Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T09:18:02.791Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Continuity and Change in the Ulama Population of Najaf and Karbala, 1791–1904: A Socio‐Demographic Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Meir Litvak*
Affiliation:
Tel Aviv University

Extract

During the Qajar period the two shrine cities ('Atabādt-e ‘āliydāt, lit. Sublime Thresholds) of Najaf and Karbala, south of Baghdad, served as the leading centers of learning for the Shi'i world. As such they were also at the center of patronage networks that were essential for the consolidation of the religious leadership of all Shi'i communities. Yet, whereas various scholars have examined doctrinal and political developments in the religious establishment in Iran, none have dealt specifically with the ‘Atabat community of learning during the 19th century. The purpose of this study is to examine patterns of continuity and dynamics of change in the composition of the ulama community of the ‘Atabat, based on ethnic, professional, and geographical factors. Such research could shed light on the structure and characteristics of the entire ulama community in Iran and specifically in Ottoman Iraq.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This article is based on excerpts from a Ph.D. dissertation submitted to Harvard University. I wish to thank my advisors, Professors Roy Mottahedeh and Abbas Amanat, for their guidance and criticism. Needless to say, all mistakes are mine alone. The article is dedicated to the memory of my late teacher Uriel Dann.

References

1. By 1785 Aqa Mohammad Khan, founder of the Qajar dynasty, had become the de facto ruler of most of Iran, officially assuming the title of shah in 1796.

2. The term ‘Atabāt also refers to Kazimayn and Samarra, the burial sites of four Shi'i Imams—Musa al-Kazim, Muhammad al-Jawad, ‘Ali al-Naqi, and Hasan al- ‘Askari—but these towns will not be discussed in this study.

3. For an analysis of religious leadership in 19th-century Shi'ism see Amanat, Abbas, “In Between the Madrasa and the Marketplace: The Designation of Clerical Leadership in Modern Shi'ism,” in Authority and Political Culture in Shi'ism, ed. Said Amir Arjomand (Albany, 1988)Google Scholar; Moussavi, Ahmad Kazemi, “The Establishment of the Position of Marja'iyyat-e Taqlid in the Twelver-Shi'i Community,” Iranian Studies 18.1 (Winter 1985)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Litvak, Meir, The Shi'i Ulama of Najaf and Karbala, 1791-1904: A Sociopolitical Analysis (Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1991), chapters 3-4Google Scholar.

4. Among the major studies on the Iranian ulama are Algar, Hamid, Religion and State in Iran, 1785-1906: The Role of the Ulama in the Qajar Period (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1969)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; various studies by Said Arjomand, Amir, particularly The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam (Chicago, 1984)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lambton, Ann K. S., “The Persian Ulama and Constitutional Reform,” in Le Shi'isme imamite (Paris, 1970)Google Scholar; Keddie, Nikki, “The Roots of Ulama Power in Modern Iran,” in Scholars, Saints and Sufis (Berkeley, 1972)Google Scholar.

5. The term ‘Irāq-i ‘Arab appears in Persian and British sources as far back as the 19th century, to distinguish the area from ‘lrāq-i ‘Ajam, the central region in Iran.

6. For relations between the Safavids and the religious establishment see Aubin, Jean, “La Politique religieuse des Safavides,” in Le Shi'isme imamiteGoogle Scholar; Said Arjomand, Amir, The Shadow of God and the Hidden ImamGoogle Scholar, Part Two; Amoretti, B. S., “Religion in the Timurid and Safavid Periods,” in The Cambridge History of Islam (Cambridge, 1986)Google Scholar. On the migration of Lebanese ulama see Hourani, Albert, “From Jabl ‘Amil to Persia,” BSOAS 49 (1986):133-40CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7. On Iranian-Ottoman rivalry over Iraq see Longrigg, S. H., Four Centuries of Modern Iraq (Oxford, 1925)Google Scholar; Holt, P. M., Egypt and the Fertile Crescent, 1516-1922 (London, 1966)Google Scholar; and Al-'Azzawi, ‘Abbas, Tārikh al-'Irāq bayn al-iḥtilālayn, 8 vols. (Baghdad, 1375/1955)Google Scholar.

