IRAN

(PERSIA)Cradle of Civilization

( PART 3 )

AN EXCERPT OF PERSIAN SCIENTISTS,

PHYSICIANS, INVENTORS AND POETS

BETWEEN (600 – 1390 AD)

Muhammad Khwarizmi(780 – 850 AD)

Persian mathematician, astronomer, astrologer,

Geographer, Inventor of Algorithm and scholar

Mohammad Zakaria Razi (865-925 AD)

Persian Chemist, Physician, Biologist, scientist, discovered alcohol, Sulfuric & other acids,

One of his publication”The Canon of Medicine” was a medical bible of all

universities in Europe, during 17th through 19th Centuries

Abu- Ali Sina (Avicenna) (980 – 1037 AD)

Persian Scientist, Philosopher, physician,psychologist, geologist, mathematician,

and astrologist

Abu-Ali Sina’s mausoleum In Hamedan, IranSource: Wikipedia.org

Ferdousi’s mausoleum in Tous, Iran

Sources :Wikipedia.org

Hakim Abul-Qashem Ferdousi(935-1020 AD)

The world-renound Persian poet who created Shahnameh, an enormous opus which is the national epic

of The Persian speaking world. The shahnameh narrates the mythical and historical past of Persia from the creation of the world up to the Islamic invasion of

Persia in the 7th Century

Sources: www.writespirit.net/blog/archive/2006/10/26/the-international-year-of-rumi-2007 &

www.Wikipedia.org andwww.trekearth.com/gallery/Middle_East/Turkey/Central_

Anatolia/Konya/Konya/photo581088.htm

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī and popularly knownas Mowlānā but known to the Western world simply as Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic. Rūmī is adescriptive name meaning "the Roman" since he lived most of his life in an area called Rūm because it was once ruled by the Byzantine Empire. Rumi was born in Khorasan, the easternprovince of historical Persia, and were part of the Khwarezmian Empire. His birthplace and nativeLanguage both indicate a Persian heritage. He eventually settled in the Anatolian city Konya (capital of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, now located in Turkey). This was where he lived most of his life, and here he composed one of the crowning glories of Persian literature which profoundly affected the culture of the area. He lived most of his life under the Sultanate of Rum, where he produced his works and died in 1273 AD. Rumi's works are written in the new Persian language. He has been described as the "most popular poet in America" in 2007.

Jalal ad-din Muhammad Rumi (Moulavi or Moulana)(1207 – 1273 AD)

The world-renoun Persian Poet, Philosopher jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic

Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside,And naked on the Air of Heaven ride,

Were’t not a shame – were’it not a Shame for himIn this clay carcass crippled to abide?

Omar Khayyam

(English interpretation by Edward Fitzgerald)

Hakim Omar Khayyam(1048-1131 AD)

Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer. His poetry of Rubaiyat Khayyam is a world-known publication

Source: Rubaeyyat KhayyamShrine of Omar Khayyám, Nishapur, Iran

Mohammad Saadie (1184-1283/1291 AD)

Persian scholar and poet, master of poetry, mysticism, Irfan, metaphysics, logic, ethics

His best known works are Bustan ("The Orchard") completed in 1257 and Gulistan

("The Rose Garden") in 1258

Muhammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī (1310/1337 – 1390 AD)

Persian poet, master of mysticism, Irfan, metaphysics, Sufism

Saadi's mausoleum in Shiraz, Iran

Saadi is well known for his aphorisms, the most famous of which adorns the entrance to the Hall of Nations of the United Nation building in New York with this call for breaking all barriers: [

پیکرند یک اعضای آدم بنیگوهرند یک ز آفرينش در که

روزگار آورد درد به عضوى چوقرار نماند را عضوها دگر

غمی بی دیگران محنت کز توآدمی نهند نامت که نشاید

 Of One Essence is the Human Race, Thusly has Creation put the Base. One Limb impacted is sufficient, For all Others to feel the Mace.

The Unconcern'd with Others' Plight, Are but Brutes with Human Face.

