Persian Opposition to the Tobacco Concession vv 75 ¥ Sayyid Jamal ad-Din, LETTER TO HASAN SHIRAZI European imperialism did not always involve gunboats, iavading armies, and control by colonial administrators. It frequently was more economic than politi- cal. Both the Ouwoman Empire and Persia remained independent states in the 1800s, but their finances and economies were increasingly controlled and ma- nipulated by European bondholders, bankers, businessmen, and speculators. Their experience is as much a part of the West’s imperialist expansion as that of India, Africa, and Southeast Asia. For Persia, economic imperialism was epitomized by the numerous conces- sions granted to foreign businessmen by the shah’s gavernment. These agree-Chapter 9 Africa, Southwest Asia, and India in the 1800s ments gave Europeans exclusive control over a sector of the nation’s economy, usually in return for a one-time payment and an annual percentage of profits. Viewed as a painless way to attract foreign capiral, solve budget problems, and generate bribes, such arrangements were irresistible to Persia's shahs and their ministers. Hundreds of concessions were granted for activities ranging from rail- road constcuction to the founding and administration of a national lottery. By far the most ambitious such agreement was the concession granted in 1872 to Baron Julius de Reurer, a British subject. De Reuter gained contro} of much of Persia's economy — factories, minerals, irrigation works, agricultural improvements, new forms of transportation, and virtually any other enterprise that had to do with Persia's economic modernization — for a period of seventy years. The Russians and many of the shah’s subjects were outraged, and largely because of their oppo- sition, government officials found reasons to withdraw the concession, even though they kept the payments (legal and illegal) de Reuver had made. Despite the outcry over the de Reuter concession in 1872, the number of con- cessions granted by Shah Nasir al-Din and his ministers mounted in the 870s and 1880s. Many Persians experienced deep frustration over their inability to dissuade their autocratic and concession-loving ruler from selling off the nation’s wealth and economic future to foreigners. This changed, however, in 1891, when for the first and only time in history a government abandoned an unpopular policy after the adult population “kicked the habit” and gave up tobacco smoking. In 1891 Persians \earned of a new concession granted to the British Imperial ‘Tobacco Corporation for the purchase, processing, and sale of tobacco, for which it paid che shah fifteen thousand pounds and promised him 25 percent of annual profits. The English expected profits of approximately five hundred thousand pounds per year, but the Persians expected to pay inflated prices for a product they grew, used heavily, and previously had marketed themselves. Persia erupred with demonstrations, angry sermons, calls for boycotts, destruction of tobacco warehouses, and denunciations of the shah. Then in December Persia’s most prominent Shivite religions leader, Hasan Shirazi, ordered Persians to give up tobacco smoking until the concession was lifted. A nation of heavy smokers obeyed, and within only a few days the concession was canceled. ‘A key figure in the campaign against the tobacco concession was the Islamic intellectual Sayyid Jamal ad-Din “al Afghani,” who since 1889 had resided in Teheran, Born in 1838 of 1839 in Persia and raised as a Shi'ite, he was educated in Persia, learned of the West while visiting British India and Europe, and trav- eled and taught throughout the Middle East. In his many writings and speeches Jamal ad-Din blended Islamic traditionalism and a pragmatic and selective ac- ceptance of Western science, technology, and values, He taught that only a reli- gious and intellectual revival that transcended state boundaries and sectarian differences could save Islam from subservience to the West. From the time he moved to Teheran, Jama! ad-Din was a vocal critic of the shah. Fearing arrest, he sought sanctuary at a holy shrine, but the shah’s soldiers forcefully removed him in January 1891 and deported him to Ottoman territory. From exile, in April 1891 he wrote the following letter to Hasan Shirazi. It is unclear how much influence Jamal ad-Din’s letter had, but as Jamal ad-Din had 327328 The World in the Age of Western Dominance hoped, Shirazi did abandon his apolitical stance by denouncing the shah and then issuing the antismoking decree that ended the concession, ‘The shah stayed in power and che foreigners remained, but for the first time in their modern history, all Persians, rural and urban, religious and secular, had uniced for a political end. Such unity of purpose reappeared in the Persian Revo- lution of 1905, which, for a time, established a pacliamentary government for Persia. QUESTIONS FOR ANALYSIS 1, What strategies does Jamal ad-Din use to convince Hasan Shirazi that he should speak out against the shah? What does he claim would be the consequences of inaction? 