Iranian Constitutional Revolution Research Articles

The Social and Political Thought of Sayyed ʿ⁠Ali Moḥammad Širāzi, the Bāb

Abstract Sayyid ʿ⁠Ali Muḥammad Širāzi (1819–50), known as “the Bāb”, is one of the most important modernizers of the 19th century in Iran. He is one of the first thinkers, within the Islamic thought’s modern framework, who challenged the forces of tradition such as the Shiite clergy and the Persian absolute monarchy by offering a new religious view, which went beyond Islamic religion. This article, after a brief reconstruction of the intellectual biography of the Bāb, will analyse his social and political thought, highlighting his main ideas regarding the role of rationality; the role of education and pedagogy; the economy and industrialization; the environment and the importance of civic cohabitation. The article will focus on Bāb’s views concerning the role of the women in the society and the abolition of the clergy from the religious sphere. This work will also show how Bāb’s thought contributed, together with secular and Islamic reformist intellectuals, to the Iranian constitutional revolution (Mašrūṭe) in the early 20th century.

Liberalism and Shia Political Thought in the Thought of Allameh Naieni, A Theoretical Framework for the Iranian Constitutional Revolution

The purpose of writing this article is to analyze and describe the political thought of Allameh Mohammad Hossein Naeini as one of the most important theorists of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1284 AH), who tried to reconcile the components of liberalism and classical Shiite political thought to provide a Theoretical basis for the Iranian Constitutional Revolution. In this article, the treatise "Tanbih al-Ulama and Tanzih al-Mulla is, the most important work of Naeini and some other works that have studied her thought, are examined. In Iranian Constitutional Revolution, those who defended the Constitution against supporters of tyranny began to write their treatises, mainly during period of minor tyrann[1]. The most important goal of these thinkers in writing the treatises is to eliminate tyranny, reduce king, s power and rulers in political system of Qajar period and limiting them to the law of parliament and public will on one hand and explaining the concepts and foundations of liberalism and constitutionalism in a way that is compatible with Islamic law on the other hand. In justifying constitutionalism these treatises has referred more to weaknesses and harms of authoritarian system, as well as to poverty and backwardness of Iranian society, and considered constitutionalism to be the only solution to problems.The aim of these dissertations was to demonstrate the efficiencies and capabilities of Constitution in preserving and strengthening the Iranian society. In fact, they are in line with times have sought to implement a religious copy of liberal system and Western constitution in Iranian society. The most important treatise that written in this field is the book of Tanbih al-Allameh and Tanzih al-Mella written by Mohammad Hussein Naeini which we will examine his theories in this article.

Visualizing Kingship in a Time of Change

Despite artistic engagement with photography in Iran almost immediately after the invention of the daguerreotype in 1839, the field of Islamic art history has had difficulty accepting the modern period and the medium of photography as part of its discipline. Studies on painted Iranian portraiture have often stopped before the introduction of photography, and only in more recent years has photographic portraiture and its influence on painting been examined. Due to this nascent state of the field, large gaps exist even on more traditional topics, such as the question of royal portraiture. This article presents the first examination of photographic royal portraiture and the visualization of kingship during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1905-1911). This topic, in comparison with earlier Iranian painted royal portraiture, has received considerably less attention. Photographic portraiture, together with printed and painted examples, from the reigns of the Qajar rulers Nasir al-Din Shah (r. 1848-1896), Muzaffar al-Din Shah (r. 1896-1907), Muhammad ʿAli Shah (r. 1907-1909), and Ahmad Shah (r. 1909-1925), will be analysed in connection with social and political developments in order to better understand the development of royal image making during a time of political turmoil.

1908 Tabriz Uprising through French Writings

Abstract As one of the crucial moments of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, the siege of Tabriz is logically one of the most commented episodes of the period both in Iranian and foreign historiographies. Among these, the French perception of this episode of the late Qajar era is less known than the British and Russian ones, and of course than Iranian sources. This article puts in comparison two testimonies: one from the French Consul in Tabriz, Alphonse Nicolas, and the other one from a French military officer in travel through Central Asia, Fernand Anginieur. Although Nicolas had a great experience of Iran that Anginieur did not have, their visions are quite similar when it comes to close the roots of the revolution in Tabriz. However, because of the gap between their experiences of the region and their own personalities, their writings about Tabriz in 1908–1909 diverge greatly about the appreciation of the events. Nonetheless, the main value of their writings, for us, remains the factual information they gave.

