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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2022
The major foreign concessions granted in the reign of Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar have received considerable attention, none more so than the Tobacco Rebellion, which is generally viewed as a watershed event in the awakening of political consciousness in Iran. Although mentioned in most of the published material on the precedents of the Constitutional Revolution of 1906, a revised narrative of the tobacco rebellion is overdue. This paper fills the gaps and revises some of the widely held assumptions on the forces that unleashed a nationwide movement that almost brought down the Qajar dynasty. The emphasis is on the incendiary protests in Tabriz and the largely neglected role of Hajj Kazem Malek-al-Tojjar. This article, which is the fifth of a series by the author on the two Malek-al-tojjar-e mamalek-e mahrusa of the Qajar era, questions the authorship of the fatwa (hokm) and re-assesses the motivation for its hasty proclamation and dissemination. In other words, were the “sensation-seekers” the heroes of reform or is there a neglected version to extricate from the truths and half-truths propounded about this watershed event?
1 See Teymuri, Ebrahim, Tahrim-e tanbaku (Tehran, 1361/1982; first edition, 1328/1949), 120Google Scholar; and Kermani, Nazem-al-Eslam, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Iranian (Tehran, 1346/1942), 22Google Scholar, quoting Behbahani, about the difference between hokm and fatwa. The latter is binding only for the followers of a particular mojtahed.
2 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 103–4; Adamiyat, Fereydun, Shuresh bar Emtiaz-e Regie (Tehran, 1360/1981), 74–5Google Scholar. Adamiyat's book is the most recent and most reliable, although too dismissive of Nikki Keddie's Religion and Rebellion in Iran: The Tobacco Protest of 1891–92 (London, 1966) and Teymuri's admittedly poorly referenced work, which largely plagiarizes the eyewitness accounts of Shaykh Karbala'i, Resaleh-ye tambaku (unpublished) and Tarikh al-dokhanieh ya tarikh-e enhesare-e dokhaniat (Arak, 1333/1954). Both of them contain interesting material not mentioned elsewhere.
3 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 106–9; Adamiyat, Shuresh, 76–7.
4 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 106–9; Adamiyat, Shuresh, 76–7.
5 George Nathaniel Curzon, Persia and the Persian Question (London, 1966), I: 483.
6 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 35–9, implicates Wolff whose dealings were cut short by a sudden breakdown and departure from Iran.
7 Ibid., 35, 78–9. Various unsubstantiated figures are cited in Persian and English sources. Seyyedov, R.A., Iranskaya Bourgeosiya v Kontse XIXovo i v Nachale XXovo Vekov [The Iranian bourgeoisie at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries] (Moscow, 1974), 163–4Google Scholar, mentions 400,000 tomans paid in bribes to the shah and high officials, based on Russian Foreign Ministry Archives (AVPRI 5286/25), as compared with the £5000 stated by the director of the Regie, Ornstein, to British chargé d'affaires Kennedy. Lambton, Ann K.S., “Tobacco Regie: Prelude to Revolution” in Qajar Iran (London, 1987), 241, footnote 46, citing Lascelles to SalisburyGoogle Scholar.
8 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 9, 15.
9 Ibid., 9–10; Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 73, blames “profiteering by high officials in the basic commodities of life.”
10 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 3–7.
11 Browne, The Persian Revolution, 47. Estimates of the Controller-General of the Customs of Persia printed in the Turkish newspaper, Sabah.
12 Seyyedov, Iranskaya Bourgeosiya, 121.
13 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 16. Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 38, cites a dispatch from Wolff to Salisbury, counting among advantages to cultivators, the Regie's right “to make advances on growing crops besides tobacco.”
14 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 13. The figure of 200,000 comes from a letter written by the wealthy merchant, Haj Amin al-Zarb, to Prime Minister Amin al-Soltan.
15 Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 224; Persian translation in Kermani, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Iranian, 51–3.
16 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 10–11, quoting Akhtar. Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 49, mentions the recall of the Iranian ambassador in Istanbul after he published critical articles in the Turkish press.
17 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 60, quoting de Balloy.
18 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 11.
19 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 33–5, Persian translation of the Sabah article. Partial English translation in Browne, The Persian Revolution, 47.
20 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 10–11; full text in Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 36–8; partial English translation in Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 44–5.
21 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 41.
22 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 20; Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 42–3.