8. Kohlberg, Etan, “Aspects of Akhbari Thought in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,” in Eighteenth Century Renewal and Reform in Islam, ed. Nehemia Levtzion and John O. Voll (Syracuse, 1987), 152Google Scholar; Tabataba'i, Hossein Modarressi, An Introduction to Shi'i Law: A Bibliographical Study (London, 1984), 54Google Scholar. The differences between Usulism and Akhbarism revolved mainly around three issues: the sources of law; the means of attaining knowledge; and the authority of the ulama as heirs to the Imams. In essence, Akhbarism rejected the validity of Aristotelian logic, which had been the basis for Shi'i jurisprudence in legal reasoning. Usulism relies on four sources of authority in matters of doctrine and law: the Qur'an, the traditions of the Prophet and the Imams (akhbār), the consensus of the ulama (ijmā’), and intellect ('aql). By contrast, the Akhbaris argued that the single most important source of law is the traditions of the Imams, which provide the community with an infallible guide to all aspects of life. The Akhbaris also rejected ijtihād and the need for the believers to emulate the mujtahids. Rather, they argued, all believers should emulate the Imams. For a detailed discussion on the division between the two schools see Scarcia, G., “Intorno alle controversie tra Ahbari e Usuli presso gli Imamiti di Persia,” Rivista degli Studi Orientali 33 (1958):211—50Google Scholar; see also Kohlberg, op. cit., and Khunsari, Mohammad Baqer, Rawżat al-jannāt fi aḥwāl al-‘ulamā’ wal-sādāt (Tehran, 1962)Google Scholar, who enumerates the differences between the Usulis and the Akhbaris.

9. Cole, Juan R. I., “Shi'i Clerics in Iraq and Iran, 1722-1780: The Akhbari-Usuli Conflict Reconsidered,” Iranian Studies 18.1 (Winter 1985): 5 ffCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10. Ibid., 13 ff.

11. For the survival of Usulism in Iran see, for instance, the description of Mirza Abu al-Qasim Qommi, who had reportedly studied the uṣūl al-qadīma dūn al-jadīda (the old uṣūl) in Iran before coming to Karbala, in Khunsari, Rawżat al-jannāt 5: 369.

12. Cole, “Clerics,” 15-16; on Aqa Mohammad Baqer see ‘Ali Davvani, Ustād-e kull Āqā Moḥammad Bāqer b. Moḥammad Akmal ma'rūf be Vaḥīd-e Bihbihānī (Qom, 1958) and the sources cited there. On the reasons for his return to Usulism see Abbas Amanat, Resurrection and Renewal: The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran, 1844-1850 (Ithaca, 1989), 36.

13. Cole, “Clerics,” 19; Bihbihani, Risālat al-ijtihād wal-akhbār, cited in Kazemi Mousavi, “Position of the Marja'iyat-e Taqlid,” 38.

14. Cole, “Clerics,” 20.

15. For a discussion on the reasons for the reemergence of Usulism see Amanat, Resurrection, 36.

16. Perry, John R., Karim Khan Zand: A History of Iran, 1747-1779 (Chicago, 1979), 172CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lockhart, Laurence, Nadir Shah (London, 1938), 255Google Scholar.

