The editor adds that he has heard of, but not seen, another letter
in
which the Siyyid advocates the deposition of both Sultans (i~. of
Turkey
and Persia), which he declares to be "easier than taking off one's
boots"l
The following extract from an undated letter' written by Siyyid
Jamalu'd-Din to one of his friends (unnamed) is given in the Hisiory
of
tize Az~ekening of the Persia7's (~pp. iO7-108). This letter is
written
in Persian, and the translation is as fol lo~vs:-
I write this letter to my own dear friend, being a captive in prison
and
debarred from meeting my friends, neither expecting deliverance nor
hoping for life, neither afflicted by my captivity nor fearful of
being
slain. Nay, I rejoice at my captivity and impending death, for my
imprisonment is for the freeing of my kind, and I shall be slain for
the
life of my people. Only on this account am I grieved, that I have not
lived to reap what I have sown, and that I have not fully attained to
that which I desired. The sword of unrighteousness has not suffered me
to see the awakening of the peoples of the East, and the hand of
ignorance has not granted me the opportunity to hear the call of
Freedom
from the throats of the nations of the Orient. Would that 1 had sown
all
the seed of my ideas in the receptive ground of the people's thoughts
I Well would it have been had I not wasted this fruitful and
beneficent
seed of mine in the salt and sterile soil of that effete Sovereignty!
For what I sowed in that soil never grevr, and what I planted in that
brackish earth perished away. During all this time none of my well-
intentioned counsels sank into the ears of the rulers of the East,
whose
selfishness and ignorance prevented them from accepting my words. I
had
hopes of Persia, but the reward of my labours was entrusted to the
public executioner! With a thousand threats and promises they summoned
me to Turkey, and then
1. From internal evidence it would appear to have been written
from Constantinople a little before the writer's death.
+P29
fettered and constrained me thus, regardless of the fact that to
destroy
the messenger is not to destroy the message, and that the page of Time
preserves the word of Truth.
"At all events I desire my honoured friend to submit this my last
letter to the eyes of my dear Persian friends and fellowworkers, and
to
communicate to them verbally this message:- 'You, who are the ripe
fruit
of Persia, and who have zealously girded up your skirts for the
awakening of the Persians, fear neither imprisonment nor slaughter !
Be
not wearied by I'ersian ignorance! Be not frightened by the ferocious
acts of Sultans! Strive with the utmost speed, and endeavour
with the greatest swiftness! Nature is your friend, and the Creator of
Nature your ally. The stream of renovation flows quickly towards the
East. The edif~ce of despotic government totters to its fall. Strive
so
far as you can to destroy the foundations of this despotism, not to
pluck up and cast out its individual agents. Strive so far as in you
lies to abolish those practices which stand between the Persians and
their happiness, not to annihilate those who employ these practices.
If
you merely strive to oppose individuals, your time will only be lost.
If you seek only to prevail against them, the evil practice will draw
to itself others. Endeavour to remove those obstacles which prevent
your
friendship with other nations."'