23 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 54–7. Dowlatabadi, Yahya, Hayat-e Yahya (Tehran, 1336/1957), 1: 13Google Scholar, claims Asadabadi developed close relations with Shirazi only after the tobacco concession.
24 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 6–8; Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 72. Amin al-Soltan was in turn portrayed as “unquestionably a Babi” by Seyyed Jamal al-Din.
25 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 9, 17. Talbot arrived in early Rajab 1308 AH (February 1891) and Ornstein, director of the Regie, in April (11 Ramadan).
26 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 50.
27 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 43, quoting from Shaykh Mahallati's Mo'ather al-akhbar fi tarikh-e Samara alleges that 1,000 male and female missionaries were spreading out across the country to convert Moslem flocks, build churches and erode Islam; to gain confidence, they built hospitals where chaste Moslem girls, abandoning the “curtain of purity,” served as nurses without appropriate covering.
28 Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 241.
29 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 16; Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 55–9, typically attributes them to Seyeyd Jamal al-Din.
30 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 26–7.
31 Ibid., 19–22; Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 67–9.
32 See Adamiyat, Shuresh, 27–8; Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 50–63, for his letters to Shirazi and the top ulama. The exaggerated influence attributed to Asadabadi may be partly due to warnings of forthcoming riots against the concession by his disciple, Mirza Reza Kermani, the later assassin of the shah.
33 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 15; Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 50.
34 Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 228–9; Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 50, both citing British chargé d'affaires Kennedy to Salisbury
35 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 44, and 45–7, cites an anonymous letter from Isfahan calling Iranian spies and collaborators of the Regie “akhvan-e shayatin” (devil's brothers).
36 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 43, quotes Prince ‘Abbas Mirza Molkara, who blamed “ignorant” ministers for the laxity which gave the Regie a free hand in enforcing its rules and bribing local officials.
37 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 17, citing Kennedy to Salisbury. See Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 39–40, for the full announcement listing the perceived benefits of the agreement.
38 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 18, citing Ornstein to Kennedy, and 22–3, Persian translation of the Regie's announcement.
39 Ibid., 24–5.
40 Ibid., 25, quoting Karbala'i. A similar incident occurred in Isfahan. Seyyedov, Iranskaya Bourgeosiya, 179, quotes from Russian archives that in Fars all tobacco stocks and even seeds were destroyed to prevent them falling into foreign hands at an imposed price. No other mention of destroying seeds exists, but in Isfahan the banning of cultivation was contemplated.
41 Curzon, Persia and the Persian Question, II: 498, a non-smoker, says he “never failed to succumb to the subtle influence of the Shiraz tambaku,” only a few perfumed inhalations of which filled the “cells of the brain with an Olympian contentment.”
42 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 19–23.
43 Ibid., 60–65; Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 243–4.
44 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 51–4, and 55, quoting the British consul on the role of merchants recruiting reluctant clerics.
45 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 103; Adamiyat, Shuresh, 65–7.
46 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 80, citing Kennedy to Salisbury.
47 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 32; Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 236–9, citing Paton, Acting British Consul in Tabriz, to Kennedy. Paton uses “Telebes” for theological students from within Azarbaijan, and “Mohah” (suspected by Lambton to denote muhajirun) for those from Russian territory.
48 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 32, mentions small amounts grown in Kurdistan and Urumiyeh, but most of the export stocks came from Fars, Isfahan and Kashan.
49 Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 231–4, citing Paton to Kennedy, May 9 and 11.
50 Ibid.
51 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 32–3, citing Paton to Kennedy.
52 Ibid., 34–5, translated from English, in the absence of the original.
53 Ibid.; Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 232, 234–7, citing Paton. The Armenian patriarch deftly navigated between the conflicting parties and wrote openly critical articles against the Russian consul-general.
54 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 34–5; Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 74. Amin al-Soltan implausibly told Paton that it was staged by the Russians (Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 75). Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 235, mentions that “the Moharram processions seemed to heighten the excitement against the Regie,” ignoring that they were timed to coincide with the first ten days of Moharram, the holiest period in the Shi'ite calendar.
55 Ruzname-ye khaterat-e E'temad-al-Saltaneh, marbut be salha-ye 1292 ta 1313. Third ed. by Iraj Afshar (Tehran, 2535 (shahanshahi)/1976). Only Adamiyat gives it due credit.