17. On the legitimating role of the ulama see Arjomand, Said Amir, “The Shi'ite Hieroeracy and the State in Pre-Modern Iran: 1785-1890,” Archives of European Sociology 22 (1981)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lambton, A. K. S., “Some New Trends in Islamic Political Thought in Late 18th and Early 19th Century Persia,” Studia Islamica 39 (1974)Google Scholar: 95-128 (on the writings of Mirza Abu al-Qasim Qommi); Shaykholeslami, Ali Reza (who holds similar views), “From Religious Accommodation to Religious Revolution: The Transformation of Shi'ism in Iran,” in The State, Religion and Ethnic Politics: Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, ed. A. Banuazizi and M. Wiener (Syracuse, N.Y., 1986), 238-9Google Scholar. See also Ha'iri, Abdul-Hadi, “The Legitimacy of the Early Qajar Rule as Viewed by the Shi'i Religious Leaders,” MES 24.3 (July 1988)Google Scholar, who argues in contrast to the above three (p. 283) that in the final analysis the dominant trend in 19th-century Shi'ism was that “on principle, the mujtahids are legitimate rulers who are to enact the rules of the Twelfth Imam during his Greater Occultation.” The daily conduct of the ‘Atabat ulama throughout most of the century does not support Ha'iri's view.

18. Stone, Lawrence, “Prosopography,” in Historical Studies Today, ed. Felix Gilbert and Stephen R. Graubard (New York and London, 1971), 107Google Scholar. For similar studies on the Middle East using prosopography see Petry, Carl F., The Civilian Elite of Cairo in the Later Middle Ages (Princeton, 1981)Google Scholar; Bulliet, Richard, The Patricians of Nishapur (Cambridge, Mass., 1972.)Google Scholar; idem, “A Quantitative Approach to Medieval Muslim Biographical Dictionaries,” JESHO 13 (1970); and Ugur, Ali, The Ottoman Ulema in the Mid-17th Century: An Analysis of the Vaka'i’ ul-Fuzala of Mehmed Şeyhi Efendi (Berlin, 1986)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

19. Dawlatabadi, Yahya, in Ḥayāt-e Yaḥyā (Tehran, 1341 S./1963), 52-4Google Scholar, describes a certain informal ranking in status among lower-level ulama in Iran. Certain rawżakhwans and ta'zīyakhwāns who were courted by members of the Qajar elite and by wealthy merchants enjoyed great prestige and earned up to 100 tumans in one mourning session. In the absence of any other mass media, some of the preachers enjoyed great prestige and had a major influence on public opinion. Conceivably, a similar situation existed in the ‘Atabat.

20. Khunsari, Mohammad Baqer, Rawżat al-jannĀt; Aqa Buzurg Tehrani, Ṭabaqāt a'lām al-Shī'a: al-Karām al-barara fī al-qarn al-thālith ba'd al-'ashara, vols. 1-4Google Scholar; idem, Nuqabā’ al-bashar fī al-qarn al-rābi’ ‘ashar, vols. 1—4 (Najaf, 1954-1968)Google Scholar; Amin, Muhsin, A'yān al-Shī'a (Sidon, 1957)Google Scholar; al-Din, Muhammad Hirz, Ma' ārif alrijāl fī tarājim al-'ulamā’ wal-udabā’ (Najaf, 1964—65)Google Scholar; and additional data from Modarres, Mohammad ‘Ali, Rayḥānat al-adab (Tabriz, 1967)Google Scholar; Habibabadi, Mohammad ‘Ali Mu'allim, Makārim al-āṣ ār dar aḥvāl-e rijāl-e dowreh-ye Qājār, 6 vols. (Isfahan, 1958)Google Scholar.

21. See Mannheim, Karl, “The Problems of Generations,” in Essays in the Sociology of Knowledge (London, 1972), especially 297-8Google Scholar.

22. Tehrani, Karām, 620; Amin, A'yān 5: 336; Tehrani, Aqa Buzurg, Hidāyat al-rāzī ilā al-Mujaddid al-Shīrāzī (Tehran, 1984)Google Scholar, Part Four.

23. al-Mulk, Adib, Safarnāmeh-ye Adīb al-Mulk (Dalīl al-zā'irīn) (Tehran, 1364 S./1985), 187Google Scholar.

24. Na'ini, Mohammad ‘Ali Pirzadeh, Safarnāmeh-ye Ḥājjī Pīrzādeh, ed. Hafiz Farmanfarmayan, 2 vols. (Tehran, 1343 S./1964), 1: 333Google Scholar.