Much more might be written concerning this remarkable man, who, a
wandering scholar with no material resources save only an eloquent
tongue and pen, learning both wide and deep combined with
considerable political insight and knowledge of affairs, and a
sincere and passionate love of Islam, of which he acutely felt
the present decadence, literally made kings tremble on their thrones
and defeated the well-laid plans of statesmen by setting in motion
forces which he knew how to evoke and with which secular politicians,
both European and Asiatic, had utterly failed to reckon. He it uas, as
has been already said, who was the chief agent in bringing
about the Egyptian Nationalist movement, which, though defeated in
~88~,
is still a force to be reckoned with; and he it was to whom
the present Constitutional Movement in Persia in large measure
owes its
+P30
inception. He also did much to awaken the independent Muslim States to
a sense of their imminent peril and the urgent need of combination to
withstand the constant aggressions of the great European Powers, and
he
might with justice be termed the founder of Pan-Islamism in the ser,se
in which I have defined it. He might have effected much more had he
been
able to find a Muslim sovereign sufficiently intelligent to
understand the full scope of his ideas, and sufficiently inspired by
patriotism and enthusiasm for Islam to carry them out. Of Nasiru'd-Din
Shah, a selfish and cruel despot, caring only for his personal
authority and material pleasures, he must needs despair after I
a brief trial. Of the Sultan of Turkey he had greater hopes,!;
and he set on foot a real movement, which still counts innuential
supporters in Persia, to bring about a working understanding
between the Turkish Sunnls and the Persian ShI'a, based on the
recognition by the Persians of the Ottoman Caliphate, and
a recognition by the Turks of the King of Persia as head of the
Shi'ites, and including the abolition of sundry practices on both
sides
tending to keep alive the existing hostility between these two great
divisions of Muslims.l For he saw clearly that the
same dangers threatened the tv~o Empires, and that only by
uniting against the common foe, instead of wasting their strength in
vain bickerings and occasional armed conflicts, could they
hope to escape the impending doom. Even some influential
m~`J`ab~ds and ,~las were gained over to this policy, but when
these, in the recent revolution in Persia, partly from choice and
natural sympathy, partly from necessity, threw in their lot with the
Constitutional movement, Sultan 'Abdu'l-Hamid, in whose
presence, until July, ~go8, none dared breathe the hated word
"Constitution"(MasJzrd~z7ya'), broke off all relations with
them, and, by permitting his troops to cross the North-West
frontier of Persia, added to her difficulties and distress. ~ Yet in
the new and brighter era which has now dawned in Turkey| the
ideas of Siyyid Jamalu'd-Dln may perhaps find a fuller measure
of success.
+P31
THE TOBACCO CONCESSION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.
THE misfortunes of Persia which overshadowed the last six years of
Nasiru'd-Din Shahts reign, and ultimately led to his destruction, may
be said to date from the granting of the Tobacco Concession to an
English company on March 8, 1890.
During the preceding summer the Shah had visited Europe for the
third
time1. Hitherto these journeys, though costly and useless (for no
benefit to his subjects accrued from them), had done no particular
harm.
But this year was a year of evil: even before he left Persia in
April, the ~hah. had grante~ January~L88gito Baron Julius~de Reuter a
concession for the fQrmation of a State Bank, witllLexclusive rights
of
issuing bark notes and exploiting the mineral resources of the
country,
alla a month later Prince Dolgorouky obtained for Russia the first
refusal of any railway concession which might be granted during the
five
succeeding years. As if this did not suffice, the Shah fqrther granted
to a Persian subject (of whose identitylam ignorant) a Lottery
concession, which was subsequently bought by a British Syndicate for
40,0~ This was shortly afterwards revoked, but the money paid by the
Syndicate was not refunded, and this had the effect of discrediting
Persia on the Stock Exchange; a result, perhaps, not wholly to be
regretted from the Persian point of view, since the interest of the
Stock Exchangc is often of a somewhat sinister character, and by no
means wholly to be desired. On September 2 the Persian State Bank,
under
the title of the Imperial Bank of Persia, ~vas. establish~by British
Royal Charter
1. The first journey was in 1873, the second in 1878, and the third in
1889.
+P32
The circumstances surrounding these concessions, and especially the
Lottery Concession, are obscure to me, but one effect of this last,
which had several important consequences, was a quarrel between the
Shah
and Prince Malkom Khan, who had, since 1872, represented Persia at the
Court of St James's. As a result of this quarrel Malkom Khan ceased,
in
November, ~889, to be Persian Minister in London', and was replaced by
Muh~ammad'AII Khan '~n's-Sal~nat. On October zo, 1889 the Shah re-
entered his capital, having re-crossed the Persiar; frontier on
September ~3, bringing with him his new French physician, Dr l;euvrier
(to wllom we owe a singularly illumblating account of events in the
Persian capital during the next three years, entitled Trois ~ns a IfZ
Co~cr ~e Perse) and
the celebrated protagonist of "Pan-Islamism," Siyyid Jamalu'd-Dm al-
Afghan, the former from Paris, the latter from Munich.