Hafez's mausoleum in Shiraz, Iran

Source: Wikipedia.org

Mongols invaded central Asia and north east of Iran in 1218 A.D. The first invasion took about 5 years (ordered by Ghenghiz khan). A number of battles took place and Khawarazmids lost all except one in Parwan (presently located in north east Afghanistan). Mongols sacked all cities in central Asia and destroyed anything there including Samarkand, Bukhara, Khawarazm (presently Urgench), Herat, Merv and Neishabour. In this periodas a result of famine and massacre the population of Persia dropped from 2.5 millions to one tenth (250,000). There are only a few regions in modern Iran, which was not suffered from the first Mongol invasion including Tabriz in Northwest and Shiraz in south. The second wave of invasion started from 1257 A.D. by Hulegu. They did a massacre in Iraq and west Iran (in one case 800,000 in Baghdad and neighboring regions) and destroyedthe ancient irrigation system of south Iraq. The massacre was so terrible that no sufficient population could be found to repair the irrigation system. Some of the lakes and small khours as a result of the destruction of the ancient irrigation system and agriculture in south Iraq have been remained from that period untouched.They kept invading until 1259 when a coalition from Egypt composed of Turkic soldiers raised from childhood and trained in Egypt as soldiers and cavaliers (Mamaalik; from the word al-mamluk; slaves) in addition to the local people of Palestine defeated Mongols in Ain Jalut (Plaestine). This marked the end of the Mongolian progressive invasion to Middle East and West Asia.

Source: www.dailyreadingsmontreal.blogspot.com/2008/08/mongol-invasion-of-persia-1.html

MONGOL INVASION OF PERSIA

Map of Persia during Safavids Dynasty (Ruled from 1501 to 1736 AD)

Source: www.upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Map_Safavid_persia.png

Persian art and architecture reached a climax during the reign of the Safavid dynasty. The Safavid Dynasty hailed from Azerbaijan, at that time considered a part of the greater Persia region. The Safavid Shah Ismail I overthrew the Turkish rulers of Persia to found a new Persian empire. Ismail expanded Persia to include all of present-day Azerbaijan, Iran, and Iraq, plus much of Afghanistan. Ismail's expansion was halted by the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514, and war with the Ottomans became a fact of life in Safavid Persia. Safavids Persia was a violent and chaotic state for the next seventy years, but in 1588 Shah Abbas the Great ascended to the throne and instituted a cultural and political renaissance. He moved his capital to Isfahan, which quickly becameone of the most important cultural centers in the world. He made peace with the Ottomans. He reformed the army, drove the Uzbeks out of Persia and into modern-day Uzbekistan, and re-captured Strait of Hormuz in Persian Gulf which was taken over by Portuguese.

The Safavids were followers of Shi'a Islam, and under them Persia became the largest Shi'ite country in the world. Under the Safavids Persia enjoyed its last period as a major imperial power. In the early 1600s, a final border was agreedupon with Ottoman Turkey; it still forms the border between Turkey and Iran today.

SAFAVID DYNASTY (1501-1736)

Efforts to Increase Shia’s influence in Persia

Source: Wikipedia.org

Source: Wikipedia.org

Pre-Safavid IranThe Safavid conversion of Iran from Sunnism to Shi’ism made Iran the spiritual bastion of Shi’a Islam against the onslaughts of orthodox Sunni Islam. Through their actions, the Safavids reunified Iran as an independent state in 1501 and established Twelver Shi’ism as the official religion of the empire. Iran’s population was mostly Sunnis of the Shafi`i and Hanafi legal rites until the triumphof the Safavids (who had initially been Shafi`i Sunnis themselves). In contrast, before the Safavids period, a minority of Iranians wereShi’a and there had been relatively few Shi’a mullahs in Iran. 

Some of the reasons for Shah Ismail’s forcefull religious conversion policy

More than most Muslim dynasties the Safavids worked for conversion to their branch of Islam and for ideological conformity. The reasons for this conversion policy included:

One of the main reasons why Ismail and his followers pursued such a severe conversion policy was to give Iran and the Safavid lands as distinct and unique an identity as was possible compared to its two neighboring Sunni Turkish military and political enemies, the Ottoman Empire and, for a time, the Central Asian Uzbeks- to the west and north-east respectively;

The Safavids were engaged in a lengthy struggle with the Ottomans, including numerous wars between the two dynasties; and this struggle continuously motivated the Safavids to create a more cohesive Iranian identity to counter the Ottoman threat and possibility of a fifth-column within Iran among its Sunni citizens.

The conversion was part of the process of building a territory that would be loyal to the state and its institutions, thus enabling the state and its institutions to propagate their rule throughout the whole territory. 

