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Aqa Najafi, Haj Aqa Nurullah, and the Emergence of Islamism in Isfahan 1889–1908

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Vanessa Martin
Vanessa Martin*
Affiliation:
Royal Holloway, University of London.
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Abstract

Alongside the burgeoning secular ideas on people and state during the Constitutional Revolution, a movement seeking a modern Islamic state, governed according to the shari'a, also emerged. This article studies the evolution of that movement in Isfahan, first by contrasting the experience of two brothers of very different ages, Aqa Najafi Isfahani and Haj Aqa Nurullah Isfahani, and examining the way the younger became receptive to the Pan-Islamic ideas then current in the Middle East. Second, the article considers in particular the political theory of Aqa Nurullah, which was influenced by his practical experience of institutional innovation in Isfahan. He argued that constitutionalism was implicit to Islam and saw it as generating wealth for Muslims. He also advocated many of the features of later Islamism, including the desire for a strong army.

Type
Research Article
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , April 2008 , pp. 155 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2008

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References

1 My basic ideas for this article are set out in Vanessa Martin, The Qajar Pact Bargaining Protest and the State in 19th Century Persia (London, 2005), 82–90 and a Royal Holloway History Department paper of 8 September 2005.

2 For Afghani, see Keddie, N., Sayyid Jamal al-Din ‘al-Afghani’ (California, 1972)Google Scholar; Hourani, A., Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age 1798–1939 (Cambridge, 1983), 103–129CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Haim, S., Arab Nationalism (London, 1976), 16–19Google Scholar; Mutahhari, M., Nazhatha-yi Islami (Tehran, 1370), 35Google Scholar; Amin, A., Pishgaman-i musalman tajaddudgara'i dar ‘asr-i jadid, trans. Eshkvari, H. (Tehran, 1376), 39–104Google Scholar.

3 On Afghani's influence on Iranian Islamic political thought, see Hairi, A. H., Shi'ism and Constitutionalism in Iran (Leiden, 1977), 77–81Google Scholar.

4 Keddie, Sayyid Jamal, 278–279; Mahdavi, S., For God Mammon and Country: A Nineteenth Century Persian Merchant, Haj Muhammad Hasan Amin al-Zarb (1834–1898) (Boulder, 1999), 100–101Google Scholar, 131.

5 Hourani, Arabic Thought, 130–160.

6 Martin, V.A., Islam and Modernism. The Iranian Revolution of 1906 (London, 1989), 69Google Scholar.

7 They are referred to by Mirza Abu'l Qasim, Muhammad Nasir Tarab Isfahani, and following him, ‘Askarani, as the Masjid Shahi family. See Isfahani, Muhammad Nasir Tarab, Divan-i Tarab, ed. Homa'i, Jalal al-Din (Tehran, 1342), 221–222Google Scholar; and ‘Askarani, Mohammad Reza, Naqsh-i mardum-i Isfahan dar nahzat-i mashrutiyyat-i Iran (Isfahan, 1384), 13–15Google Scholar. They became the most prominent religious family in Isfahan after the Imam Juma’ lost his position because of his opposition to the governor, Zill al-Sultan in 1879.

8 Sipihr, ‘Abd al-Husain Khan, Mirat al-vaqayi Muzaffari va yaddashtha-yi Malik al-Muvarikhin, ed. Nava'i, ‘Abd al-Husain (Tehran, 1368), 2Google Scholar: 27 says Aga Nafaji's land alone amounted to ten crore. For an example of the well-known avarice of Aqa Najafi in acquiring property, even where he had no confirmed right, see Sazman-i Asnad-i Melli, no. 297023546, location 1PA2Z806, documents dated between 17 Sha'ban 1317 and 3 Zhi al-Hajja 1328 (22 December 1899 to 6 December 1910) covering his claim to the inheritance of Shahab al-Mamalik. Nurullah was also brought into the dispute and endeavored to deal with the matter more fairly.

9 See, for example, No. 17, 3 Aug. 1895, FO 248/616.

10 No. 149, 30 July 1889 and No. 161, 28 Aug. 1889, FO 60/501.

11 No. 57, 30 Sept. 1893, FO 248/572.

12 No. 20, 6 June and No. 26, 13 June 1903, FO 248/788. For an account of this event, see also Sipihr, Mirat, 2: 27.

13 No. 44, 14 Aug. 1903 FO/248 788.

14 No. 74, 3 Dec. 1903, FO 248/788, No. 23, 13 June 1904 and No. 53, 2 Dec. 1904, FO 248/820.

15 It was further undermined by the British obliging him to accept the inestimable gift of a pen box, No. 49, 26 Oct. 1904, FO 248/820.