Political Sociality in the Narrowing of Time: Hibat al-Din al-Shahrastani and the Late Ottoman Najafi Revival

AbstractThis article explores the pre–World War I writings of the Najafi cleric Hibat al-Din al-Shahrastani (1884–1967), situating them within the broader Islamic revival movement, the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, the Arabic Nahda, and the Ottoman Shiʿi shrine cities in the years preceding the British invasion of Basra in 1914. It makes four arguments. First, al-Shahrastani's calls for constitutionalism, Islamic unity, revival, and the cultivation of the self were all attempts to respond to what he saw as the immediate and existential threat to his world posed by European imperial expansion. Second, he attempted in a variety of ways to mobilize what he called the Islamic social practices against this threat. Borrowing from his own theorization of these practices, I employ the concept of political sociality to gather his attempts to foster various social assemblages—of both newer and older provenance—that would cultivate Muslim subjects with the capacity to resist European aggression. Third, his conceptions of sociality and of political temporality, although often resonant with those of the more widely studied Sunni and Christian reformers of the Nahda, had specificities that I relate to his understandings of subject formation, the sense of impending calamity in his writings, and the borderlands context of the shrine cities. These conceptions were not necessarily affiliated with the nationalist and disciplinary project of the modern territorial state and were animated by a temporality of urgency rather than deferral. Finally, I consider how al-Shahrastani's theorizations of sociality and ultimately of revolution (al-thawra) reveal moments in the historical constitution of a reformist and soon-to-be insurgent Shiʿi public in these cities.

Talibov Tabrizi, Enlighten of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution in the Modern Era

The purpose of writing this article is an analytical study of Talibov Tabrizi's Thoughts as one of the intellectuals supporting the Iranian people who is in the middle of the background of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution and the realization of this revolution (1284 AH) in Iranian society. He is one of the influential people in the realization of the Constitutional Revolution, to whom a part of the new ideas in the constitutional period Iran are dedicated. He was one of the pioneers of constitutionalist politics and is one of the first modern thinkers in Iran in the field of thought making. He has also brought aspects of cultural and political modernity to Iranian culture. His ideas and thoughts on cultural, social, political, and economic issues are in a Rupture from traditional science and education. New scientific topics and philosophical foundations of the modern world were the main foundations of his intellectual system. Based on what he learned from modernity, he commented on political issues and came up with new ideas on cultural, social and political issues. He is one of the promoters of natural sciences and modern social and political thought and the representative of the intellectual currents of his time, one of the followers of the originality of reason and experimental philosophy. A believer in philosophical liberalism, he generally rejects the medieval way of thinking and the political system associated with it. His political views are a combination of political liberalism and social democracy, and he seeks to establish a democratic system. Emphasizes the liberty right and the rule of law. He believes in the rule of the elite, that is, the people of knowledge and thought of the agents of reform and progress. It preaches national sovereignty and the right of nations to determine their own destiny.

The Web in the Tempest: The Experiences of the Teachers and School Directors of the Alliance Israélite Universelle during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, 1906–11

The lives of the teachers of the Alliance Israélite Universelle (Alliance) were entangled with the turmoil and humanitarian disasters of Iran's 1906–11 Constitutional Revolution. In theory, the revolution should have been an exciting moment and a validation of the Alliance's mission to "emancipate" Middle Eastern Jews. Yet in the Alliance staff's letters, there are surprisingly few mentions of the revolution and fewer still that express enthusiasm for the constitutional project. Rather, the correspondence describes chaos, violence, and the staff's efforts to address the needs of traumatized and desperate local Jewish communities. This article seeks to understand the reasons for this and discusses how the Alliance teachers perceived and interpreted the events of the revolution through the lens of their own backgrounds and biases. The article also weighs the value of Alliance staff letters as source material for understanding Iranian history.

Divine vs. Human Law: The Quarrel between the Anti- and Pro-Constitutionalist Jurists in Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906

This study investigated the quarrel between the pro-and anti-constitutionalist jurists following the establishment of the first National Consultative Assembly (Majlis) in Iran and the drafting of the first constitution in 1906. A group of shi῾ite jurists launched an attack on Majlis, in addition to the ideas of human legislation, freedom, and equality, by considering the Islamic Sharī῾a law to be a set of perfect and impeccable laws. In response to these oppositions, the pro-constitutional jurists argued in favor of the constitutional movement. In this paper, it is argued that the quarrel could be considered as evidence for the perennial tension between the divine and human law in Islam. It appears that examining this conflict may shed light on incidents shaping the history of contemporary Iran.

