Mirza Sayyed Mohammad Tabatabai

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Twelver Shia Islam

Mirza

Majles
newspaper.

He is entombed inside a family

Rey
.

Biography

Mirzā Sayyed Mohammad Tabātabā'i was born in Karbala, Iraq. The family moved to Hamedan when he was two years old, and to Tehran, when he was eight. He received education in the sciences, (Arabic) literature, Islamic jurisprudence and doctrines from his father, and philosophy from Mirzā Abol-Hasan Jelveh. For a period of time he was also a pupil of Sahaikh Hadi Najmābādi.[1] The latter has been the spiritual father of a number of individuals who later played significant roles in bringing about the Constitutional Revolution of Iran, such as Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda and Mirza Jahangir Khan Sur-e Esrafil.[2]

In 1881 he left Iran for the purpose of

Mirzā Mohammad Hasan Hosseini Shirāzi and completed his studies with him. Following the death of his father, he took his entire family to Samarra and for some ten years advised Ayatollah Shirāzi on political matters. On the recommendation of Ayatollah Shirāzi, he finally returned to Tehran. Due to his independent mind, in Tehran he kept away from state officials and individuals in positions of power. In his public speeches, he emphasized on the merits of freedom and incessantly stirred up the sense of loving freedom amongst his audiences. In this, he went so far as to suggesting republicanism as a viable alternative to monarchism. His latter views polarised his audiences, driving some away, and attracting some more closely instead. His ascetic lifestyle, however, very effectively protected him against personal attacks by his detractors. His emphasis permanently revolved around a national government, respect for the rule of law, equality before law, and the indiscriminate application of justice in the society.[1]

Constitutional Revolution

The spark leading to the Constitutional Revolution of Iran is by some held to be the

Majles
.

Mozaffar ad-Din Shah and his Chief Minister, Ain od-Dowleh, reneged however on their promises. Not only did they not establish an Edālat'khāneh, but violence against people continued unabated, both in Tehran and in other provinces of Iran. At this stage popular preachers such as

Sheikh Fazlollah Noori came to take the side of Mohammad-Ali Shah and became an anti-revolutionary.[Note 2] After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the status of Sheikh Fazlollah Noori as a revolutionary has been fully restored.[Note 3]

During this time Iranians began to increase their demands, demanding not only the dismissal of Shah's Chief Minister, Ain od-Dowleh, but also establishment of a national consultative assembly, what came to be known as, and become, Majles.[6] The name of Mashrouteh (مشروطه), signifying a new political system, was floated around this time.[Note 4] At the end of July 1906, Mozaffar al-Din Shah dismissed his unpopular Chief Minister Ain od-Dowleh, and in early August 1906 he accepted the proposed institution of Majles. The first Majles came into being in October 1906, immediately after the Deputies of Tehran were elected.[6] A committee of experts drafted the Fundamental Law, which Mozaffar al-Din Shah signed, after some delay, in December 1906. A longer Supplementary Fundamental Law, drafted in 1907, was signed by the new Shah, Mohammad-Ali Shah, in October 1907 (Mozaffar al-Din Shah died on 3 January 1907). These two charters formed the core of the Iranian written Constitution, to be supplanted by a new written Constitution after the Revolution of 1979.[6]

The rules governing the election of Deputies of Majles were originally drafted by Mozaffar al-Din Shah. His delay in making this document available led Mirzā Sayyed Mohammad Tabātabā'i to visiting him personally at

Sāheb'qrāniyeh Palace for enquiry. He left the Palace with the draft of these regulations in his hands. After some changes in this draft, it was finally ratified by Mozaffar al-Din Shah. Copies of this were subsequently dispatched to all cities in Iran. This event was celebrated on Monday 10 September 1906 by ornamenting the streets of Tehran with decorative light bulbs.[1]

Tabatabai died in Tehran in 1920, at the age of 77.

As deputy

Of the religious minority groups in Iran, only

Zoroastrians had a Zoroastrian Deputy in First Majles. During the legislative period of this Majles, Sayyed Mohammad Tabātabā'i deputised also the Iranian Christians in Majles. During this period, the Iranian Jewish community were deputised by Ayatollah Sayyed Abdollah Behbahāni.[1]

As private person

According to Keddie, Sayyed Mohammad Tabātabā'i "appears to have had genuinely liberal proclivities and considerable contact with other liberals, believed that a constitution would be the best way to limit the power of uncontrolled autocrats who were selling Iran to the Western powers."[7]

With the sudden rise in the price of sugar in 1905 (see above), Sayyed Mohammad Tabātabā'i proposed that instead of serving tea at religious gatherings, such as at Rozeh-Khāni's, the poor be given cash. In making this suggestion, he was also aiming at improving the state of public health, as he believed that not in all large gatherings the tea was being served in hygienically clean utensils, thus spreading transferable diseases amongst the population.[1]

School and modern teaching methods

Sayyed Mohammad Tabātabā'i founded the Islāmieh School (مدرسه اسلامیه) in Tehran where modern teaching methods were used. He appointed his brother, Assad'o'llah Tabātabā'i, as the Head of this school. During a celebration, on 28 October 1905, Sayyed Mohammad Tabātabā'i delivered a speech to the school in which he expanded on the necessity of learning and establishment of modern schools in Iran.[1]

Further reading

See also

Notes

  1. Grand Bazar of Tehran. The Sang-e-laj Theatre, one of the oldest theatre halls in Iran, which is still in use, is located in this neighbourhood. For further information, consult the entry Sang-e-laj
    in The Persian Wikipedia.
  2. ^ The Officiate Website of Iranian Institute for Contemporary Historical Studies (مؤسسۀ مطالعات تاریخ معاصر ایران) should be consulted. In particular, this article, in Persian, by Dr Farzad Jahān'bin, is worth considering. The idea being advanced is that whereas the taking of Bast of between some 12,000 to 14,000 men in the British Legation in Tehran seems to have been spontaneous, preparations for hosting such large numbers (providing for both meals and sanitation of the individuals taking the Bast) had been in the making for months in advance. There are eye-witness reports indicating how months in advance of the event, the British middlemen had been purchasing large quantities of rice and other foodstuff in various food markets in and around Tehran and transported these at night-times into the complex housing the British Legation in Tehran.
  3. ^ According to Keddie (2003), p. 180, "The third main leader of the Tehran ulema, Shaikh Fazlollah Nuri [the other two being Mirzā Sayyed Mohammad Tabātabā'i and Ayatollah Sayyed Abdollah Behbahāni], did turn against the movement once it became clear that the constitution was not going to reinstate the sharia, but bring in many Western-style institutions and laws."
  4. Islamic
    laws.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Sayyed Abdollah Behbahāni and Sayyed Mohammad Tabātabā'i" (in Persian). Archived from the original on 18 February 2010.
  2. ^ Bayat (1991)
  3. ^ a b c Keddie (2003), p. 67
  4. ^ J. Calmard, Bast, Encyclopaedia Iranica[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ Keddie (2003), pp. 66, 67
  6. ^ a b c Keddie (2003)
  7. ^ Keddie (2003), p. 180

Bibliography

External links
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