Mohammad Ali Foroughi

Mohammad Ali Foroughi

Mohammad Ali Foroughi Zoka-al Molk ( Persian محمدعلی فروغی ذکاءالملک; * 1877 in Tehran ; † November 26, 1942 ibid) was an Iranian scientist and politician. Among other things, he was Prime Minister of his country.

Life

Mohammad Ali was born in Tehran in 1877. His father, Mirza Mohammad Hoseyn Foroughi, was one of the country's educated elites. He worked in the translation office ( Dar-al-Tarjomeh ) of Naser al-Din Shah and later became head of the translation office. It was also Naser al-Din Shah who gave him the title of Zoka al Molk ( Intelligence of the Kingdom ). After the death of his father, the title passed to Mohammad-Ali.

Mohammad Ali's father personally took care of his son's education. The talent for languages ​​seemed to run in the family; in any case, Mohammad-Ali learned not only his native language Persian, but also Arabic, French and English in his youth. At the age of 17, Mohammad-Ali, like his father, started working in the translation agency.

In 1899 Mohammad Ali Foroughi began teaching at the newly founded Tehran University of Political Sciences ( Madreseh-e olum-e siyasi ), the direction of which had been entrusted to his father. Since there were no textbooks for history and political science in Persian, Foroughi wrote several textbooks such as "The History of the Peoples of Asia", "The History of Iran" and "The History of Rome". In addition to his historical courses, Foroughi also gave courses in economics and law. In preparation for his economics course, he translated Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations". After the death of his father, Foroughi took over the management of the college in 1907.

Foroughi's political career began in 1909 when he was elected to the newly established parliament . In 1911 Foroughi became Minister of Finance and later Minister of Justice. After the end of the First World War Foroughi was a member of the Iranian delegation that had been sent by Ahmad Shah Kajar to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 in Versailles. However, upon intervention by the British government, the delegation was not admitted to the conference and had to go home without having achieved anything.

Foroughi with members of his cabinet about 1935

Foroughi often deplored the political apathy of his compatriots:

“We have no nation and no public opinion either. ... There is no hope of a political future as long as there is no public opinion. "

In 1923 Foroughi again took over ministerial posts in the cabinets that followed the coup of Seyyed Zia al Din Tabatabai and Reza Khan, who later became Reza Shah Pahlavi . When Reza Khan became Prime Minister, Foroughi became Foreign Minister. Foroughi supported the efforts of Reza Khan to abolish the monarchy in Iran and replace it in favor of a republic. After the clergy had decided against a republic because they feared an excessive secularization of society and thus the loss of their power, Reza Khan, with the support of Foroughi, developed the plan to depose Ahmad Shah Kajar and crown Reza Khan as the new Shah. Foroughi worked as chairman of a parliamentary constitutional commission from the constitution of 1906 supplementary article, with which the dynasty of the Pahlavies was established. On December 12, 1925, Reza Shah Pahlavi was appointed Shah of Iran by resolution of the parliament. Foroughi gave the laudatory speech at the coronation ceremony in April 1926.

Foroughi served as Prime Minister for a year, but then resigned in June 1926. The urgent political reforms were tackled by Abdolhossein Teymurtasch and Ali-Akbar Davar under the new Prime Minister Hassan Mostofi . Foroughi was sent to Turkey as an ambassador. Back in Iran in 1930 he took over the newly created office of Minister of Economics for a short time, but was urgently needed as Foreign Minister and in this capacity traveled to the League of Nations in Geneva to represent Iran's interests there.

In August 1933 Foroughi became Prime Minister again and remained so until December 3, 1935. Reza Shah had called for his resignation after Foroughi had stood up for his son-in-law Mohammad Vali Asadi , the treasurer of the mosque in Mashad. Asadi had been arrested as one of the main people responsible for the violent demonstrations that began in July 1935 against Reza Shah's decree, which banned the wearing of the chador. Asadi was sentenced to death by a military tribunal and executed on December 21, 1935.

Prime Minister Foroughi and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi

Foroughi resumed his scientific work and published a three-volume “History of European Philosophy”, he translated works by Descartes and Socrates into Persian and he worked on a Persian dictionary of philosophical terms. As Prime Minister, Foroughi founded the Academy of Persian Language and Literature (Farhangestan) in 1935 . Now, after retiring from politics, Foroughi worked on commentaries and expanded editions of the works of Ferdowsi , Saadi , Hafis and Rumi .

Foroughi's scientific work came to an abrupt end with the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941. Reza Shah called him over and asked him if he would like to take over the post of Prime Minister again. Despite his poor health, Foroughi accepted. 21 days after his appointment as Prime Minister, Reza Shah was forced to resign under British pressure in favor of his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi . Foroughi drafted the resignation letter, which Reza Shah signed on September 18, 1941. Foroughi remained in office as Prime Minister under Mohammad Reza and negotiated with the British and Soviet ambassadors the three-power agreement , confirmed by the Iranian parliament on January 29, 1942 , which confirmed the territorial integrity of Iran and the withdrawal of Soviet and British troops six months after the end of the war provided. After the end of the war in 1946, the agreement was to play a decisive role in the US help to push back the Soviet troops from northern Iran and the dissolution of the Soviet-backed Azerbaijani People's Government .

On January 8, 1942, Prime Minister Foroughi was assassinated in Tehran. The assassin Mohammad Ali Roshan fired several shots at Foroughi. In March 1942 Foroughis resigned as Prime Minister and became Minister of the Court. Mohammad Reza Shah offered him the post of Iranian ambassador to the United States. But before Foroughi could take up his new office, he died on November 26, 1942.

Books

Foroughi has published numerous books including

"The History of Iran" ,

"The History of the Peoples of Asia" ,

"The Roman History" ,

"Constitutional Etiquette" ,

"Introduction to Physics" ,

"Big thoughts" ,

"Socratic thinking" ,

"History of European Philosophy" ,

"Message to the West" ,

"The nature of music" ,

“The Art of Lecturing” , and

a book on Shahnama .

literature

• 'Alí Rizā Awsatí ( عليرضا اوسطى), Iran in the past three centuries ( Irān dar Se Qarn-e Goz̲ashteh -ايران در سه قرن گذشته), Volumes 1 and 2 (Paktāb Publishing - انتشارات پاکتاب, Tehran, Iran, 2003). ISBN 964-93406-6-1 (Vol. 1), ISBN 964-93406-5-3 (Vol. 2).
• Abbas Milani: Eminent Persians. The men and women who made modern Iran, 1941–1979. Volume 1. Syracus University Press et al. a., Syracus NY et al. a. 2008, ISBN 978-0-8156-0907-0 , pp. 152-157.

Web links

Commons : Mohammad Ali Foroughi  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mohammad-Ali Foroughi: Iran dar 1919 (Iran in 1919). Rahnamay-e Ketab, nos. 10-12, 1972. p. 832
2. ^ Mohammad Gholi Majd: Great Britain and Reza Shah. University Press of Florida, 2001, p. 219.