56 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 35. The gesture was symbolic, since the Tabriz branch of the Regie was not yet operational.
57 Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 235, citing Paton to Kennedy. It is baffling that Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 237, attempting to decipher the names of the four top mojtaheds of Tabriz in a dispatch, should read “Iavod” as “Davoud” without any reference to Haj Mirza Javad.
58 T.E. Gordon, Persia Revisited, Project Gutenberg Ebook #13064.2004, chapter I. Gordon significantly mentions Mirza Javad's personal interest in trade.
59 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 81–2, citing Kennedy to Salisbury.
60 Curzon, Persia and the Persian Question, I: 415, 431, sees no reason for Garrusi's Russophile reputation any more than for other “damaging insinuations against his character.”
61 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 36–8.
62 Ibid., 37, citing Paton to Kennedy, August 15, 1891.
63 E'temad al-Saltaneh, 766.
64 Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 236, and Adamiyat, Shuresh, 37, citing Paton to Kennedy. The parts quoted by Paton may have been included in the petition. Another version dated October 4, 1891 (postdating the event) was obtained by Kennedy from a secret source after the shah and his premier refused to divulge the petition's contents (Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 76–7, 110, footnote 14). Its “traditional religious tone” is not atypical as a prelude to the religious illegality of monopoly transactions.
65 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 37, citing Paton to Kennedy.
66 Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 236–7, 240, and Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 84, cite the archbishop telling Paton that the chief mojtahed was disposed “to assist the Amin-us-Sultan” until persuaded by Amir Nezam to “work hand in hand with him to ruin the Regie”—“the first step towards introducing European reforms and laws which will very materially affect the religious power.” Paton gave little credence to these allegations, suspecting the archbishop of playing a duplicitous game out of fear.
67 Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 239–40, and Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 80, 82, citing Paton to Kennedy on open hostility to the British, formerly considered “friends of Persia.” Lambton attributes Paton's insistence on retrieving the locks to the intention of the chief merchant, a Russian national, to occupy the Regie's premises.
68 E'temad al-Saltaneh, 765, 771; Adamiyat, Shuresh, 40.
69 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 82, citing Paton to Kennedy; Adamiyat, Shuresh, 42.
70 Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 239, cites Paton about thugs receiving offers of money to destroy some merchants' account books during attacks in order to erase all trace of their large debts to Europeans and save them from bankruptcy.
71 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 43.
72 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 83. Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 239, cites another dispatch attributing the text to Amir Nezam who sent it to a mojtahed under the guise of a royal message.
73 E'temad al-Saltaneh, 370, 769–70.
74 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 43, and Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 84, citing Paton to Kennedy.
75 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 81–2, citing Paton to Kennedy. Paton considered it “ably planned” with Amir Nezam's “tacit support.”
76 E'temad al-Saltaneh, 775.
77 Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 239. The prince's high regard for Garrusi was affirmed in oral communication with two of the former's sons.
78 Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 239; Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 76–7. The marriage of Haj Mirza Javad's son and the prince's daughter from a Kurdish wife is indicative of the mojtahed's status.
79 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 81, citing Kennedy to Salisbury; Adamiyat, Shuresh, 41.
80 Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 238, citing Kennedy to Salisbury.
81 Safa'i, Ebrahim, Asnad-e Siasi-ye dowran-e Qajar (Tehran, 1346/1967), 17–19Google Scholar, Amin al-Soltan's letter. Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 245, confirms a formal agreement with the French Société du Tabac for all tobacco exports from Iran, and Ornstein's hope to “interest the Russian government” in its operations. Adamiyat, Shuresh, 44–6, expresses doubt, as the Tabriz office opened before the end of the moratorium.
82 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 97. Ashtiani is said to have been appointed by Shirazi as proxy in negotiations with the Shah, in response to the increasing number of pleas.
83 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 68–72, 79.
84 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 83, quotes the Russian consul, from Russian and French sources, that a large armed crowd assembled in the streets on September 4, when the Regie's operations were to be launched after Moharram; the people, to be divided into three groups, were to be sent respectively to the crown prince's residence, the governor's headquarters and the European quarter.
85 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 46–7.
86 Safa'i, Asnad-e Siasi-ye dowran-e Qajar, 27–9, letter from Shah to Amin al-Sultan denigrating akhund shepeshu (lice-ridden petty clerics) joining the fray.
87 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 88; Adamiyat, Shuresh, 50.