25. A survey of students in Najaf conducted in 1957 reveals a similar ratio among the various ethnic groups, with the exception of the Indians: 896 Iranians, 326 Iraqis, 324 Pakistanis, 270 Tibetans, 71 Indians and Kashmiris, 47 Syrians and Lebanese, and 20 from the Arab sheikhdoms in the Persian Gulf. This similarity suggests that the sample is credible. See al-Jamali, Fadil, “The Theological Colleges of Najaf,” The Muslim World 50.1 (1960) :15CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

26. Said Arjomand, Amir, The Turban for the Crown: The Islamic Revolution in Iran (Oxford, 1988), 21Google Scholar; Hasan, M. S., “Growth and Structure of Iraq's Population, 1867-1947,” cited in The Economic History of the Middle East 1800-1914, ed. Charles Issawi (Chicago and London, 1966), 155Google Scholar. Hasan does not distinguish between Shi'is and Sunnis. While the former probably constituted the majority in the southern region, the Sunnis comprised the majority in Basra, as well as in Baghdad and its environs.

27. There is no direct data on the Shi'i population in the regions constituting present day Lebanon, since the Ottomans did not register the Shi'is as a separate group but counted them as members of the Muslim millet Only in the autonomous sanjak of Mount Lebanon were the Shi'is registered as such. According to the 1308/1888 Sālnāmeh there were 9,922 Shi'is in the sanjak. The population of the various sanjaks of the Damascus vilāyet, where Shi'is also resided, along with other religious groups, amounted to 77,196 according to the 1911-12 Ottoman Sālnāmeh, while the population of the każās of Sidon and Marj ‘Ayun amounted to 101,143. See McCarthy, Justin, “The Population of Ottoman Syria and Iraq, 1878-1914,” Asian and African Studies 15.1 (March 1981): 23, 15 and 21 respectivelyGoogle Scholar.

28. The term “Turk” or “Turkish” appeared in the Shi'i sources as defining ethnicity well before it was used in the Ottoman Empire, where for many years it served as a pejorative denoting peasants from Anatolia. The term “Persians” is used in this study to distinguish between Persian-speaking and Turkish-speaking Iranians. The term “Turks” refers here to ulama from both Russian and Iranian Azarbayjan.

29. The British Consul in Baghdad served also as a representative of the Indian Government under the title of Resident. The use of each term depends on the British source from which it is drawn.

30. “Petition by Indian Students to the British Consul,” enclosed in FO 195/1841 Baghdad no. 210/23, Mockler to Currie, April 21, 1894; Tehrani, Nuqabā, 374.

31. See, for instance, Juan Cole's assertion in his “Clerics,” 25, that Sayyid Dildar ‘Ali Nasirabadi (d. 1820), who studied in Karbala during the 1770s, “had great difficulty being taken seriously as a scholar because of his Indian background.” See also Litvak, The Shi'i Ulama, chapter 4, 283 ff., on the lower status of Indian mujtahids as compared with their Iranian counterparts.

32. Sources for Karbala in chronological order: FO 248/108, Farrant to Canning, May 15, 1843, based on an estimated count of 3,400 houses in Karbala; al- Mulk, Adib, 158; John Ussher, A Journey from London to Persepolis (London, 1865), 468Google Scholar; Geary, G., Through Asiatic Turkey (London, 1878), 154Google Scholar; Peters, J. D., Nippur, or Explorations and Adventures on the Euphrates, 1888-1890 (New York, 1897), 324Google Scholar; Guinet, V., La Turquie d'Asia (Paris, 1891-95), 3: 199Google Scholar; IGFD P/4184, proceeding no. 109, Jennings to Political Resident, March 21, 1892; “Ottoman General Census of 1881/2-1893,” cited in Kamal Karpat, Ottoman Population, 1830- 1914: Demographic and Social Characteristics (Madison, 1985), 128; Sayf al-Dawla Sultan Mohammad, Safarnāmeh-ye Makka, ed. 'Ali Akbar Khodaparast (Tehran, 1364 S./1985), 229; "Safar ilā Karbalā wal-Ḥilla wa nawāḥīhā, ” Lughat al-'Arab 1 (1911): 158. Sources for Najaf: Ussher, 468; Geary, 176; Peters, 331, Guinat, 208; FO 195/1672, Tweedie to White, October 1890.