16 See Keddie, N. R., Religion and Rebellion in Iran (London, 1966)Google Scholar; and Martin, Qajar Pact, 84.

17 No. 3, 21 Jan. 1894, FO 248/596.

18 MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tehran), No. 33, carton 91, 20 Rabi’ al-Avval 1314/29 Aug. 1896. See also No. 25, 10 July 1896, FO 248/634.

19 No. 10, 18 June 1900, FO 248/725, and No. 77, 30 Dec. 1905, FO 248/845.

20 Tarab Isfahani, Divan-i Tarab, 222.

21 Mahdavi, S.M, Tarikh-i ijtima'i-yi Isfahan dar qarn-i akhar (Qum, 1367), 2: 415Google Scholar.

22 No. 62, 17 Oct. 1892, FO 248/548.

23 M. Najafi, Hukm-i nafiz-i Aqa Najafi (n.p., 1371), 17.

24 Aqa Najafi to Mushir al-Saltana, 13 Jamadi II 1326/13 July 1908, Sazman-i Asnad-i Melli (SAM) No. 03070032, location IAA1N603. The people of Urujan likewise complained to Aqa Najafi as well as Zill al-Sultan over their treatment by their governor, Reza Quli Khan. No. 16, 10 March 1892, FO 248/548. Subsequently the wives of two Bakhtiari Khans took bast [sanctuary] with Aqa Najafi, who wrote to the Prime Minister on their behalf. No. 57, 6 Aug. 1892, FO 248/548.

25 Najafi, M., Andisha-yi siyasi va tarikh-i nahzat-i Haj Aqa Nurullah Isfahani (Tehran, 1378), 23Google Scholar.

26 Mo'asseseh-e Motale'at-e Tarikh-e Mo'aser (MMTM) Q100818, Aqa Najafi to Zill al-Sultan, n.d.

27 See for example, No. 64, 13 Oct. 1893, FO 248/572, where placards were posted in the bazaar of Isfahan. See also No. 38, 24 Aug. 1898, FO 248/676.

28 No. 46, 27 June 1892, FO 248/548.

29 No. 12, 22 Jan. 1907, FO 248/905.

30 No. 21, 20 April 1905, FO 248/845; No. 77, 30 Dec. 1905, FO 248/845.

31 No. 32, 15 July 1906, FO 248/877.

32 Note that he was also known as Siqat al-Islam, see Haj Aqa Nurullah Najafi Isfahani, Risala-yi mukalimat-i muqim va musafir, ed. M.F. Haqani (Tehran, 1384), 7.

33 No. 44, 14 Aug. 1903, FO 248/788.

34 S.A. Rasa, Qiam-i Ayatullah Haj Aqa Nurullah Najafi Isfahani (Tehran, 1384), 20. See also Najafi, Haj Aqa Nurullah, for a full account.

35 No. 2, 21 Jan. 1894, FO 248/596.

36 For further details, see Martin, Qajar Pact, 86–87.

37 No. 22 and No. 23, 30 Aug. 1895, FO 248/616.

38 See also ‘Askarani, Naqsh-i mardum, 35–42; and No. 14, 9 March 1899, FO 248/699.

39 Farsani, S. Torabi, Tujjar, mashrutiyyat va daulat-i modern (Tehran, 1384), 80–83Google Scholar.

40 No. 17, 6 Dec. 1900, FO 248/723.

41 Najafi, Haj Aqa Nurullah, 17; see also D. Amini, “Barasi-yi naqsh-i Haj Aqa Nurullah Najafi Isfahani dar inqilab-i mashrutiyyat va rahbari-yi mashruta-khahan-i Isfahan,” Ganjina-yi asnad, year 16, vol. 2, no. 62, (summer 1385 sh./2006), 30–31.

42 Najafi, Haj Aqa Nurullah, 17–18.

43 Surayya, year 1, no. 41, 28 Rabi' I, 1317/6 Aug. 1899, 11.

44 Baggaley to Grant Duff, 12 Dec. 1905, FO 248/845; see also No. 58, 9 Oct. 1906, FO 248/877. Habl al-Matin was referred to by the British Consul in Isfahan as ‘a scurrilous political journal published in Calcutta’.