FORCED RELIGIOUS CONVERSION FOR PERSIANS DURING SAFAVIDS DYNASTY

Nader Shah was born in Dastgerd into the Qereqlu clan of the Afshars, a semi-nomadic Turkmen tribe in Khorasan, a province in the north-east of the Persian Empire. Under the patronage of Afshar chieftains, he rose through the ranks to become a powerful military figure. Nader married the two daughters of Baba Ali Beg, a local chief. Nader grew up during the final years of the Safavids dynasty which had ruled Persia since 1501. At its peak, under such figures as Shah Abbas the Great, Safavids Persia had been a powerful empire, but by the early 18th century the state was in serious decline and the reigning shah, Soltan Hossein, was a weak ruler. UnderMahmud Afghan, the rebellious Afghans moved westwards against the shah himself and in 1722 they defeated a vastly superior forceat the Battle of Golnabad and then besieged the capital, Isfahan. Soltan Hussein abdicated, handing power to Mahmud. In Khorasan, Nader at first submitted to the local Afghan governor of Mashhad, Malek Mahmud, but then rebelled and built up his own small army. Meanwhile, Persia's imperial rivals, the Ottomans and the Russians, took advantage of the chaos in the country to seize territory for Themselves . Nader later became the chief of army. He chose not to march directly on Isfahan. First, in May 1729, he defeated the Abdali Afghans near Herat. The new Ghilzai Afghan shah, Ashraf, decided to move against Nader but in September 1729, Nader defeated him at the Battle of Damghan and again, decisively, in November at Murchakhort. Ashraf fled and Nader finally entered Isfahan.In 1738, Nader Shah the Great besieged and destroyed Kandahar. This was the ultimate defeat of any remaining Afghan forces. Nader Shah built a new city near Kandahar, which he named Naderabad“ in the spring of 1730. Then, Nader attacked the Ottomans and regained most of the territory lost during the recent chaos. Relations between Nader and the Shah had declined as the latter grew jealous of his general's military successes. While Nader was absent in the east, Tahmasp tried to assert himself by launching a foolhardy campaign to recapture Yerevan. He ended up losing all of Nader's recent gains to the Ottomans, and signed a treaty ceding Georgia and Armenia in exchange forTabriz. He denounced the treaty. He faced Topal the Ottoman general with a larger force and defeated and killed him. He then besieged Baghdad, as well as Ganja in the northern provinces, earning a Russian alliance against the Ottomans. Nader scored a great victory overa superior Ottoman force at Baghavard and by the summer of 1735, Persian Armenia and Georgia were his again. In March 1735, he signed a treaty with the Russians in Ganja by which the latter agreed to withdraw all of their troops from Persian territoryIn January 1736, Nader held a meeting on the Moghan Plain in Azerbaijan. The leading figures in Persian political and religious life attended. Nadersuggested he should be proclaimed the new shah in place of the young Abbas III. Everyone agreed, many—if not most—enthusiastically,the rest fearing Nader's anger if they showed support for the deposed Safavids. Nader was crowned Shah of Iran on March 8, 1736. …/…

NADER SHAH AFSHAR THE GREATSHAH OF PERSIA and a Genius War General

(1736–1747 AD)

Source: ww.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nader_Shah

The Safavids had introduced Shi'a Islam as the state religion of Persia. Nader Shah had the chief mullah of Persia strangled after he was heard expressing support for the Safavids. In 1738, Nader Shah conquered Kandahar, the last outpost of the Ghilzai Afghans. Nader followed his Afghan enemies taking refuge in India. He crossed the border and capture Kabul, Ghazni and Peshawar. He then advanced deeper into India crossing the river Indus before the end of year. He defeated the Mughal army at the huge Battleof Karnal in February 1739. After this victory, Nader captured Mohammad Shah and entered with him into Delhi. When a rumour broke out that Nader had been assassinated, some of the Indians attacked and killed Persian troops. Nader reacted by ordering hissoldiers to massacre the population and plunder the city. During the course of one day (March 22) 20,000 to 30,000 Indians werekilled by the Persian troops, forcing Mohammad Shah to beg for mercy. In response, Nader Shah agreed to withdraw, but MohammadShah paid the consequence in handing over the keys of his royal treasury, and losing even the Peacock Throne to the Persian emperor.The Peacock Throne thereafter served as a symbol of Persian imperial might. Among a trove of other fabulous jewels, Nader Shah also gained the Koh-e-Noor and Darya-ye Noor diamonds (Koh-e-Noor means "Mountain of Light", Darya-ye Noor means “ocean of Light“, in Persian). The Persian troops left Delhi at the beginning of May 1739. In 1741, while Nader was passing through the forest ofMazanderan on his way to fight the Daghestanis, an assassin took a shot at him but Nader Shah was only lightly wounded. Nader accusedhis son of being behind the assassination attempt in Mazanderan. Reza (his son) angrily protested his innocence, but Naderhad him blinded as punishment, although he immediately regretted it. Soon afterwards, Nader started executing the nobles who had witnessed his son's blinding. In his last years, Nader became increasingly paranoid, ordering the assassination of large numbers of suspected enemies. Nader then started to build a Persian navy. With lumber from Mazandaran, he built ships in Bushehr. He also purchased thirty ships in India. He recaptured the island of Bahrain from the Arabs. In 1743, he conquered Oman and its main capitalthe city of Muscat. In 1743, Nader started another war against the Ottoman Empire. Despite having a huge army at his disposal, in thiscampaign Nader showed little of his former military brilliance. It ended in 1746 with the signing of a peace treaty, in which the Ottomansagreed to let Nader occupy Najaf. In 1747, Nader set off forKhorasan where he intended to punish Kurdish rebels. Some of his officersfeared he was about to execute them and plotted against him. Nader Shah was assassinated on 19 June 1747, at Fathabad in Khorasan. He was surprised inhis sleep by Salah Bey, captain of the guards, and stabbed with a sword. Nader was able to kill two of the assassins before he died.