33. These mujtahids were Mirza Husayn Khalili, Mohammad Fazel Sharabiyani, Akhund Khorasani, Hasan Mamaqani, Kazem Yazdi, and ‘Abdallah Mazandarani.

34. Malcolm, John, A History of Persia (London, 1815), 2: 444Google Scholar. The senior mujtahids in Tehran were Fazlallah Nuri, Sayyid Mohammad Tabataba'i and ‘Abdallah Bihbihani. See Vanessa Martin, Islam and Modernism: The Iranian Revolution of1906 (London, 1987), 13.

35. The biographical dictionaries rarely provide information on occupational origin other than clerical. Consequently, the occupational origin of the great majority of the ulama in this category is unknown and is assumed to be non-clerical. It is highly probable that in reality the figures for newcomers are lower than those presented here. Nevertheless, these figures do point to a certain trend of a larger percentage of newcomers from Iran.

36. On Shaykh Ja'far Kashif al-Ghita see Khunsari, Rawżat al-jannāt 2: 200 ff.; Tehrani, Karām, 249 ff.; Amin, A'yān 15: 413-46; Muhammad Mahdi al-Mahbuba, Māżī al-Najaf wa ḥāżiruhā 3: 138; Hirz al-Din, Ma' ārif 1: 150-57; Tunikabuni, Qiṣaṣ al-'ulamā, 190 ff.

37. al-Wardi, ‘Ali, Dirāsa fī ṭabī'at al-mujtama’ al-'Irāqī (Baghdad, 1965), 238-9Google Scholar; Battatu, Hanna, The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements in Iraq (Princeton, 1978), 14Google Scholar.

38. Tehrani, Nuqabā', 344-5.

39. Ajami, Fouad, The Vanished Imam, Musa al-Sadr and the Shi'a of Lebanon (Ithaca, 1986), 33Google Scholar; Amin, A'yān 42: 55; Tabrizi, ‘Abd al-Husayn Amini, Shuhadā’ al-fażīla (Najaf, 1355), 266, 275Google Scholar; Mahbuba, Māżī 2: 323; Hirz al-Din, Ma' ārif 1: 15-16.

40. Muhsin Amin, in A'yān 48: 147 and 40: 39, recalls an interesting example of the difference between the attitudes and mentality of Lebanese villagers and an Iranian mujtahid, Sayyid Mahdi al-Hakim Tabataba'i, who was sent to Lebanon. Hakim demanded land and a considerable sum of money, whereas the villagers were used to local ulama who lived as they did. Eventually Hakim returned to Najaf, with no regret on either side.

41. See above, note 35.

42. On the clerical notables see Arjomand, Shadow of God, 122-59.

43. For a more detailed analysis of the mujtahid ranks in the ‘Atabat see Litvak, The Shi'i Ulama, ch. 4, sec. 4.5, “Determinants of Status and Leadership.“

44. Tehrani, Nuqabā , 212-13.

45. Tehrani, Karām, 668-70; Kazemi, Mohammad-Mahdi, Aḥsan al-wadī'a fī tarājim ashhar mashāhīr mujtahidī al-Shī'a (Baghdad, 1930), 169-71Google Scholar. For further details on the family see Ajami, The Vanished Imam, 32 ff.