45 Habl al-Matin, year 10, no. 10 (7 Ramazan 1320/8 Dec. 1902), 21. This was also part of the message of al-Afghani, see A. Hourani, Arabic Thought, 115.

46 Habl al-Matin, year 11, no. 30 (15 Safar 1322/2 May 1904), 13, quoting an extract from an article in the newspaper, Tarbiyat. As per FN 43.

47 Habl al-Matin, year 13, no. 30 (4 Safar 1324/30 March 1906), 19. As per FN 43.

48 G. H. Sadiqi, ‘Dah risala-yi tablighati-yi digar’, Rahnama-yi Kitab, no. 13 (1349), 18.

49 No. 58, 4 Nov. 1905 FO 248/845, and no. 23, 14 June 1906, FO 248/877.

50 No. 10, 24 Feb. 1906, FO 248/877.

51 No. 38, 18 Aug. 1906, FO 248/877.

52 No. 49, 27 Sept. 1906, FO 248/877; No. 78, 5 Dec. 1906, FO 248/877.

53 ‘Askarani, Naqsh-i mardum, 120.

54 No. 40, 10 Sept. 1906, FO 248/877; No. 81, 28 Dec. 1906, FO 248/877.

55 No. 63, 31 Oct. 1906, 248/877. The same argument about constitutionalism being rooted in the laws of Islam was used by secular reformers to win round religious opinion. See, for example, Malkum Khan, in Bakhash, S., Monarchy, Bureaucracy and Reform under the Qajars: 1858–1896 (Oxford, 1978), 327Google Scholar.

56 See Najafi, Haj Aqa Nurullah, 173–176 for the text. Note that it is not clear what he meant by equality.

57 Najafi, Aqa Najafi, 122–123, quoting Jihad-i Akbar no. 42, 23 Safar 1326/27 March 1908, 4.

58 Najafi, Aqa Najafi, 122–123, quoting Jihad-i Akbar no. 42 (23 Safar 1326/27 March 1908), 121–2. In this he may be compared to Khomeini. See V. A. Martin, Creating an Islamic State: Khomeini and the Making of a New Iran (London, 2003), 164, 169. For Aqa Najafi urging the unity of Muslims, see Jihad-i Akbar, no. 39 (Zhi al-Qa'da 1325/ December 1907), 1–2.

59 No. 81, 28 Dec. 1906, FO 248/877; No. 5 Jan. 1907, FO 248/905. Apart from establishing an Islamic government in Isfahan, its main undoubted purpose was to unseat Zill al-Sultan. See Walcher, Heidi, In the Shadow of the King. Zill al-Sultan and Isfahan Under the Qajars (I.B. Tauris, London, forthcoming June 2008)Google Scholar.

60 ‘Askarani, Naqsh-i mardum, 71–72; No. 13, 29 Jan. 1907, FO 248/905.

61 Anjuman-i muqaddas-i milli-yi Isfahan, year 1, no. 2 (28 Zhi al-Qa'da 1324/13 January 1907), 1–2.

62 For further discussion of this point, see Martin, Islam and Modernism, 98–99.

63 No. 13, 29 Jan. 1907/FO 248/905.

64 Anjuman-i muqaddas, year 1, no. 6 (26 Zhi al-Hajja 1324/10 February 1907), 4; see also no. 18, 9 Feb 1907, FO 248/905.

65 Mirza Muhammad Husain Naini in Tanbih al-ummah wa tanzih al-millah, also published in 1909, had a similar understanding of equality to that of Nurullah; see Hairi, A.H., Shi'ism and Constitutionalism in Iran (Leiden, 1977), 234Google Scholar.

66 For the struggle to remove Zill al-Sultan, see No. 41, 13 April 1907, FO 248/905; Najafi, Aqa Najafi, 142–149.

67 Anjuman-i muqaddas, year 1, no. 15 (end Safar 1325/14 April 1907), 4–5.

68 Anjuman-i muqaddas, year 1, no. 17 (14 Rabi' I 1325/28 April 1907), 2–3.

69 For a detailed account, see ‘Askarani, Naqsh-i mardum, 153–156; Anjuman-i muqaddas, year 1, no. 31 (24 Jamadi II 1325/4 August 1907), 8; No. 117, 28 Dec. 1907, FO 248/905; Anjuman-i muqaddas, year 2, no. 2 (22 Zhi al-Qa'da 1325/27 December 1907), 1.

