From heaven to earth: the rise of ulema as landowners during the Qajar Persia

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ABSTRACT This article examines the transformation of landownership and the means of coercion during the Qajar Era in Persia, focusing on the rise of the Usuli ulema as key economic and political players. It analyses how access to means of coercion shifted over time—from nomadic coercion to state-based coercion with the rise of the Qajar state, and later to religious-status-based coercion as the state’s power weakened due to the commercialization of agriculture. This shift enabled certain branches of the Shiꜥite ulema, particularly the Usuli ulema, to amass wealth and engage in landownership and economic activities. The article focuses on how figures like the Masjed-Shahi brothers in Isfahan and the Mojtahedi family in Tabriz capitalized on the political instability of the Qajar era. By expanding religious educational systems and gathering large numbers of students, they built powerful networks that enabled them to assert significant influence over urban politics. This inquiry is primarily based on an analysis of secondary sources, shedding light on the transformation of the religious and political landscape in major Qajar cities and ultimately argues that these changes paved the way for religion to assume a central role in Iran’s socio-political sphere, particularly following the Constitutional Revolution.