88 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 87, quotes de Balloy, September 17, that Russians were still inflaming Tabriz.
89 See articles by Soudavar, Fatema Farmanfarmaian in Journal of the International Qajar Studies Association JIQSA, Vol. XII–XIII: “Bankers by Appointment to the Qajars,” (2013), 17Google Scholar, and endnote 22, for the genealogy; Farmanfarmaian, Fatema Soudavar, “The Twin Gardens of Rosewater Valley,” Journal of the International Qajar Studies Association, Vol. IX (2009), 17Google Scholar, about Haj Mirza Javad threatening to arouse Azarbaijan if harm should befall Malek al-Tojjar. See E'temad al-Saltaneh, 475, 889, 1010–11, for the shah's courtesy visits to Haj Mirza Javad at Malek's residence in Tehran.
90 “Zendegi-ye khodnevesht-e Haj Hossein Aqa Malek,”in Daftar-e Asnad,collected and ed. by Zahra Talaee, Vol. 2–3, Institute of Libraries, Museums and Documentations, Astan Quds Razavi (Mashhad, 1385), 344.
91 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 88, citing Kennedy to Salisbury.
92 Safa'i, Asnad-e Siasi-ye dowran-e Qajar, 8–10, Shirazi's first telegram. According to Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 85–6, Shirazi's letters were written by secretaries and reflected the views of two schools in their midst, one which found interference demeaning for Shirazi's status and the other favoring intervention to limit foreign influence.
93 See Kermani, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Iranian, 33–5, for transcripts.
94 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 89–90, 95–6, 99 (citing Karbala'i?), alleges that Shirazi suggested that the government leave the matter to him or to the people, if it could not handle it.
95 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 28–31.
96 Ibid., 74. Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 102–3, gives samples of such inquiries and suspects an intentional disruption despite admitting severe weather.
97 Kermani, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Iranian, 22–3. Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 245, also assumes it was sent via Isfahan. A footnote admits that several sources question the attribution to Shirazi.
98 See footnote 2.
99 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 105, footnote.
100 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 75; Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 104–5.
101 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 74; Kermani, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Iranian, 48.
102 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 74.
103 Ibid., 74, 133.
104 Dowlatabadi, Hayat-e Yahya, 1: 108–9.
105 E'temad al-Saltaneh, 784–5. Behbahani's refusal to comply is attributed to friendship with Amin-al-Soltan and a propensity for bribes.
106 Kermani, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Iranian, 19.
107 Abolala Soudavar, “Az Astara ta Astane,” in Rahavard No. 56, 2001, 255.
108 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 113–14, 119. One incredible version quoted from Mo'ayyer al-Mamalek's memoirs, has the shah asking Shirazi secretly, through ‘Ala al-Dowleh, to order a boycott, to enable him to redress his mistake. In fact ‘Ala al-Dowleh was one of those sent to persuade Shirazi to repeal the hokm. This may reflect a retroactive attempt to whitewash the shah.
109 Seyyedov, Iranskaya Bourgeosiya, 170–71, quoting Kosogovskii, 141–2.
110 First suggested by Edward G. Browne, The Persian Revolution 1905–1909 (Cambridge, 1910), 57.
111 See Fatema Soudavar Farmanfarmaian, “How Russia Hosted the Entrepreneur Who Gave Them Indigestion,” in Iranian–Russian Encounters: Empires and Revolutions since 1800, ed. Stephanie Cronin (London, 2012), chapter 5.
112 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 104–5, footnote.
113 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 74.
114 Bayat, Mangol, “The State and the Ulama in Iran,” in Iran's First Revolution: Shiism and the Constitutional Revolution of 1905–1909 (New York, 1991), 19Google Scholar. By adding “possibly” she leaves room for doubt.
115 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 73, quoting Karbala'i. Dowlatabadi, Hayat-e Yahya, 111, confirms that Shirazi, after witnessing positive results, did not deny.
116 Kermani, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Iranian, 44–6; Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 186–188. The form of address differs slightly between printed versions, suggesting copies hastily made.
117 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 114.
118 Adamiyat, F., Amir Kabir va Iran (Tehran, 1354/1975), chapter 2, 402–20Google Scholar. Original farmans for the title are in the Malek Library, Tehran. About this title as distinct from that of local and provincial malek al-tojjar, see this author's explanations in “Bankers by Appointment,” Journal of International Qajar Studies Association, Vol. XII–XIII (2013), 15–16.