46. See al-Bahrani, ‘Ali b. Hasan, Anwār al-badrayn fī tarājim ‘ulamā’ al-Qtīf wal- Aḥ;ā’ wal-Baḥrayn, (Najaf, 1960), 409-11Google Scholar; Tehrani, Karām, 86, 324; idem, Nuqabā', 459; Hirz al-Din, Ma' ārif 3 132-3.

47. Tehrani, Nuqabā', 152-3. Mohammad Baqer Isfahani and his son Aqa Najafi were the powerful and corrupt shaykh al-lslams of Isfahan. See Ha'iri, ‘Abdul Hadi, Shi'ism and Constitutionalism in Iran(Leiden, 1977), 110Google Scholar; Tehrani, Nuqabā', 247-8; Hirz al-Din, Ma' ārif 2:214-15.

48. On the madrasa curriculum see “Le Programme des études chez les Chiites et principalment chez ceux de Nedjef,” Revue du mond Musulman 23 (June 1913): 271-5; Khalili, Ja'far, Mawsū'āt al-'atabāt al-muqaddasa: Najaf (Baghdad, 1965), 2: 91-106Google Scholar; Amin, Hasan, Islamic Shi'ite Encyclopaedia 4: 84-5Google Scholar.

49. Among the uṣūl books introduced into the madrasa curriculum during the 19th century were: Qawānīn al-uṣūl by Mirza Abu al-Qasim Qommi (d. 1233/1817-18); Farā'iż al-uṣūl (al-Rasā'il) by Morteza Ansari; and Kifāyat al-uṣūl by Mulla Mohammad Kazem (Akhund) Khorasani which superseded the second and third volumes of Qawānin al-uṣūl. The following works in fiqh were incorporated into the curriculum: Riyāż al-masā'il by Sayyid ‘Ali Tabataba'i, which was superseded at mid-century by Morteza Ansari's al-Makāsib; and Najāt al-'ibād by Mohammad Hasan Najafi, later superseded by al-'Urwa al-wuthqā' by Sayyid Kazem Yazdi.

50. Momen, Introduction to Shi'i Islam, 200-201; Amin, A'yān 40: 49-50; Hasan Amin, op. cit., 86. Husayn Qoli Hamadani in Najaf and Mirza Hasan Ashtiyani in Tehran, for example, taught uṣūl using the notes they had taken at Ansari's lectures.

51. The biographical dictionaries do not provide the exact place of birth for a large number of ulama. The nisba by itself is not a sufficient indicator since it often describes only the region of origin, e.g., Mazandaran or Gilan. Furthermore, reliance on towns or cities mentioned in the nisba would be a mistake, since these references sometimes merely denote the origin of an individual's family in an earlier period. The reference to Shaykh Mohammad Taqi b. Mohammad ‘Abd al-Rahim Aywankafi Varamini Tehrani Isfahani demonstrates the difficulty of relying on the nisba, as it is impossible to determine which of these localities was his birthplace. Consequently, identification of ulama as villagers, town and city dwellers has not been undertaken.

52. The very small number of ‘Atabat-born Turkish ulama in the sample makes it difficult to draw any significant conclusions about this group. Consequently, both Turkish immigrants and natives of the ‘Atabat have been examined as one group.

53. Tunikabuni, Qiṣaṣ al-'ulamā , 10.

54. On the Karbala rebellion see Juan Cole and Moojan Momen, “Mafia, Mob and Shi'ism in Iraq: The Rebellion of Ottoman Karbala, 1824-1843,” Past and Present 112 (1986). Among the promising students who left Karbala during the siege were Zayn al-'Abidin Mazandarani, who was later to return and become the leader of Karbala, ‘Abd al-Rahim Burujirdi, Hasan Mudarris of Isfahan, Hasan Mamaqani and Mohammad Layiji. Presumably other less renowned students left as well.

55. On the importance of patronage networks see Amanat, “In Between the Madrasa and the Marketplace,” and Litvak, The Shi'i Ulama, chapters 3 and 4.