2. According to Jamal ad-Din, what are che personal faults of che shah? Are is criticisms based more on religious or nonreligious considerations? 3. What has been che result of the shah’s fiscal and economic policies, accord- ing to the author? 4, What view of the West is expressed in the letter? 5. What seems to be Jamal ad-Din’s vision of Persia's future? 6. What differences do you see between the ideas and spirit of Jamal ad-Din's letter and chose of the rescript of Sultan Abdul Mejid (source 74)? 7. What does the letter reveal about the prospects and progress of reform in Persia, as compared to the Ottoman Empire? Religious leader of the people, Ray of the Imams' Light, Pillar of the edifice of Religion, Tongue attuned ¢o the exposition of the Unhidden Law, Your Reverence . . . Hasan Shirazi —- may God protect by your means the fold of Islam, and avere the plots of the vile unbelievers! — God has set you aparc for chis supreme vice regency, .. . and has chosen you out of the true « communion, and has committed to your hands the reins to guide che people obediently co the most luminous Law, and thus co protect their rights, and to guard their hearts from errors and doubts. He has entrusted co you out of all man- kind (so chat you have become the heir of the Prophet) the care of chose weighty interests by which che people shall prosper in this world and ‘According to Shi'ite doctrine, imams were descendants of Muhammad's son-in-law, Ali, wich special powers to inter prec the Qur'an, Most Shi'ices believe thae the Twelfth Imam attain happiness in the hereafter. He has assigned to you the throne of authority, and has bestowed on you such supremacy over his people as em- powers you to save and defend cheir country and testify for them to the ways of those who have gone before. O most mighty Religious Guide! Verily the Shab’s purpose wavers, his character is impure, his perceptions are failing and his heare is cor- rupt. He is incapable of governing the land, or managing the affairs of his people, and has en- crusted the reins of government in all things greac and small to the hands of a wicked freechinker,? a tyrant and usurper, who reviles che Prophets openty, and heeds nat God's Law, who counts for nothing the religious authorities, curses the doc- mysteriously disappeared in the nineh century bur would return as the savior (mcahdi) of humanity. 2Amin al-Sulcan, the shah's grand vizier.Chapter 9 Africa, Southwest Asia, and India in the 1800s tors of the Law, rejects the pious, condemns hon- orable Sayyids? and treats preachers as one would treat the vilest of mankind. Moreover since his return from Europe he has taken the bit berween his teeth, drinks wine openly,’ associates with unbelievers and displays enmity toward the vir- tuous. Such is his private conduct; but in addi- tion to this he has sold to the foes of our Faith che greater part of che Persian lands and the prof its derived from chem, for example, the mines, the roads leading co them, the roads connecting chem with che frontiers of the country, the inns about to be built by the side of these extensive means of travel which will spread ouc through all parts of the kingdom, and the gardens and fields surrounding them, Also the river Karua® and the guesthouses which will arise on ics banks up to its very source, and the gardens and mead- ows which adjoin ic, and the highway from Ahwaz to Teheran, with che buildings, inns, gar- dens, and fields surrounding it, Also tobacco, with che chief centers of its cultivation, the lands on which ic is grown, and the warehouses, carri- ers, and sellers, wherever these are found. He has similarly disposed of the grapes used for making wine, and the shops, factories, and winepresses pertaining to this trade throughout the whole of Persia; and so likewise soap, candles, and sugar, and che factories connected with cheir manufac ture. Lastly there is the Bank:® what must you understand abour the Bank? Ie means the com- plete handing over of the reins of government co the enemy of Islam, the enslaving of che people to that’enemy, the sutrendering of them and of all dominion and authority into the hands of the forcign foe After his che ignorance traitor, desiring to pacify the people by his furile arguments, pre- tended that these agreements were temporary, and these compacts were only for a limited pe- tiod which would not exceed a hundred years! *Descendants of Muhammad. 