119 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 12, 55, quoting F. Adamiyat and H. Nategh, Afkar-e ejtema'i va siasi va eqtesadi dar asar-e montasher nashode-ye dowran-e Qajar (Tehran, 1351/1972), chapter 7, 299–371, esp. 320–22, articles of the Assembly's constitution, from the archives of Haj Amin al-Zarb, one of the principal opponents of the concession.
120 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 15.
121 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 52, citing Kennedy to Salisbury; Seyyedov, Iranskaya Bourgeosiya, 164, based on Russian archives. Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 227–8, refers to a dispatch from Kennedy regarding an earlier Russian-inspired petition by eight merchants, sent through the minister of posts, but later withdrawn at a meeting convened upon the shah's request, by the minister of commerce and justice.
122 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 95, and Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 10, confirm the resumption of protests in Tabriz, Isfahan and Shiraz.
123 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 83, 102.
124 See Farmanfarmaian, “The Twin Gardens of Rosewater Valley,” 15–17, for examples of Malek al-Tojjar's brazenness.
125 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 75.
126 Dowlatabadi, Hayat-e Yahya, 1: 108–9. In Tabriz snow falls earlier and more heavily, but for such messages all-weather couriers (chapar) would have been used.
127 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 105.
128 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 75.
129 Khaterat-e Hajj Sayyah (Tehran, 1346/1975), 395–7. Sayyah's account of Malek al-Tojjar haranguing the crowd from the balcony of the governor's residence invalidates Feuvrier's version about the governor fleeing in the carriage of the pardoned Malek al-Tojjar (wrongly named Hajji Muhammad Hasan).
130 Safa'i, Asnad-e Siasi-ye dowran-e Qajar, 27–9, shah's letter to Amin al-Soltan.
131 Ibid.
132 Ibid.; Adamiyat, Shuresh, 79–81; Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 119–21.
133 Safa'i, Asnad-e Siasi-ye dowran-e Qajar, 30–39, Amin al-Soltan's report to the shah on the first meeting. The wrong date is corrected to 9 Jamadi I in his Nameha-ye tarikhi, 82–3.
134 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 84–5, 93–5.
135 Safa'i, Asnad-e Siasi-ye dowran-e Qajar, 47–52, Ornstein's official letter of December 19, 1891. Adamiyat, Shuresh, 91–5, citing Lascelles to Salisbury, stresses the British minister's concern regarding the imposition of an unreasonably high indemnity.
136 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 93–4, citing Karbala'i, and 99. Kermani, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Iranian, 35–6, reproduces the exchanges between the ulama and Shirazi.
137 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 96–7, citing Karbala'i. Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 101, mentions different versions , including one in “Tehran Embassy Archives” and in French archives invoking the martyrdom of Imam Hossein at Karbala, and another inviting people to assemble in the Shah mosque and “follow the orders of a man on horseback,” in an apparent allusion to the Occult Imam's apparition.
138 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 101, citing French sources, mentions a ball held at the British Legation on January 4, 1892, coinciding with the declaration of the fake jihad.
139 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 97–9. The European chief of police, Count Monforte, who had maintained order for fifteen years without the military, suspected that they were brought in to allay the fears of “stupid foreigners” who “forget that in their own countries disturbance occur every hour.”
140 Kermani, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Iranian, 22–30, reproduces the shah's and Amin al-Soltan's exchanges with Ashtiani.
141 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 103–5. According to Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 149–51, the idea of Ashtiani's expulsion was first broached by Ornstein to Behbahani and Amin al-Soltan for transmission to a reluctant shah. Dowlatabadi, Hayat-e Yahya, 1: 109, also implicates the British legation, adding that “Aqa Mirza Hasan,” who normally toed the shah's line, was urged by Nayeb al-Saltaneh to join the opposition and thereafter spoke regularly and negatively about the concession to students, while recommending “a thin veil” of courtesy with the government.
142 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 106–7; E'temad al-Saltaneh, 786.
143 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 112, quoting figures ranging from 2,000 (Amin al-Soltan) to 20,000 (E'temad al-Saltaneh), believes the real number to have been in between.
144 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 152–4. Examples of insults: Shah baji sibilu (mustachioed sister Shah), Shah-e lachak be sar (Shah with a headscarf), etc.