We now come to the year ~ 890, from which especially, as I have
already observed, the dangerEi and disasters which still threaten
Persia
may be said to date. "De concession en concesssion," wrote Dr Feuvrier
under the date April ~4 of this year, "la Perse sera hentAt to''t
er'`iere entre les Jnains des etrangers."The Imperial Bank of Persia
took up the scheme of constructing a carriageroad from Ahwaz to
Tibran,
and ceded its mbleral rights to a new company called the "Persian Bank
Mining Corporation," which, however, collapsed four years later.
wasons
all tending towards the same evil result of placing in foreigrl hands,
for a relatively
small irnmediatebe~lit tO the Sh_ his courtiers, and to the great
detriment of the Persian peopled the sources of Persia's actual or
potential ~ealth, belong to about the same period, and will be found
fully discussed in Lorini's excellent work, [a Persia Fconon~ica
conie??~ora?tea e la sua questro,~e ?noJ'e~aria (Roine, ~gco). llut it
was the Tobacco Concession which led to the most momentous results,
and
it is this especially which will now be discussed.
This Concession, as already stated, was granted on March 8,
1. The ~ilnes of hIarch '6, 18gl, announced, on the authority of the
Persian ran, that blalkom Khan had been deprivecl of all his titles by
the Shah. A spirited reply from hIalkom liban `~-as published on
Nlarch
zo, 1891, in the same paper.
2. Till recently (Feb. 1910) the l'ersi:~n ~linister for Foreign
Aflairs. Ile resigned on Feb. 6 in consequence of ~ vote Or censure.
+P33
1890, but the preliminary negotiations of which it was the outcome
very
probably began in the preceding year, while the Shah was in Europe.
The
concessioncaire, hIr G. F. Talbot, was thereby granted full control
over
the production, sale and export of all tobacco in l~ersia for a period
of fifty years, in return for which monopoly he undertook to pay to
the
Shah, or the Persian Government, an annual rent of ~s,ooo, in
addition
to one-quarter of the annual profits, after the payment of all working
expenses and a five per cent. dividend on the capital. The capital of
the Company, which, under the title of "the Imperial Tobacco
Corporation
of Persia," was subsequently formed, consisted of 6650,000 in (14,740
ordinary shares of ~o each, and 600 founders' shares at ' each. That
good profits were expected is sufficiently strewn by the following
statement in the Prospectus, dated November 3, 1890: "the Founders'
Shares will not receive dividends in any year until the Ordinary
Shares
shall have received ~5 per cent. dividend for that year. The remaining
profits will then be divided in equal moieties between the Ordinary
Shares and the Founders' Shares."The expectations of the
concessio'`na~res are still more clearly set forth in the prospectus,
where the net annual profits are estimated at 500,000 and the total
net
annual profits to the Corporation at 371,875. "Advantage was taken,'~
says the prospectus, " of the experience gained in the working and
administration of the Turkish Tobacco Regie...established in the year
~884..., and inasmuch as the rent payable by them (i.e. the Persian
Tobacco Corporation) is only.~5,ooo per annum,as against (630,ooo per
annum payable by the Turkish Regie, and the term of their concession
is
for 50 years as against the term of only 30 years in the case of the
Turkish Concession, their business will be entered on under much more
favourable conditions."The Persian &overnment undertook "to support
and
protect the Corporation in carrying on their business," in which
undertaking, adds this alluring document, "it has a direct interest,
as
it will share in the profits realized."It is interesting to observe
that
"should any difference arise between the Imperial &overnment and the
Corporation, it shall be determined by an Arbitrator to be appointed,
in default of agreement, by one of
+P34
the representatives of the United States of America, or of
Germany or Austria, resident at I ihr;SIl.'' For this was before the
days when we had bouncl ourselves by ententes and rapprocheme?'ts to
our
dear friends France and Russia. Wlth the Prospectus from which the
above
information is derived was enclosed a glowing account, dated August 2,
~890, of the vast possibilities now Iying open before the
co~`cesszonnaires, drawn up by a gentleman named Antoine Kitabji (who,
if my memory serves me right, was responsible for that strange and
heterogeneous conglomeration of Levantine Christians and Syrian Jews
which constituted the cast of the so-called "Persian Theatre"at the
Paris Exhibition), describing himself as "Directeur General des
Douanes
en Perse."It is hard to resist tile temptation of quothlg this
egregious
document in full, but we must content ourselves `vith the following
majestic, if somewhat cryptic, utterances. "Moreover, the mere fact
of the reservation made by the Government of His Imperial Majesty the
Sl~ah, which, while accepting a minimum rent of .~5,ooo sterling per
annum to encourage the enterprise, has reserYed for itself one-quarter
of the profits, proves to ~-ou at once the importance of the
approximate
estimate of experienced persons in the country, who, by this indirect
means, and without being a charge on your Company, have been able to
secure so important a part for the Government.
