Tobacco movement
The tobacco movement ( Persian قیام تنباکو ghiyam-e tanbaku also Persian جنبش تنباکو jonbesh-e tanbaku ) was a protest movement organized by Iranian tobacco traders in December 1891 , which is considered to be the forerunner of the constitutional revolution (1905–1911) in Iran.
backgrounds
On March 20, 1890, Naser al-Din Shah granted the monopoly concession for the manufacture, purchase and sale of tobacco throughout the territory of Iran to the British Major Gerald F. Talbot. The Imperial Tobacco Corporation, registered in London with a capital value of £ 650,000 and which was to administer the tobacco monopoly concession, was to make an annual profit of £ 500,000, of which 25% went to the Persian government, i.e. to Naser al-Din Shah and his court. should be poured out. In addition, it was agreed to pay a fixed annual fee of £ 15,000 to Naser al-Din Shah. Tobacco farmers, tobacco traders and tobacco smokers were affected by this concession.
Chronology of events
The concession was the first to encounter resistance from tobacco farmers. They were supposed to sell their entire tobacco crop to the British company. The previously independently producing farmers were suddenly demoted to farm labor for a British company. In protest, numerous tobacco farmers set their crops on fire instead of delivering them to the company. The traders also began to burn the tobacco they had stored in order to avoid confiscation.
The Russian government was against this monopoly concession given to the British from the start. Prince Kamran Mirza , son of Naser al-Din Shah, Minister of War of Iran and Governor of Tehran, had secret contacts with the Russian embassy. Kamran Mirza started a campaign against the concession with Russian support. The merchant Haj Mohammad Kazem Malek al-Tojar, known as courageous and courageous, Prince Kamran Mirza and Mullah Mirza Hassan Ashtiani agreed to publish a fatwa with the forged signature of the highest Shiite cleric Hojat al-Islam Mirza Shirazi , which read:
"As of today, the consumption of tobacco is considered a declaration of war against the twelfth Imam ."
Documents show that Mirza Schirazi subsequently approved this forgery, known as the tobacco fatwa , on the condition that he could deny his participation if the movement against the concession were unsuccessful. On December 4, 1891 , the fatwa was read aloud in mosques in Tehran, and the ban on smoking tobacco was publicized across Iran. The population complied with the ban and even the women of Naser al-Din Shah are said to have stopped smoking water pipes.
Five days later, Naser al-Din Shah invited representatives of the Tehran clergy to the house of Prince Kamran Mirza to decide on the lifting of the smoking ban. Mullah Mirza Hassan Ashtiani, who contributed to the tobacco fatwa, said he was sick and could not come. Mullah Seyed Tafreshi, Mullah Seyed Behbahani and Imam Jomeeh immediately accepted the invitation as declared opponents of the smoking ban. The meeting, attended by numerous clergymen, took place under the direction of Kamran Mirza and Prime Minister Amin al-Soltan. The advocates of the smoking ban among the clergy prevented the prepared hookahs from being lit and succeeded in causing the meeting to end without result. The smoking ban in the tobacco fatwa remained in place.
On Friday, December 25, 1891, opponents of the concession posted an alleged appeal for Hojat al-Islam Mirza Shirazi throughout Tehran
“ Jihad begins on Monday . Get ready!"
The men began to arm themselves, made their wills, and told their wives to stock up on food. The foreign embassies asked the government for increased protection, but the government itself had become nervous and tried to bring its assets to safety.
Now Naser al-Din Shah invited the representatives of the Tehran clergy again to the house of Prince Kamran Mirza in order to check the validity of the concession "in the light of Islam" and to correct it if necessary. All important clergymen including Mullah Mirza Hassan Ashtiani and almost the entire cabinet of Naser al-Din Shah came to the meeting, but could not agree.
After this meeting was also unsuccessful, Naser al-Din Shah's patience ran out. He wrote a letter to Mullah Mirza Hassan Ashtiani, in which he insulted him as a liar and accused him of making commonplace with murderers and criminals and of endangering the security of the country with his rebellion. Naser al-Din Shah wrote to Prince Kamran Mirza that he should see to it that Ashtiani went to the mosque and publicly smoked a water pipe there. If Ashtiani does not comply with this request, he will have to leave Tehran.
In the meantime, the British ambassador and the management of the concession company had contacted Naser al-Din Shah and ultimately demanded that Ashtiani be expelled. He gave in, informed Kamran Mirza of his imminent departure and wrote to Naser al-Din Shah that he was ready to go on a pilgrimage to the holy places of Islam and to pray for the rest of his life that such "rotten elements" as he could do no harm to Persia.
After it became known in Tehran that Ashtiani was to be expelled, a real popular uprising broke out on Sunday, December 27, 1891. Yahya Dolatabadi reports: "Almost all the clergy gathered in Mirza Shirazi's house, the bazaar was closed and the crowds moved first to Mirza Shirazi's house and later to the palace of Naser al-Din Shah. There they arrested the ministers and beat them who defended the Shah's decision. Crown Prince Kamran Mirza persuaded the crowd to calm them down, but was unsuccessful. The crowd broke into the palace, whereupon Kamran Mirza ordered the guards standing by to enter the crowd Several protesters were fatally wounded. The crowd picked up the dead and went with them to the home of Mullah Ashianti. " In order to calm the angry crowd, Naser al-Din Shah gave in and canceled the concession with the consent of the British.
With the successful resistance against a decision by the absolutist ruling Shah, a political turning point in Iran had dawned. The Shah's absolutist rule was broken.
epilogue
After this success, Mirza Schirazi now publicly confessed to the fake tobacco fatwa . In gratitude, he was promoted to top religious scholar by his spiritual colleagues. The political position of Shirazi made it necessary from now on that all important political decisions had to be approved by him. In addition, the clergy fully booked the success of the movement in their favor. Nobody dared to oppose the clergy's jurisdiction. Mullah Agha Najafi had unpleasant residents whipped or executed in Isfahan. Stoning, public beheadings and torture were common.
The British paid for the withdrawal of the concession with a compensation of £ 500,000. Since the state treasury was empty, Iran was granted a loan for this amount, which had 6% interest. As a guarantee, the British had all the customs revenue from the ports on the Persian Gulf overwritten until this loan was repaid. Persia had its first foreign debts without anything in return.
The merchants and commoners, who had the greatest share in the withdrawal of the concession through their demonstrations, had to pay twice in the end. On the one hand, the state lost the customs revenue from the ports of the Persian Gulf, on the other hand they were disenfranchised by the clergy. It was not until 1905, with the Constitutional Revolution, that citizens' rights to freedom were to be strengthened.
literature
- Ahmad Kasravi: Tarikh-e Mashruteh Iran (History of the Constitutional Revolution of Iran). 1356 (1978).
- Abdolali Massoumi: Enghelab-e Maschruteh (History of Iran, Vol. 4). 1385 (2007), ISBN 2-916531-03-3 .