145 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 154–8.
146 E'temad al-Saltaneh, 786, gives an estimate of 500 to 700 people.
147 Ibid.; Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 158–9; Dowlatabadi, Hayat-e Yahya, 1: 110.
148 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 159–63.
149 E'temad al-Saltaneh, 785.
150 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 105, quotes one catchy verse: Doshman-e atash parast-e bad-peyma ra begou, Khak bar sar kon ke ab baz amad be ju (Tell the fire-worshiping enemy, who rides the wind, to thrust dust on his head, for vanished water has recovered its bed). Haj Hossein Aqa Malek, whose memoirs omit the tobacco protests, describes a similar welcome ceremony after his father's release from a longer imprisonment in Ardabil in 1897–98. Well-wishers lined the road all the way to Qazvin, sacrificing sheep, cows, even camels. Malek al-Tojjar disapproved of such ostentatious display lest provocateurs should use it against him. (“Zendegi-ye khodnevesht-e Haj Hossein Aqa Malek,” 344–5).
151 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 165.
152 Safa'i, Asnad-e Siasi-ye dowran-e Qajar, 77–9. Full text of Malek al-Tojjar's report to Amin al-Soltan.
153 Khaterat-e Amin al-Dowleh, ed. Hafez Farmanfarmaian (Tehran, 1341), 243, 260–61.
154 “Zendegi-ye khodnevesht-e Haj Hossein Aqa Malek,”377–82. Kazem was trained by the famous Pahlavan Yazdi, and his own nowche (trainees) included noblemen and princes such as Amir A'zam.
155 Abdollah Mostowfi, Sharh-e zendegani-ye man ya Tarikh-e ejtemai va edari-ye dowre-ye Qajar (Tehran, undated 2nd edition), 1: 304–8, 340.
156 Khaterat-e Amin al-Dowleh, ed. Hafez Farmanfarmaian (Tehran, 1341), 242, 261. Amin al-Dowleh's foul-mouthing of Malek al-Tojjar was due to a dispute over property and rivalry with Amin al-Soltan. His words are repeated verbatim by Ardakani, Mahbubi, Chehel Sal Tarikh-e Iran dar dowre-ye Padeshahi-ye Nasser al-Din Shah, Vol. II, Ta'lighat-e Hossayn Aradakani bar Al mo'ather va'l va'l athar, ed. Afshar, Iraj (Tehran, 1368/1989), 565–6Google Scholar, and selectively by Bamdad, Mehdi, Sharh-e hal-rejal-e Iran dar qarn 12 va 13 va 14 hejri (Tehran 1363/1984), 3rd ed., Vol. 3, 141–5Google Scholar. For details of the dispute, see Farmanfarmaian, Fatema Soudavar, “Politics and Patronage: The Evolution of the Sara-ye Amir in the Bazaar of Tehran,” in The Bazaar in the Islamic City, ed. Gharipour, Mohammad (Cairo, 2012), chapter 9Google Scholar.
157 Safa'i, Asnad-e Siasi-ye dowran-e Qajar, 77–9.
158 Ibid. Teymuri's scenario, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 165–6, differs slightly.
159 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 172–4. See Kermani, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Iranian, 32–3, for all exchanges between Amin al-Soltan and Ashtiani sent through Malek al-Tojjar.
160 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 167–8; Adamiyat, Shuresh, 115–16 , citing Karbala'i. On his last visit ‘Azod al-Molk took a diamond ring from the shah, but it is not clear whether the gift was accepted.
161 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 164, quoting Sadr al-Ashraf.
162 See Kermani, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Iranian, 40–46, and Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 179–87, for copies of all the telegrams from the ulama. Both admit their confiscation.
163 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 116–17, citing Karbala'i. See Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 189–91, for full text of Amin al-Soltan's letter to Shirazi; Kermani, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Iranian, 59, leaves out the last remarks as irrelevant.
164 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 177–8.
165 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 118–19, citing Lascelles to Salisbury; Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 105.
166 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 120, citing Ornstein to the company's board. See Ornstein's original bilingual text of April 5, 1892 (Ramadan 1309) in Safa'i, Asnad-e Siasi-ye dowran-e Qajar, 70–73.
167 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 178–81, reproduces all four letters. E'temad al-Saltaneh, 84, 608, 854, praises Vakil al-Dowleh Engelis as a reputable merchant of Kermanshah with a reputation for integrity and reliability despite attending to British interests.