Examination of the Process of Changing the Institution of the “vizierate” and Creating New Ministries During the Iranian Constitutional Revolution

نهاد وزارت نقطه ثقل نظم دیوانی ایران در طول تاریخ بوده است. وزیر با عنوان­های مختلفی مانند وزیر اعظم و صدراعظم در رأس این نظام قرار داشت و به دستیاری رؤسای دیوان‌ها کشور را اداره می­کرد. از دوره ناصرالدین شاه تکاپوهایی برای نوسازی دستگاه دیوان آغاز شد. این تلاش‌ها دو وجه داشت: ایجاد وزارتخانه‌های چندگانه و تعدیل جایگاه صدراعظم. این امر که به­منزله تغییر در نهاد وزارت بود، به­ سادگی امکان‌پذیر نبود، زیرا نهادها در برابر تغییر مقاومت می‌کنند. نتیجه آنکه تلاش‌ها برای ایجاد نهاد جدید وزارت شکست خورد. تا پایان سلطنت مظفرالدین شاه با وجود آنکه عنوان­های متعدد وزارتی خلق شد، اداره امور همچنان در دستگاه صدراعظم باقی ماند، بی­آنکه «وزارتخانه‌های چندگانه» به نهاد تبدیل شده باشد. پژوهش حاضر کوشیده است با اتکا به منابع کتابخانه‌ای و با استفاده از روش توصیفی­ـ تحلیلی به بررسی این مطلب بپردازد که تغییر نهاد وزارت و ایجاد وزاتخانه‌های جدید به­عنوان نهادهایی نو در جریان انقلاب مشروطه ایران چگونه امکان‌پذیر گردید؟ یافته‌های پژوهش نشان می‌دهد انقلاب مشروطه نیروی لازم را برای ایجاد تغییر ناگهانی در نهاد وزارت فراهم ساخت. تحقق این امر از خلال تثبیت معنایی جدید از مفهوم وزیر صورت گرفت. این تثبیت معنایی از رهگذر مفهوم «وزیر مسئول» محقق گردید. طرح مفهوم «مسئولیت» در دایره مفاهیم اداری و سیاسی ایران، ریشه در تلاش‌های اصلاح‌طلبان دوره ناصری و مظفری داشت. پس از پیروزی مشروطه، تحقق حکومت مشروطه با «مسئولیت» وزرا یکسان تلقی شد. از سوی دیگر التهابات ماه‌های نخست پس از پیروزی انقلاب مشروطه، شکل دستگاه اجرایی و مفهوم وزارت را به مسئله محوری فعالان سیاسی بدل کرد. اتحاد این دو عامل زمینه‌ساز دگرگونی نهاد وزارت، حذف عنوان­های متعدد وزارتی قبل از مشروطه و خلق وزارتخانه‌های جدید به­عنوان نهادهایی نو گردید

Gramsci and the root of passiveness in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution 1906–1911

Culture is frequently used to explain socio-political underdevelopment in the Peripheral countries, including Iran. In particular, national culture is viewed as retarding modernisation of the political and economic systems and the society generally. This paper regards such approaches as being essentially Orientalist. Instead, it suggests, Iranian underdevelopment is best analysed through the Core–Periphery lens adopted by critical theorists. Accordingly, the case of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906–1911 is examined through this lens, via Gramsci's concept of ‘passive revolution’. The paper also uses Trotsky’s insights regarding combined and uneven development. It argues that the Iranian constitutionalists were able to establish an ‘historic bloc’, as identified by Gramsci, but this bloc was unable to become hegemonic and modernise and develop Iran's economy and society. This failure was due to the power of the Anglo-Russian imperial forces that dominated Iran for over a century and a half and the concomitant weakness of the kind of bourgeoisie and allied social layers that had led democratic, modernising revolutions in what are now First World or Core countries. Underdevelopment in Iran is therefore the product of the impact of imperialism rather than the product of Iranian culture.

