Iran between Islamic Nationalism and Secularism

The Constitutional Revolution of 1906

Vanessa Martin

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9780857734273
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

With the ratification of a new constitution in December 1906, Iran embarked on a great movement of systemic and institutional change which, along with the introduction of new ideas, was to be one of the most abiding legacies of the first Iranian revolution - known as the Constitutional Revolution. This uprising was significant not only for introducing secular understandings of government, but also Islamic visions of what could constitute a national assembly. The events of the Constitutional Revolution in Tehran have been much discussed, but the provinces, despite their crucial role in the revolution, have received less attention. Here, Vanessa Martin seeks to redress this imbalance. She does so by firstly analysing the role of the Islamic debate in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and its relationship with secular ideas, and secondly by examining the ramifications of this debate in the main cities of Tabriz, Shiraz, Isfahan and Bushehr.
When Muzaffar al-Din Shah came to power in 1896, on the assassination of his father Nasr al-Din Shah, Iran was in the midst of social and political upheaval, which culminated in the creation for the first time in Iran's history of a constitution and a new majlis (consultative assembly). In this book, Martin looks in particular at the idea of modern Islamic government as it was conceptualized at the time; an idea which had been emerging for some time before the revolution, having its origins in the vision of the reformist pan-Islamist, Jamal al-Din al-Afghani. She therefore traces the evolution of the debate around whether Iran was to be a secular or an Islamic society, or a combination of the two, together with the implications of this discourse in terms of popular perception and public opinion. By looking at the revolution outside of Tehran, she highlights the intra-elite rivalries, and the Islamic response to the Constitutional Revolution, from the moderate views of Thiqat al-Islam to the emergence of Islamic organizations and militancy.
It is through this examination of Iran's major provincial cities that Martin concludes that in each region, the Constitutional Revolution took on a character of its own. From an exploration of the elites of Shiraz, including the effective mayor, Qavam al-Mulk, to the power centre of the then governor of Isfahan, Prince Zill al-Sultan, and from the revolutionary fervor of Tabriz to the commercial centre of Bushehr, Martin sheds light on the historical, political, religious and geographical importance of these cities. By examining the interaction between Islam and secularism during this tumultuous time, Iran between Islamic Nationalism and Secularism offers a vital new approach to the understanding of a key moment in Iran's history.

Part I

The Coming of the Revolution
1896–1906

1

THE POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL BACKGROUND

Iran: An Islamic Society

Iran in the late nineteenth century was a profoundly Islamic society in which modernity in the form of new political ideas, economic change and political restructuring had as yet made much less progress than in the Ottoman Empire and Egypt. It was difficult for the vast majority of Iranians to conceive of a world where Islam did not shape every aspect of their lives. Apart from religious observance, it permeated social and family relations; the regulation of communities, especially in towns; their legal relations, in which the shari‘a precepts had to be implicit even in the customary law; and the varying theories of the legitimacy of the government. In addition, popular grievances were often expressed through a religious channel, namely the ‘ulama, who were looked upon as mediators between the people and the government. Justification of protest in religious terms through religious leaders also gave it legitimacy.

Thus, secularism as such was understood only by a very few, who included members of the bureaucracy, as yet small circles of the intelligentsia and a few of the ‘ulama. At this period, it was hardly ever discussed as a goal in itself. A modern system of government was understood mainly in terms of a more uniform and fair legal system, and political and financial accountability which would end the arbitrary practices of the absolutist system. Ideas on representation and consultation were developing as a means of attaining these objectives, but it was not realised that in constitutionalism they were usually secular. In their campaigns for change the reformers were careful not to make the full implications of secularism clear, both for fear of offending the ‘ulama, and also to enable their involvement in the movement.

The Nineteenth-century Reform Movement

During the nineteenth century a reform movement developed to address the problems of absolutism – especially arbitrary rule, lack of accountability, inefficiency and general oppression. It began early in the century under the crown prince ‘Abbas Mirza (1789–1833) and gained in momentum in the latter part, during the reign of Nasir al-Din Shah (1848–1896) firstly with the reforms of Amir Kabir from 1848 to 1851. It found further expression in the measures of Sipah Salar in the early 1870s. This movement was accompanied by successive theoretical works on the need for modernisation of government on Western lines. These reformers were largely members of the higher bureaucracy. Though they admired the systems of representation and parliamentary government of the West, and the rights of the citizens in Western countries, it was not their immediate objective to introduce representative institutions and such rights to Iran in its comparatively backward state. Rather their main objective was to strengthen the state itself by modernisation, which included limiting the power of the shah, reforming the law, putting the finance system on a sound basis, and generally rationalising the bureaucracy. The objectives of the these reformers, which form a background trend to the Constitutional Revolution, entered a new and significant phase in Kitabcha-yi ghaibi written by Malkum Khan in 1858–1859.¹ It advocated the establishment of the rule of law, the rationalisation of the branches of government, and the complete reorganisation of the bureaucracy

In 1871 the reform movement acquired an advocate in a powerful position in the appointment of Mirza Husain Khan Mushir al-Daula, later Sipah Salar, as Sadr A‘zam (prime minister). As the representative of the Iranian government for eleven years in Istanbul at the time of the Tanzimat, Mirza Husain Khan had had the opportunity to observe the process of the strengthening and centralisation of the Ottoman state through the Tanzimat reforms. These included a cabinet on European lines, and a council to draft reform legislation.² It also incorporated major reform of the provincial administration and the codification of the law, together with legal principles taken from Europe. Mirza Husain Khan endeavoured to introduce a similar programme in Iran. He reorganised the court system, establishing clear rules of judicial procedure, though in the name of implementing the underlying principles of the shari‘a. He also introduced regulations for the bureaucracy, and attempted to restructure the central organs of the state.³ However, Sipah Salar, weakened by resentment of his reforms by powerful vested interests and by the response to the Reuter Concession in 1872, which gave extensive rights over potential railway construction to a British subject, was dismissed from his position of prime minister.