168 Kermani, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Iranian, 30–32; E'temad al-Saltaneh, 790–91, dates it to 22 Jamadi II, 1309. In a post-scriptum he wondered why none of the sellers reclaimed their stock.
169 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 128–30, based on the archives of Nayeb al-Saltaneh and Haj Amin al-Zarb.
170 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 192, 196–7; Adamiyat, Shuresh, 125; Kermani, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Iranian, 30.
171 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 198–203, reproduces all the exchanges.
172 Ibid., 192–6.
173 Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 260–72, provides a summary account of the negotiations for compensation.
174 For the best work to date on the commercial aftermath of the cancellation, see Homa Nategh, Bazarganan dar dad ot setad ba banque Chahi va Regi-ye Tambakou (Les commerçants en transaction avec la Banque Imprériale et la Régie du Tabac, 1890–1914), 1st ed. (Paris, 1992), 2nd ed. (Tehran, 1994), based on the Amin al-Zarb archives.
175 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 41–2, citing Wolff to Salisbury, including a Very Confidential and Secret dispatch from among a series listed at the bottom. Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 226–7, refers to an FO memorandum of May 1892 (postdating cancellation) regarding two Russian subjects who “had protested against this scheme as being included in a plan which they had put forward.”
176 Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 228, quoting Kennedy to Salisbury; Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 43–4, quoting exchanges between Wolff and Salisbury, and 58, Kennedy to Salisbury.
177 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 95, 98, citing Lascelles to Salisbury.
178 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 68, mentions Ordubadi, a bi-national tobacco merchant in Shiraz who was instructed by the legation to foment trouble.
179 Seyyedov, Iranskaya Bourgeosiya, 171.
180 Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 246–7.
181 Seyyedov, Iranskaya Bourgeosiya, 171, 174–5. This may explain why E'temad al-Saltaneh (767), himself a reputed Russophile, alleges that the Russians inspired the idea of circulating a dog with a mock farman.
182 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 92–3, Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 243–5, quoting from MacLean's private letter to Kennedy, forwarded to Salisbury.
183 Adamiyat, Shuresh, 118, citing Lascelles to Salisbury; Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 106–7, citing de Balloy.
184 Adamiyat, 120. Ornstein reported to his board that the shah blamed Russia for stirring the large riots, because their nationals were advised to close their bazaar shops two days before the assault on the Arg.
185 Khaterat-e Colonel Kasakofsi, 2nd ed. Tehran 2536 shahanshahi/1977), 190–91; Adamiyat, Shuresh, 111; Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 159, quoting Molkara. Schneur was beaten and locked up by his wife for leaving her alone while riots raged outside.
186 Kermani, Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Iranian, 55–8, reproduces the purported speech given at a dinner attended by European diplomats and “Arsen” (i.e. Ornstein). The figure quoted for Russian commercial losses is 1,000,000 without specifying the currency. A similar speech, reported by Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 101, quotes de Balloy at a British Legation ball to celebrate the prohibition's end seems to indicate that Kermani's sources gave a confused account.
187 Lambton, “Tobacco Regie,” 243–4.
188 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 86, quoting de Balloy.
189 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 101; Adamiyat, Shuresh, 489.
190 Safa'i, Asnad-e Siasi-ye dowran-e Qajar, 28–9, shah's letter to Amin al-Soltan.
191 Gertrude Bell “The King of Merchants,” in Persian Pictures (London, 1928), 43–8; S.G.W. Benjamin, Persia and the Persians (London, 1887), 125–6. See also this author in JIQSA IX, 2009, 12–27.
192 Adamiyat, Amir Kabir va Iran, 404–7. Regarding the medal, see Malek al-Tojjar's response to the newspaper Neda-ye Vatan, no. 42, written from sanctuary at the Russian Legation, reproduced in his son's memoirs (“Zendegi-ye khodnevesht-e Haj Hossein Aqa Malek,”308–16).
193 Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran, 78, citing a memorandum for the Government of India. It was only ten years later, when Sir Arthur Hardinge became ambassador, that the British established close relations with the ulama.
194 Teymuri, Tahrim-e tanbaku, 204–5.
195 E'temad al-Saltaneh, 792–3.
196 Dowlatabadi, Hayat-e Yahya, 1: 137.