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The case of Ḥjj Nr al-Dn, 182347: a study in land tenure1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Ann K. S. Lambton
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Extract

Among the British Indian merchants engaged in trade with Persia in the first half of the nineteenth century was Hjj Nr al-Dn Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Dn Muhammad, a native of Masulipatam. He was a rich and highly respected merchant, holding at one time a position of influence at Shrz, where he had settled at the beginning of the century and married. He was a Sh' and reputed to be pious and well versed in the tenets of Sh'ism. He had intercourse with Husayn 'Al Mrz Farmn Farm (the son of Fath 'Al Shh and governor of Frs from 1214179980 to 12501834), Fath 'Al Shh, and Muhammad Shh; he also enjoyed the favour of the latter's prime minister Hjj Mrz Aqs, who referred to him in 1843 as his esteemed friend,2 but eventually forfeited this because of the partiality which Muhammad Shh showed him for many years.3 In due course Hjj Nr al-Dn acquired possession of two estates in Frs. His title to them was subsequently questioned and the dispute led to a long and complicated case with the Persian government.

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Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , February 1967 , pp. 54 - 72
Copyright
Copyright School of Oriental and African Studies 1967

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References

2 FO 60112, Incl. No. 4 in Sheil to Aberdeen, No. 13, Tehrn, 15 February 1845.

3 ibid., Sheil to Aberdeen, No. 13, Tehrn, 15 February 1845. Sheil also stated that Hjj Mrz qs entertained suspicions that Hjj Nr al-Dn had aspired to supplant him as prime minister.

4 In Husayri 'Al Mrz's raqam of 12381823 the third part is called Ahmadbd (see below). Either Ahmadbd or Muhammadbd is presumably a copyist's or translator's error.

5 See also Hajj Mrz Hasan Fas' who states that one-third of Jamjj Sa'id Arsanjn and was in the possession of the mutavalli when he was writing, i.e. in 130418567 (Frs-nmeh-i Nsir, lith., Tehrn, 18946, II, 173). Razmr mentions Jamlbd in his Jughrfiy-yi Irn, Tehrn, 19412, vii, 64.

6 FO 60112, Incl. No. 10 in Sheil's No. 13.

7 The tumn was a gold coin of varying weight (1 mithqt =71.04 grains). Its value at the beginning of the nineteenth century was about 1. By 1811 it had declined to 17s. or 18s.; between 1820 and 1830 it was worth 11s., and in 1845 it was estimated to be worth 10s.

8 FO 60112, Incl. No. 10 in Sheil's No. 13.

9 ibid., Incl. No. 21 in Sheil's No. 13.

10 Taxes were levied on the land according to the solar year. A cycle of 12 solar years, each named after an animal, and beginning when the sun first enters Aries (i.e. on the Persian new year) was in use. It was the common practice to give the date of the solar year in farmns and raqams for land grants.

11 Web: A woven fabric; spec. a whole piece of cloth in process of being woven or after it comes from the loom. Also collect., woven stuff (OED).

12 FO 60112, Incl. No. 11 in Sheil's No. 13. The raqam gives the actual boundaries of the properties.

13 ibid., Incl. No. 12 in Sheil's No. 13.

14 iibid., Incl. No. 13 in Sheil's No. 13.

15 ibid., Incl. No. 25 in Sheil's No. 13.

16 ibid., Incl. No. 20 in Sheil's No. 13. Mrz Muhammad Taq Qavm al-Dawleh was wazr of Frs during the early part of A.H. 1253.

17 ibid., Incl. No. 15 in Sheil's No. 13.

18 ibid., Incl. No. 18 in Sheil's No. 13.

19 ibid., Incl. No. 19 in Sheilghn is mentioned by Fas' (II, 262), and by Razmr, (vii, 21); no mention is made by either of Kchindn.

21 FO 60112, Incl. No. 1 in Sheil's No. 13.

22 ibid., Incl. No. 2 in Sheil's No. 13.

23 ibid., Incl. No. 5 in Sheil's No. 13.

24 ibid., Incl. No. 16 in Sheil's No. 13.

25 ibid., Incl. No. 7 in Sheil's No. 13.

26 ibid., Incl. No. 8 in Sheil's No. 13.

27 The amount of the taxes in kind is not mentioned.

28 FO 60112, Incl. No. 9 in Sheil's No. 13.

29 ibid., Incl. No. 3 in Sheil's No. 13.

30 FO 6074, Sheil to Palmerston, No. 51, Trebizond, 14 November 1840.

31 ibid. See FO 60112, Incl. No. 44 in Sheil's No. 13.

32 See FO 60112, Incl. No. 22 in Sheil's No. 13.

33 McNeill did not return to Persia and Sheil became minister in November 1844.

34 FO 60112, Incl. No. 4 in Sheil's No. 13.

35 The practice of dispatching multassas on government business, especially their employment in the collection of revenue and the recovery of debts, was a source of great vexation and oppression.