The advance of European economic and political penetration of Iran, especially the Tobacco Concession of 1890–1891, produced in the 1890s two further works by reformist thinkers, Kitab-i Ahmad by ‘Abd al-Rahim Talibuf, the Azarbaijani playwright and essayist, and Siyahatnama-yi Ibrahim Baig by Zain al-‘Abidin Maragha’i. The latter in particular was deeply critical of the government administration and of the country’s political and social problems. The wealth of ‘ulama and merchants was castigated as well as general lethargy in the face of progress, absence of common skills, and notably the failure of Iranians to collaborate.⁴ The same years saw a burgeoning of the press abroad, and a new phase in ideas on reform which addressed more cogently issues of the role of government, its powers and authority, the place of religion and its relationship with the state, and the rights of the individual vis à vis the state. Malkum Khan, now in exile in London and at odds with Nasir al-Din Shah, produced Qanun, not necessarily the most radical of the newspapers, but the clearest in explicit objectives for fundamental change. To an ever-widening readership of merchants and bureaucrats in particular, it advocated a united movement for complete restructuring of the system, especially in the establishment of a national consultative assembly, majlis-i shura-yi milli as a legislative body that also rendered the government accountable.⁵ Later he further suggested a majlis-i shura-yi kubra, which would implement the shari‘a and control oppression by keeping ministers accountable.⁶ Malkum Khan was anxious both to gain the support of the ‘ulama, given their influence, and to persuade them to take a leading role in the reform movement, which would help legitimise it. Qanun was highly influential on the constitutional movement; the presentation of the objectives in Islamic terms (as a strategy by an undoubted secularist) helped both to obfuscate the fundamental divisions between religion and secularism, and to win support for constitutionalism amongst the Muslim population of Iran. The objectives of Qanun, which included the enforcement of law, and regular taxation and expenditure,⁷ set the goals of the mainstream constitutional movement of 1906.

At the same time the accession to the throne of Muzaffar al-Din Shah (1896–1907), more sympathetic to change than his father, brought to power briefly a reformist ministry under Mirza ‘Ali Khan Amin al-Daula, prime minister from 1897 to 1898. He emerged from the same reformist tradition as Mirza Malkum Khan and Sipah Salar, and was the leader of a new generation of Iranian bureaucrats who influenced Iranian political development through their knowledge of Europe.⁸ He had spent a considerable time in Europe and the Ottoman Empire at the time of the reform programme of Midhat Pasha (1822–1884), and hoped ultimately to have a limited constitutional monarchy, of which Germany provided something of a model. In common with other members of the higher bureaucracy he also hoped to reduce the influence of the ‘ulama in political affairs and more specifically in the judiciary. Amin al-Daula had attempted codification of the shari‘a in 1890,⁹ supported the founding of the Rushdiyya College in Tehran, reorganised the postal service, and displayed a genuine and constant devotion to reform of the state.¹⁰ Assisted by a council of like-minded people he embarked on the first serious reform programme for 20 years, starting with the country’s grave financial problems.¹¹ The new minister of finance Abu’l Qasim Khan Nasir al-Mulk proposed a plan of reform influenced by his study of the financial organisation of European states. Its major item was the abolition of customs farming and the introduction of European officials into the management of the customs organisation. In place of a complex system of varied internal duties, such as road tax, a new uniform tax of 5 per cent ad valorem on all imports and exports, whatever the origin of the goods or nationality of the trader, was introduced. The reform provoked opposition among merchants accustomed to the greater flexibility of the former system, including the chance to offer gifts to officials to ensure freedom from taxation. This reform, which constituted part of a programme of centralisation, was to prove so successful in raising additional taxation that it was one of the major immediate causes of the Constitutional Revolution. However, the energetic ministry of Amin al-Daula was soon brought down by his enemies including merchants, members of the ‘ulama (annoyed among other reasons by his attempt to impose a tax on shari‘a documents), and Qajar family members who considered him a threat to their position, and his rival, ‘Ali Asghar Amin al-Sultan.¹²

The World Economy and its Effects

During the nineteenth century Iran was also gradually being drawn into the world economy. In the late nineteenth century in particular, this process was to accelerate the rate of change far more rapidly than government endeavours at reform. Although Iran’s balance of trade throughout this period remains something of a mystery, as there are no really reliable figures, there was seemingly an imbalance of imports over exports. The country nevertheless prospered, though at first very slowly, from the 1860s. By then trade with India picked up, encouraged by the development in communications. Steam was introduced into the Persian Gulf in the early 1860s. The establishment of the telegraph line in the latter part of the decade, and the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, also helped to develop trade with Europe by steamer. In the 1870s a postal service was established between Tehran and other major centres, including Bushehr in 1877. The involvement of Iran in the world economy now began to accelerate rapidly. Trade, in the south, for example, went up in volume from £1.7 million in 1875 to £4.5 million in 1914. Transportation was further improved in 1888 with the opening up of the Karun River to steam shipping, as par...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• About the author
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Note on the Transliteration
• Abbreviations
• Note on Style
• Introduction
• Part I: The Coming of the Revolution 1896–1906
• Part II: The Period of the First Majlis 1906–1908
• Conclusion
• Glossary
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• eCopyright