NADER SHAH AFSHAR THE GREAT

Source: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nader_Shah

During the reign of Nader Shah, an anti-Shi’e policy was implemented. Nader made an attempt to return Iran to the Sunni creedby propagating the integration of Shiism into Sunnism as the fifth of the already extant four Sunni Madh'habs (to be called theJaafari Madh'hab).

Some of Tthe reasons for his anti-Shia policy

Most of his troops were Sunni Afghans, Steppe Turkmen, Khorasan Kurds and Baluchis, since his own pro-Sunni beliefs had alienated his Shiite Iranian soldiers, who included the Shi’a Turkmen and ethnic Persian soldiers from central and western Iran, who made up the Safavids partisans.

It was an original religious policy, aimed at weakening Shi’a and at promoting his own rule in Sunni lands outside Iran and making of Shiism a 5th school of orthodox Sunni Islam.

Nader made various attempts to reconcile his Persian subjects’ Shi’a beliefs with the Sunni creed and sought to get the Ottomans to recognize this new Persian Sunnism as its own sect with the possible motivation being to facilitate relations with the Sunni Ottomans, but possibly his real aim was to overthrow the Turks by uniting the Muslim world with him as its head.

In 1736, after being chosen by an assembly of notables to be Shah, Nader agreed to accept on the condition that they accept his new religious policy of restoring Sunnism in Iran. The abandonment of Shiism was necessary as the linchpin of a peace treaty he wanted to conclude with the Sunni Ottomans and was probably intended also as a way of diminishing the religious prestige of the Safavids house and of making himself a more attractive figure to the Sunni populations of areas he was planning to conquer.

NADER SHAH THE GREAT’S ANTI - SHI’A POLICY

Source: Wikipedia.org

PERSO-TURKIC WARS

Sassanid - Turkish wars 1st Perso-Turkic war 2nd Perso-Turkic war 3rd Perso-Turkic war

Safavids - Ottoman Empire Wars Battle of Chaldoran War of 1532-1555 War of 1578-1590 War of 1603-1618 War of 1623-1639 War of 1722-1727

Nader shah The Great’s wars with Ottoman Empire War of 1730 - 1736 War of 1743 –1746

War of 1821-1823 The Ottoman-Qajar War was fought between the Ottoman Empire and Qajar Empire from 1821 to 1823.After severe losses in Georgia during the Russo-Persian War of 1804-13, Crown Prince Abbas Mirza (1783-1833) of Persia vowed to modernize his armies. He sent Persians to England to learn Western military techniques and invited British officers to train his troops, especially newly introduced infantry. Turkish incursions into Iran's Azerbaijan region under the pretense of punishing rebellious tribesmen led to declaration of war in 1821. Abbas Mirza attacked eastern Anatolia (Turkey) in 1821. Ottoman and Persian forces met in the Lake Van region. The war culminated in Persian victory at the in 1821, where Abbas Mirza's army routed a superior Turkish force. Peace did not come until the Treaty of Erzurum two years later; both sides recognized the previous borders, with no territorial changes

WARS BETWEEN PERSIA AND TURKS (OTTOMAN EMPIRE)

Source: Wikipedia.org

Qajar Dynasty, Ruled from 1781 to 1925 AD

Source: www. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_Iran_1900-en.png

EXCERPT OFDISTINGUISHED

PERSIAN STATESMEN

GHA’EM MAGHAM FARAHANI(1779 – 1835)

Prime Minister of Iran

Mirza Abolghasem Gha’em Magham Farahani (also Mirza Abu'l-Qasim Farahani Qá'im Maqam) was an Iranian Prime Minister in the 19th century. He was born in the city of Arak, Iran. His father, Mirza Isa Gha’em Magham Farahani, and Mirza Abolghasem both, had served Qajar family for more than 20 years. Before being prime minister, he was chancellor of Mohammad Mirza's court. He was later betrayed and murdered by the order of Mohammad Shah Qajar in 1835, at the instigation of Haji Mirza Aghasi, who would becomethe Gha’em Magham's successor.