Constitutionalism as a solution to despotism and imperialism: the Iranian Constitutional Revolution in the Ottoman-Turkish press

This article contributes to the growing scholarship on the connections between the Ottoman and Iranian revolutions by exploring Ottomans’ reactions to and portrayal of the constitutional struggle in Iran. Based on an examination of primary sources that have not been utilized before, it reveals how an ideologically diverse group of intellectuals tried to link the two revolutions together in the Ottoman-Turkish press, focusing on shared problems and ideals. It demonstrates that undergoing a revolutionary process themselves, these intellectuals interpreted the events in Iran through the prism of their own experiences and used them to garner support for the constitutional regime at home. Through their depictions of the Iranian revolution, they not only portrayed the 1908 Revolution as part of a broader struggle against despotism and imperialism with significant implications for the Islamic world, but also conveyed the message that the Ottoman constitution needed to be supported and protected so that it did not fail like the one in Iran.

Molla Nasreddin and the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (Analysis of why and how to reflect the iranian Constitutional Revolution in Molla Nasreddin magazine)

انقلاب مشروطیت ایران در مطبوعات خارج از ایران به درجات بازتاب‌هایی داشت. در بین مطبوعات خارج از ایران جراید منطقة قفقاز انقلاب مشروطیت را از وجوه گوناگون مورد توجه قرار دادند. یکی از مهمترین نشریات قفقاز در ربع اول قرن بیستم میلادی هفته‌نامة طنز ملانصرالدین بود که تحولات انقلاب مشروطة ایران را در مقیاسی نسبتا وسیع منعکس می‌کرد. به‌رغم انعکاس گستردة تحولات ایران در ملانصرالدین و تأثیر آن بر سپهر سیاسی ایران و نیز بر تعدادی از نویسندگان و نشریات ایران در دورة مشروطه هنوز دربارة بازتاب تحولات مشروطه‌خواهی ایرانیان در این نشریه پژوهش درخور اعتنایی در زبان فارسی انجام نشده است. پژوهش حاضر، در پی بررسی چرایی و چگونگی انعکاس اخبار تحولات مشروطیت ایران در هفته‌نامة ملانصرالدین است. یافته‌های پژوهش نشان می‌دهد سردبیر، نویسندگان و کاریکاتوریست‌های ملانصرالدین تحولات ایران را به دلیل سیاست کلان هفته‌نامه در حمایت از جنبش‌های سیاسی سرزمین‌های اسلامی، حضور گستردة مهاجران ایرانی در قفقاز و نیز پیوندهای قومی برخی از نویسندگان ملانصرالدین با ایرانیان مورد توجه قرار دادند. ملانصرالدین، انقلاب مشروطة ایران را از منظر مفهوم مشروطه در بین گروه‌های فرودست جامعة ایران، آسیب‌شناسی رفتار مشروطه‌خواهان، موانع تحقق آرمان‌های مشروطیت در ایران و نتایج انقلاب مشروطه بازتاب داده است.

Controversy over the concept ‘freedom’ during the Iranian constitutional revolution (1906– 09)

The Iranian constitutional revolution of 1906–09 paved the way for the establishment of new administrative institutions, adopting modern ideas and the hegemony of new political discourse over the archaic political reasoning. One of the most important aspects of the new discourse was the definition and internalization of modern concepts. This paper holds the view that the concept ‘freedom’ brought about a complicated problem for the socio-political sphere in the course of the Iranian revolution and, as such, deserves a thorough examination. Previous studies on the subject have usually neglected this aspect. Yet, this was exactly the main domain of the clash between traditionalism and modernity during the revolutionary years and brought about far-reaching results for Iranian society. This article attempts to contribute to this field by examining a number of Iranian journals of the period in order to evaluate their understanding of the concept ‘freedom’ and show the discrepancy between the constitutionalist and non-constitutionalist discourses.

Social analysis Iraj Mirza’s poems and Malek O-Sho'ara Bahar’s poems

Iraj Mirza and Bahar were born out around the Iranian Constitutional Revolution in their literary life. This revolution has had a profound impact on poetry and social thinking. As the poets mentioned in the past glories of the past and paid this tendency is usually seen in the society is in crisis and disaster and the crisis and disaster was nothing but colonization of foreign countries. Freedom and liberal center of the Revolution and thus poets and writers sought to people, the more liberal the lead. Due to this, the aim of this paper is to study the social implications of Iraj Mirza’s poems and Malek o-Sho'ara Bahar’s poems and compare them.Keywords: Iraj Mirza, Malek o-Sho'ara Bahar, the social themes of freedom, patriotism