36 FO 60112, Incl. No. 23 in Sheil's No. 13.

This document reads as follows: Statement made by the deputy-governors of the district of Arsanjan regarding the taxes exacted from Jamalabad.

That which was exacted by the governors of the district of Arsanjan from the village of Jamalabad, the property of Hajji Nur al-Din between the years 125318378 and 1258 1841-3 under the name of taxes of which we have information, apart from what was exacted from him at Shiraz and the plunder of his village, of which matters we have no cognizance, is as follows:

In 125318378 by the governor of Arsanjn Mrz Abu 'l Hasan Khn son of Mrz Muhammad 'Al Mushr al-Mulk formerly wazr of Frs

(1) according to a receipt given by him

(2) according to a draft by him on the village of Jamlbd

(3) wheat belonging to the village sold by him at his own valuation

(4) barley do.

In 125418389 by Narullah Khan according to receipts given by him

In 1255183940 by Murad Quli Khan and Nadir Quli Khan according to receipts given by them Crops carried away by them valued by Hjj Nr al-Dn at (250 tumns of which had been received)

In 125618401 taken by Muhammad Rahm Khn and 'Abbs Khan

In 125718412 'Abbs Khn carried off the entire produce of the village valued by Hjj Nr al-Dn

In 125818423 Mirza, Muhammad 'Al Khn b. Zak Khn farmed the taxes of the village at

Total

37 For details of the calculation of interest see FO 60112, Incl. No. 46 and No. 47 in Sheil's No. 13.

38 FO 60112, Incl. No. 24 in Sheil's No. 13.

39 ibid., Incl. No. 17 in Sheil's No. 13.

40 ibid., Incl. No. 44 in Sheil's No. 13.

41 FO 60104, Sheil to Aberdeen, No. 45, Tehrn, 21 April 1844.

42 FO 60112, Incl. No. 26 in Sheil's No. 13.

43 ibid., Incl. No. 30 in Sheil's No. 13.

44 ibid., Incl. No. 44 in Sheil's No. 13.

45 ibid., Incl. No. 31 in Sheil's No. 13.

46 ibid., Incl. No. 2 in Sheil to Aberdeen, No. 22, Tehrn, 25 February 1845.

47 ibid, Incl. No. 3 in Sheil's No. 22.

48 FO 60219, Murray to Clarendon, No. 84, camp nr. Tehrn, 1 September 1857.

49 FO 60216, Clarendon to Murray, dft., No. 146, Foreign Office, 28 October 1857. Initialled Clarendon and marked seen by Lord Palmerston.

50 Rznmeh-i Vagyi'i, Ittifqiyyeh, 19 Dhu 'l-Hijja 127012 September 1854. In 1857 there was an attempt to make this decision retrospective. A notice was published in the Rznmeh-i Vaqyi'i Ittitqiyyeh on 22 Dhu 'l-Hijja 127312 August 1857 referring to the notice of 12701854 and adding a clause invalidating any sales of land to foreigners which had been sealed by the provincial authorities only and not by the shh.

51 See FO 60194, Taylour Thomson to Clarendon, No. 185, Tehrn, 28 September 1854.

52 Mrz Ahmad was the sandqdr of Feraydun Mrz and eventually obtained control of the wazirate of Frs.

53 FO 60112, Incl. No. 30 in Sheil's No. 13.

54 ibid., Incl. No. 45 in Sheil's No. 13.

55 ibid., Sheil to Aberdeen, No. 13, Tehrn, 15 February 1845.

56 FO 60113, Aberdeen to Sheil, No. 36, Foreign Office, 29 July 1845.

57 FO 60123, Incl. No. 5 in Sheil to Aberdeen, No. 75, camp near Tehrn, 20 July 1846.

58 ibid., Incl. No. 13 in Sheil's No. 75.

59 ibid., Incl. No. 14 in Sheil's No. 75.

60 ibid., Incl. No. 15 in Sheil's No. 75.

61 ibid., Incl. No. 18 in Sheil's No. 75.

62 FO 60123, Sheil to Aberdeen, No. 15, camp near Tehrn, 20 July 1846.

63 FO 60119, Palmerston to Sheil, No. 18, Foreign Office, 17 November 1846.

64 FO 60131, Sheil to Palmerston, No. 78, camp near Tehrn, 15 August 1847. In 1851 Hjj Nr al-Dn's affairs once more became the subject of correspondence between the British mission and the Persian government. The reason on this occasion was that the Persian customs officials in Isfahan had, for the second time, illegally detained some merchandise belonging to him and attempted to levy tolls on it contrary to treaty (FO 60164, Sheil to Granville, No. 217, Tehrn, 12 December 1851).

65 FO 60131, Sheil to Palmerston, No. 74, camp near Tehrn, 30 July 1847.

66 FO 60163, Incl. No. 8 in Sheil's No. 175.

67 ibid., Incl. No. 17 in Sheil's No. 175.

68 FO 60112, Sheil to Aberdeen, No. 22, Tehran, 28 February 1845.