70 Anjuman-i muqaddas, year 1, no. 42 (12 Ramazan 1325/19 October 1907), 1.

71 No. 56, 12 June 1908, No. 59 tel., 17 June 1908, No. 39, 17 June 1908, F0 248/937; Anjuman-i muqaddas, year 2, no. 27 (20 Jamadi I 1326/20 June 1908), 5–6.

72 No. 83, 7 Aug. 1907, FO 248/905.

73 No. 106, 11 Nov. 1907, FO 248/905; ‘Askarani, Naqsh-i mardum, 82–83. It also had the intention of improving health, establishing hospitals, libraries, and museums, and repairing schools and mosques.

74 For an example, see SAM, 27 Shavval 1325, No. 240005243, location 1AA1H612. The attempted change in the taxation system in Isfahan from kind to cash was felt to work to the disadvantage of the Isfahanis, especially in a dire economic situation.

75 No. 2, 11 Jan. 1908, no. 22, 15 April 1908, and no. 34, 30 May 1908, FO 248/937.

76 No. 3 tel. 4 Jan 1909, News no. 2, 9 Jan. 1909, FO 248/965.

77 No. 30, 31 July 1909, FO 248/966.

78 Isfahani, Haj Aqa Nurullah Najafi, Risala-yi mukalimat-i muqim va musafir, ed. Haqani, M.F. (Tehran, 1384), 7Google Scholar; see also Nezhad, Gh. H. Zargari, Rasa'il-i mashrutiyyat (Tehran, 1374), 417Google Scholar. This book gives an introduction and the treatise text, 417–421, 422–468. The Risala came out in 1909, the same year as Na'ini's Tanbih. The latter book has some similar arguments, but is superior intellectually and in knowledge of fiqh.

79 S.A. Rasa, Qiam, 28.

80 Nurullah, Muqim, 57–58.

81 See Na'ini, who also considered absolutism to be tyrannical, but hitherto the only alterative in the absence of the Imam, Hairi, Shi'ism, 165–170.

82 For his arguments, see Martin, Islam and Modernism, 123–130.

83 See, for example, the 1909 fatwa of Khorasani and Mazandarani in Zargari Nezhad, Rasa'il, 485–486.

84 Nurullah, Muqim, 58–60, 111–112.

85 Martin, Islam and Modernism, 139–140, 180; Hairi, Shi'ism, 210–217.

86 Nurullah, Muqim, 61–62.

87 Nurullah, Muqim, 105.

88 It was, in fact, the problems of time-consuming arguments over what was and what was not in conformity with the shari'a that obliged Khomeini to bring in the concept of vilayat-i mutlaqa-yi faqih which affirmed the predominance of state interests over religious issues; see Martin, Islamic State, 170.

89 Nurullah, Muqim, 89.

90 Nurullah, Muqim, 58–59.

91 Nurullah, Muqim, 77.

92 Rasa, Qiam, 25.

93 Nurullah, Muqim, 69.

94 Nurullah, Muqim, 69–70.

95 Nurullah, Muqim, 91–92.

96 Nurullah, Muqim, 115–116 and 84.

97 Nurullah, Muqim, 117–118.

98 Martin, V.A., “Religion and State in Khumaini's Kashf al-Asrar,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies LVI, pt. 1 (1993), 41Google Scholar.

99 On Mustafa Kamel, see Tignor, R.L., Modernization and British Colonial Rule in Egypt 1882–1914 (Princeton, 1966), 264–666Google Scholar, and Vatikiotis, P.J., The History of Egypt (London, 1985), 213Google Scholar, 220, 224. He also called for development of the agricultural and industrial potential of his country and attempted to define and establish new political concepts. However, he was a layman, not a cleric.

100 SAM, dated 11 Azar 1305sh/3 December 1926, No. 291415010.

101 SAM dated 3 Dai 1305sh/25 December 1906, No. 291001142, location 1JA4T505.

102 Martin, Islamic State, 30; see Rasa, S.A., Qiam-i Ayatullah Haj Aqa Nurullah Najafi Isfahani (Tehran, 1384)Google Scholar, for a full account.