The Battle of Sha’iba, 1915: Ottomanism, British Imperialism and Shia Religious Activism during the Mesopotamian Campaign

ABSTRACTThis article analyses relations among the Ottoman Empire, British imperialism and Shia religious proto-nationalism in the period before and after the battle of Sha’iba of 1915, one of the pivotal engagements of the Mesopotamian campaign. It illustrates how the narrow victory of the British at the battle led them to draw a number of over-optimistic conclusions regarding their role in Iraq and their ability to co-opt the Arabs of the province against their ‘Turkish’ overlords. The victory at Sha’iba and in particular the ambivalent role played by a number of the Arab mujahidin volunteers led the British to conclude that there had never been any real enthusiasm for the jihad declared by the Ottomans against the British occupiers. However, this was based on the false perception that lack of commitment to Ottomanism could be equated with sympathy for British imperialism. In particular, the British failed to recognise that the Ottoman summons to jihad had strengthened the developing forms of Shia proto-nationalist consciousness led by various mujtahids influenced by the Iranian Constitutional Revolution.

Islamist radicalism in the provinces of Iran 1906–9: a stage in the development of Islamism

ABSTRACTIslamist radicalism emerged in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906–9. This article examines the early stages of its emergence with particular reference to the provinces of Iran. It looks at the subject thematically and traces the development of an Islamist notion of the state, characterized by Islamic law, and the shaping of new views on nationalism, absolutism and the economy. Increasingly politicized ordinary people also influenced ideological change. The article begins by establishing the background and influence of individuals and groups who played a leading role in developing an Islamist radical political perspective and identity. It then discusses their vision for an alternative state in terms of the authority to govern, its institutions and its laws and considers their methods of organization and propagation to oppose the existing system, and their attempts to change it. Since the article is intended primarily for those interested in the history of Islamism, it ends by evaluating the stage it had reached in 1909.

A concise history of translation in Iran from antiquity to the present time

ABSTRACTThe history of the practice of translation in Iran dates back more than 2000 years. During all these years, translation has always played a prominent role in the process of intercultural communication between Iran and the rest of the world. The current article aims at presenting a concise account of major developments in the theory and practice of translation in Iran from antiquity to the modern time, focusing on important historical turning points, such as the Arab conquest of Iran, the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, and the Islamic Revolution of 1979, that have given rise to different translation movements in this country. The article then provides a detailed analysis of the practice and theory of translation in present Iran by addressing a whole host of issues, such as translation policy, censorship, translation industry, translation pedagogy, and so on.

Mateo Mohammad Farzaneh , The Iranian Constitutional Revolution and the Clerical Leadership of Khurasani (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2015). Pp. 329. $45.94 cloth. ISBN: 9780815633884

Mateo Mohammad Farzaneh , The Iranian Constitutional Revolution and the Clerical Leadership of Khurasani (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2015). Pp. 329. $45.94 cloth. ISBN: 9780815633884 - Volume 48 Issue 4

Mateo Mohammad Farzaneh.The Iranian Constitutional Revolution and the Clerical Leadership of Khurasani.

Mateo Mohammad Farzaneh.<i>The Iranian Constitutional Revolution and the Clerical Leadership of Khurasani</i>.

Vanessa Martin. Iran between Islamic Nationalism and Secularism: The Constitutional Revolution of 1906.

In the past 35 years, official historiography in Iran has presented “Islam” as the primary motivator of all popular movements since the mid-nineteenth century. A corollary of this has been to denigrate or downplay motives that cannot be subsumed by “Islam.” The purpose has been to furnish a historically rooted intellectual pedigree for the Islamism currently dominant in the country. In the book under review, however, Vanessa Martin contends that the literature in English on the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906 has emphasized the secular components of the revolution and it is now “timely” to explore the role of Islam. Indeed, she maintains, a “wide reading of the sources of the time demonstrates how far the population as a whole thought” of that revolution “implicitly as a Shiʿi revolution, whilst also being conscious that it would introduce a new system of government that promised greater accountability, regularity and justice to replace the arbitrary rule of absolutism.” Given that Iran was a “devoutly Shiʿi country, it was natural that the Revolution would be perceived in religious terms.” Unlike a small intellectual and mercantile elite who espoused secularism, the clerics were “very influential, not only because of their role in Islam, but also because the people were accustomed to deploying their influence to bargain with and protest against the state” (p. 1).