4A forbidden act according co the Qur'an. *In 1888 an Englishman had been granted a concession to ‘open steamship traffic on the Karun River. “The Imperial Bank of Persia had been granced a sixty-year 329 God! what an argument, the weakness of which amazed even the traitors! .. . In shore chis criminal has offered the provinces of Persia co auction among the Powers,’ and is selling the realms of Islam and the abodes of Muhammad and his household (on whom be greeting and salucation) to foreigners. But by reason of the vileness of his nature and meanness of his understanding he sells chem for a paltry sum and at a wretched price. (Yea, thus it is when meanness and avarice are mingled wich treason and folly!) And you, O Proof, if you will not arise to help this people, and will not unite chem in purpose, and pluck chem forth, by the power of the Holy Law from the hands of this sinner, verily rhe realms of Islam will soon be under the control of foreigners, who will rule . . . as they please and do what they will. If this opportunity is lost... and this ching happens while you are alive, ver- ily you will aot leave behind . . . a fair record in the register of rime and on the pages of history. And you know that che wl/ama* of Persia and the Persian people . . . with one accord (cheir spirits being troubled and their hearts distressed) await a word from you with which they shall behold their happiness and by which their deliverance shall be effected. How then can it seem chat one ‘on whom God has bestowed such power as this to be so reluctant co use it or co leave it sus- pended? I further assure Your Eminence, speaking as one who knows and seeks, that the Ottoman Gov- ernment will rejoice in your undertaking of this effort and will aid you in ir, for it is well aware chat the intervention of Europeans in the Per- sian domains and their ascendancy there will as- suredly prove injurious co its own dominions. Moreover all the ministers and lords of Persia will rejoice in a word in chis sense uctered by you, seeing thacall of chem naturally detest these concession to issue bank nores and cacry on other banking acrivities *Yhe Great Powers of Europe. "Those learned in religion; the Muslim clergy.330 The World in the Age of Westerns Dominance innovations and are constitutionally opposed to these agreements, which your actions will give them the opportunity co annul, that perhaps they may restrain this evil of covetousness which has been sanctioned and approved. .. . All is from you, by you and in you, and you are responsible for all before God and men. . As for my own story and what chat ungrateful tyrant did to me... the wretch [the shah} com- manded me to be dragged, when I was in sanc- tuary in the shrine of Shah ‘Abdu'l-’Azim and grievously ill, through the snow to the capital with such circumstances of disrespect, humilia- tion and disgrace as cannot be imagined for wick- edness (and all this after I had been plundered and despoiled). Verily we belong to God and verily unto Him do we return! ‘Thereafter his miserable lackeys placed me, despite my illness, on # pack-saddle, loading me with chains, and this in the winter season, amid the snow-drifts and bitcer, icy blasts, and a com- pany of horsemen conveyed me to Khaniqin, guarded by an escort. And he had previously written to the... Turkish governor, requesting him to remove me to Basra, knowing well! that, if he Jefe me alone, 1 should come to you, and inform you of his doings and of the state of che people, and explain to you what had befallen the lands of Islam through the evil deeds of this 2A Tuckish frontier pose on che road fram Persia to Baghdad. 19Babiim was a religious movernent inspited by Sayyid Ali Muhammad (4, 1852), who claimed to be the Bas, ot Gare, becween che realm of flesh and thé realim of spicit and the infidel, and would invoke your help, O Proof, for the True Faith, and convince you to come to the assistance of the Muslims. For he knew for a cectaincy that, should I succeed in meeting you, it would not be possible for him to continue in his office, involving as ic does che ruin of che country, the destruction of the people, and che encouragement of unbelief. ... Moreover his conduct was made more blameworthy and mean in that, in ordes to avert a general revolt and quiet the popular agitation, he accused the party whom zeal for religion and patriotism had im- pelled co defend the sanctuary of Islam and the rights of che people of belonging to the Babi sect? , , What is chis weakness? What this cow- ardice? How is it possible chat a low-born vaga- bond and contemptible fool should be able to sell the Muslims and their lands for a vile price and a paltcy sum, scorn the ama, ceeat with disrespect the descendants of che Prophet, and slander in such fashion Sayyids of che House of "Ali? Is chere no hand able ro phack up this evil root and so to appease the wrathful indignation of che Muslims, and avenge the descendants of the Chief of God's Apostles (pon whom and whose household be blessings and saluta- tion)? .. . Peace be upon thee, and the Mercy of God, and His Blessings. means by which the Twelfth Imam communicaced to the faithful, Accused af plotting against che shah, the Bab was executed in 1850.