"Now, as to the population, they will benefit by the Regie, because
at present the Tambal~ou passes through three or four hands before
reaching the consumers....The Octroi and intemal conveyance duties at
present existing...are of little importance...: therefore it is
certainly not these duties which are now the cause of the relatively
large overcharge of merchants and dealers; but the reason is-tllese
merchants, with the small capital they possess, are desirous of
gaining
much, and even make mixtures to raise their profits still higher. I
say,
therefore, that the population wiLI be a true partisan of your Regie
because they will buy cheaper, and without admixture.
"The growers will be the most favoured in this matter, because the
merchants do them great injury by depreciating
+P35
their goods, in order to purchase at reduced prices and long terms,
whilst your Company will be careful to encourage the production of the
better qualities by paying remunerative prices, and by, making
advances.
"To sum up, the Regie has a very brilliant future before it. I t
will
realize large profits from the beginning; and all the parties
interested, such as the Government, your Company, the consumers and
the
growers,. will certainly find their share in the prL,fits. Of this I
am
convinced.,' Thus everybody was to be happy and pleased, and to
derive a profit from this beneficent Corporation (which itself was to
be rewarded by a conscious sense of rectitude and a profit of anything
over 50 per cent. on its capital) except the wicked Persian tobacco-
yendors, who, "with the small capital they possess," were apparently
regarded as unworthy of serious consideration. The Concession was duly
registered at the British Legation at Tihran on May 9, ~890; the
subscription-list was opened on November 4-6; and all preparations
were
made to "take up"the Concession in the following year.
Here I must for a moment break the thread of my narrative to speak
of
a literary enterprise ~vhich undoubtedly was not without its effect h1
increasing the dissatisfaction at the Shah's extravagances and
disregard
of the interests of his people which began to prevail in Persia.
Malkom
Kh;in, having quarrelled with the Shah and his ministers (especially
with the ~!NZ'flZI'SS~Itcz~z, after~vards entitled Atfjak-i-A'~am),
began to publish in London and to distribute in the East a Persian
newspaper entitled Qc~nz~rz ("Law "), of which No. ~ was issued on
February 20, 1890, To. 2 on March 22, No. 3 on April 20, No. 4 on May
20, No. 5 on June ~ 8, and No. ~ on ~ uly ~ 8. The remaining numbers
(7,
8, 9 and ~9) which I possess' are, unfortunately, undated, but since
4~
numbers at least were issued, it is to be presumed that the paper was
continued for nearly three and a half years. It was vehemently
resented
by the Shah, and those unfortunate Yersians who were known to have
received it or ~to be in possession of it were arrested, and in
several
cases'
1. Since writing this I have received, through the kindness of Prince
Malkom Khan's widow,an almost complele set of the 41 nambers of the
Qanun.
