In the Shadow of the King Zill al-Sultan and Isfahan under the Qajars

by Walcher, Heidi A.

• ISBN13: 9781850434344
• ISBN10: 1850434344
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-05-15
• Publisher: I. B. Tauris

Summary

Zill al-Sultan was the notorious Qajar prince who ruled Isfahan, Iran's former capital during the Safavid era, as governor from 1874 to 1907. He is remembered as a Qajar anti-hero -- even a villain -- to this day, based largely on his apparent exercise of absolute power and pursuit of intrigue to further his own political interests. But late 19th-century Iran was a complex place: the Anglo-Russian great power rivalry, the assertive Shi'ite militancy of leading clerics, the growing power of the merchant classes, the entrenched and jealously guarded control of the landowners and tribal leaders, the halting attempts to reach out to modernity -- all of these helped to create a climate of instability through which Zill al-Sultan navigated with almost Machiavellian skills and deft ruthlessness. Heidi Walcher has produced the first, extraordinarily important study which is both a biography of one of the most colorful individuals in the history of modern Iran and a study of the social and political circumstances of late 19th-century Iran. In the process she examines the difficult relationships between the secular and Islamic elites, the impact on Isfahan of the pivotal Tobacco Protests in 1890-92, the open trade wars against the British, suspicion of the Jews, the persecution of local Babis and Bahais, the confrontation with European missionaries and the events leading up to the Constitutional Revolution of 1906. This book is a major contribution to a proper understanding of modern Iran.

Author Biography

Heidi Walcher is Lecturer in History of the Middle East at SOAS.

Table of Contents

List of plates	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
Introduction: The City of Religion and Opium	p. 1
Urban Images: From the Abode of Monarchy to the Welkin of Islam and the Camel	p. 6
Agronomy and the Merchant City	p. 11
Cash Crops: Opium, Cotton, Tobacco	p. 15
Politics of Urban Topography: Armenian New Julfa	p. 23
Demographics: Inconclusive Numbers	p. 28
The Inner-urban Alter Ego: The Jews	p. 30
The Shadow of the King	p. 35
Welkin of Islam: the Center of Shi'ism	p. 39
The Aqayan-i Masjid-i Shah	p. 43
Trading the Karun Navigation Rights for the Star of India	p. 56
The Evolution of the Karun Scheme	p. 57
Circumventing the Shah	p. 59
The Star of India	p. 63
The Zill al-Sultan's Karun Projects	p. 66
Persian Competitors	p. 68
New Diplomacy	p. 70
The Navigation Rights	p. 73
A Blind Star will not Become the Moon: The Zill al-Sultan's Eclipse	p. 79
Military Might	p. 79
Bargaining for the British Decoration	p. 87
Dismantling Princely Power	p. 91
Reactions	p. 94
Discussing Aetiologies	p. 98
Debating a British Consulate	p. 105
Taqi is Not Afraid of Your Unloaded Cannons	p. 112
Revival of the Law of 'Umar	p. 114
Against the Babis of Najafabad	p. 118
The Feast of Trumpets at Pir-i Bakran	p. 123
Sidih: Resuming the Babi Crusade	p. 128
Unmitigated Return	p. 135
Defeating the British Tobacco Monopoly	p. 141
The Scene of Isfahan	p. 142
Inauguration of the Regie Concession	p. 144
Clerical Boycott and Princely Subversion	p. 147
Cancellation of the Monopoly	p. 154
Repercussions	p. 157
Anti-British Resistance and Other Trade Wars	p. 164
The Creation of the Imperial Bank of Persia	p. 164
Rape at the Bank in Yazd	p. 170
Chasing Hajji Mirza Khalil Khan	p. 172
Trade Embargoes	p. 174
Grain Speculations and the Dream of Hajji Akhund	p. 178
Intrusion into the Holy City	p. 184
Asphyxia: The Hotz Suffocation Case	p. 188
Shirkat-i Islamiyih: The Islamic Company	p. 200
The Anglican Gospel for Persia	p. 204
From the Great Famine to the First School	p. 205
Evangelizing the Muslims	p. 209
Maneuvering Between Mercantilism and Religious Loyalty	p. 215
The Babi Connection	p. 223
Aqa Najafi's Pilgrimage to Mashhad	p. 226
Sakinih's Conversion	p. 228
Whither the Reverend Tisdall	p. 232
Visiting the Wrong Hamam	p. 234
Benjamin's Trial	p. 237
The Anglican Impact	p. 239
Proselytizing the Jews	p. 244
The School for the Jews	p. 245
Mirza Nurallah's Expulsion	p. 249
Ongoing: The School in Jubarih	p. 253
Business Interests: Crossing Religious Communalism	p. 258
Disintegration and Unrest	p. 266
Establishing a Russian Consulate	p. 267
Renegotiating Anglo-Isfahani Relations	p. 269
Reservations of the Albion	p. 274
1903 Babi Massacres	p. 279
Changing Positions	p. 287
Revolutionary Backwaters	p. 291
Rise of the Light of God: From Princely Absolutism to Tribal Rule	p. 296
Electing Parliamentary Representatives and the Creation of the Holy National Council of Isfahan	p. 298
The Petition of Validan	p. 304
The Fall of the Zill al-Sultan	p. 306
Between the Republic of Isfahan and Business as Usual	p. 314
Rule of the Anjuman	p. 318
Reaching for the Throne	p. 321
The Nurallah-Bakhtiyari Revolt	p. 326
Extracting Cash	p. 334
Preparing the Coup d'Etat	p. 337
Staying the Course	p. 339
Epilogue	p. 343
List of Governors of Isfahan 1752-1922	p. 355
Notes	p. 359
Selected Bibliography	p. 479
Index	p. 501
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