56. Najafi-Quchani, Hasan, Siyāḥat-e al-sharq yā zendegīnāmeh-ye Āqā Najafī Qūchānī, ed. Ramazan ‘Ali Shakiri (Mashhad, 1351 S./1972), 324Google Scholar.

57. On ethnic relations in the ‘Atabat and Arab complaints of discrimination see Litvak, The Shi'i Ulama, ch. 1, sec. 1.4.

58. al-Wardi, ‘Ali, Lamaḥāt ijtimā'īyya min ta'rīkh al-'Irāq al-ḥadīth, 3 vols. (Baghdad, 1969), 1: 22Google Scholar. See also the condescending remarks by an Iranian merchant living in Karbala about the people of Hilla, illustrating the rivalry between the Shi'i towns, in Cowper, H. S., Through Turkish Arabia (London, 1894), 334Google Scholar.

59. For a full discussion on the Usuli-Shaykhi dispute in 19th-century Shi'ism see Rashti, Sayyid Kazem, Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn (Kirman, 1980)Google Scholar; Abbas Amanat, Resurrection, 48-69; MacEoin, Dennis, From Shaykhism to Babism: A Study in Charismatic Renewal in Shi'i Islam (Ph.D. dissertation, Cambridge University, 1979)Google Scholar; Rafati, Vahid, The Development of Shaykhi Thought in Shi'i Islam (Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1979)Google Scholar; Nicolas, A. L. M., Essai sur le Sheikhisme, 4 vols. (Paris, 1910)Google Scholar; and Modarresi-Chehardehi, Mohammad, Shaykhīgarī va Bābīgarī (Tehran, 1345 S./1966)Google Scholar.

60. The ulama who settled among the tribes in Iraq, as well as the majority of the Lebanese ulama, constituted the lower echelons of the establishment, and therefore are irrelevant to this discussion. However, even the leading ulama families of Lebanon, such as Al Fazlallah and Shams al-Din, sent their sons to the ‘Atabat.

61. Tehrani, Karām, 62-4.

62. On the shaykh al-Islams of Tabriz see Mirza, Nader, Tārīkh va joghrāfī-ye dār al-salṭana-ye Tabriz (Tehran, 1323), 222-7Google Scholar. On the imam jum'ahs of Tabriz see Tehrani, Karām, 102-3; Amin, A'yān 14: 134; Modarres, Rayḥānat al-adab 1: 204; Tehrani, Nuqabā', 287-8, 319-20, 743-4. For Mashhad see Mirza ‘Abd al-Rahman Mudarris, Tārīkh-e ‘ulamā-ye Khorāsān, 66-9, 91; Tehrani, Nuqabā', 228, 304, 363-4. For Qazvin see Tehrani, Karām, 808, 773, 327, 721-3; idem, Nuqabā', 164, 711, 1613-14, 1631, 1637. For Sabzevar see Ansari, Zendegānī, 236-7, Tehrani, Nuqabā', 161, 216. For Japilaq see Tehrani, Karām, 625; Kazemi, Aḥsan al-wadī'a, 30-41; Tehrani, Nuqabā', 764; al-Saltanah, Mohammad Hasan Khan I'timad, Kitāb al-ma' āthir wal-āthār (Tehran, 1306/1888), 162Google Scholar. For Khunsar see Tehrani, Karām, 590-92; Hirz al-Din, Ma' ārif 1: 229-30, 273; Khunsari, Rawżat al-jannāt 2: 106-10; Kazemi, Aḥsan al-wadī'a, 114-28. For Huwaiza see Hirz al-Din, op. cit., 2: 366-9.

63. On the background of the three mujtahids—Fazlullah Nuri, Bihbihani, ‘Abdallah and Tabataba'i, Mohammad—see Tehrani, Nuqabā', 1193-4Google Scholar; Bamdad, Mahdi, Sharḥ-e ḥāl-e rijāl-e Irān dar qarn-e 12, 13, 14 Hijrī, 6 vols. (Tehran, 1347 S/1968), 3: 96-7, 2: 284-9Google Scholar.