+P36
severely punished. Amongst these were two of my intimate friends, onc
an c:c-socrctary of the l'ersian Legation in London, the other my old
teacher and Mr (now Sir) Arthur Wollaston's coadjutor in the
production
of his two English-Persian Dictionaries, M[rz~ Muhammad Baqir. The
latter delivered himself out of the hands of Prince Na'ibu's-Saltana
(the son of Nasiru'd-Din and uncle of the ex-Shah) by recitations from
his mystical and religious "Islamo-Christian', poems which made the
Prince glad to be quit of him at any price; but the former suffered a
harsh and
prolonged imprisonment.
The first number of the Q4ndn was published, as already stated, on
February 20, 1890. It was entirely Islamic in tone, beginning with a
brief prayer in Arabic, and ending with a hope that any opinion which
should prove erroneous or contrary to the truths of Islam might be
forgiven. The greatest respect was expressed for Nasiru'd-Din Shah,
whose justice and clemency were extolled, and for the m~cilas and
?~`i~j~ailc~s. Emphasis was laid on the disordered and corrupt
condition
of Persia, which was ascribed, firstly to the absence of any law, and
secondly to the misdeeds of the Prime Minister, the ~4m~n'sSullan, who
was described as a "muleteer's son "([ac~a-i-4e.CZrJi), and who is
throughout the special target of the paper's vituperations. "We must
be~in by writing very gently," observed the editor; but, so far as the
~'ninn's-SuI~t was concerned, the degree of this "gentleness "may be
judged by the following:-
"The Prime Minister will leap half a yard out of his seat as soon as
he sees the Q~nz`~. He will hurl his cap (kulaJ') on the ground, tear
his collar, and, after various other womanish outbursts of anger, will
run off to the foreign ambassadors, kiss their feet, and pledge them
whatever is still left of the rights of the State, so that perhaps, by
their help, the Qa?~?CH may be put on the proscribed list. So much the
better! In Persia a newspaper which is not proscribed means nothing.
The
more violently he behaves, the more important will the matter become,
and the more eager will the people of Persia grow to obtain and
circulate such a warrant of salvation." The next number, dated
hIarch
~z, ~890, contains the following summary of complaints, in the course
of a long description of the woes
of Persia:-
+P37
"The control of all affairs of State in the hands of ignorant and
base-born persons.
"The rights of the State bartered to please Legation dragomans.
"The titles and offices of the State the playthings of successful
knaveries.
"Our army the laughing-stock of the world.
"Our princes deserving of the pity of beggars.
"Our mujtahids and doctors craving the justice of the unbelievers.
"Our towns each a metropolis of dirt.
"Our roads worse than the tracks of animals."
To the cry for a fixed Code of Laws is now added a demand for
a Parliament representing the people' free to discuss all matters
connected with the welfare of the State, the members of which shall
enjoy the privilege of immunity, whatever they may lawfully say or do
in the discharge of their functions.
"The number of councillors in the Council of State is now very
small,"
writes the editor; "as far as possible this Assembly must be enlarged.
Great divines, eminent men of learning, capable mnilas, and the chief
men of every province-even young men possessed of learning-must be
members of this supreme Council.
"The leaders of Church and State, and all persons of intelligence,
must, in response to the demands of this time for increased
watchfulness, unite to support this Assembly, and seek by every means
to make the Persian people understand that the regeneration of Persia
depends on carrying out the Law, and that carrying out the Law depends
on the consideration and authority enjoyed by this Assembly."
The third number of the Qand n, dated April zo, ~ 890, emphasizes
the
veneration of law strewn elsewhere, even by the rulers of the most
autocratic states, such as Turkey and Russia, and deplores anew the
insecurity of life, property and honour in Persia. It congratulates
its
contemporary, the Persian ~khiar ("Star"), published at
Constantinople,
for its services to the cause of Persian freedom, and warns the Shah's
sons that while
+P38
they are jealously watching each other, each hoping that he may one
day
succeed to the throne, "the ignorance of the Prime Minister (i.e. the
A m~u's-Sulta?~), which has overshadowed Persia, will soon leave
nothing
worth quarrelling about."
Certain passages, viewed in the light of late