One year after his accession to the throne, Mohammad Shah ordered the arrest of Gha’em Magham Farahani on June, 21, 1835. He was kept at the basement of the Negarestan Palace for 5 days. He was then strangled to death on June, 26 because the Shah had an oath not to have his blood on his hand. His body was buried in Shah Abdolazim without ablution.

Many of his family members also were either killed or forced to flee and their properties were confiscated. Like his father, he was Vazir (prime minister) for some time. The infamous treaty of Turkmenchai was written with Farahani's handwriting. After the death of Fathali shah, he was one of the influential people to help Mohammad Mirza ascend the throne; he ordered Shah's brothers Jahangir and Khosrau who were imprisoned in Ardebil to be blinded, and then Shah chose him as his Vezir. Although acts of was savagery were usual among the Qajar family, there are many speculations around reasons behind Mohammad Shah's brutal decision: Farahani rejected all requests by the British to open a consulate in Iran just like the privilege given to Russians. His attempt to put financial affairs in order started with cutting off pensions to Qajar princes and relatives of the royal court. Haji Mirza Aghasi, his rival , on instructionsfrom British authorities (who opposed the Prime Minister for his valuable reforms for Persia); spread the rumors that he was preparing to depose the Shah. All or some of the above may have angered theinfluential people who convinced the Shah to get rid of Farahani.

Source: www.fouman.com/history/Iranian_History_1835.html

Prime Minister of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, born in Hazaveh of Arak, Iran; one of the most qualified, distinguished and innovative politicians in Iran’s history, widely respected by liberal nationalist Iranians and often credited as "Iran's first reformer", a “modernizer” who was "unjustly struck down" while attempting to bring "gradual reforms" to Iran. The fruitful career of Amir Kabir came to a sudden end on 20 November 1851, when Naser-al-Din Shah Qajar dismissed him from the position of prime ministership. Five days later, he was stripped of all his other titles and functions. Soon after he was sent under armed escort to Kashan, and after a period of forty days’ confinement was put to death in the bathhouse at Fin, outside Kashan, by the slashing of his wrists (10 January 1852). The executioner, Ali Khan Moqaddam,had entered government service as a protégé of Amir Kabir. Influenced with british meddeling in Iran’s affairs (British were alarmedWith Amir Kabir’s reforms and Iran’s advancements and modernization), Mirza Agha Khan Noori was influenced to ask the Shahfor an order to execute Amir Kabir while the Shah was drunk. Once the order was issued, it was executed promptly, before the Shah could rescind the order. The unfortunate part was that , mullahs by exerting their influence, arranged to have his body transported to Karbala (i.e., a twon in Iraq) and buried there; as opposed to be buried in Iran where the future Iranian generations could pay their respect to such a national Iranian hero.

Daroulfonoun school, founded by Amir Kabir

Source: Wikipedia.org

Mirza Taqi Khan Amir Kabir (1807 – 1852 AD)

Prime Minister of Persia

Born in 1876 to a prominent Iranian family, He served in the royal court of Nasereddin Shah Qajar early in his career. He slowly climbed his way up, and obtained the title Ghavam ol-Saltaneh during the Constitutional Revolution of Iran. Hasan Vothuq (also known as Vothuq ol-Dowleh) was his older brother. The letter signed by Mozaffaredin Shah to accept the Iranian Constitutional Revolution was written by Qavam, who had the title of Dabir-e Hozoor (Private Secretary) at the time. In fact Qavam was instrumental in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution. He became Prime Minister for several times during both Qajar and Pahlavi dynasties. Any time the country needed him, he accepted the challenge. He played a significant role in preventing the USSR from separating Iran's northern states twice. Qavam in fact ordered the arrest of Seyyed Zia'eddin Tabatabaee, and also ordered the crackdown on the revolt of Colonel Pesian which he crushed with the aid of Reaza Shah the Great. Of the major events that occurred during his terms as the Prime Minister, was his invitation to Arthur Millspaugh for assisting the government in its finances. Another was the riots of 1942 for economic hardship. He appointed general Ahmad Amir-Ahmadi to restore order and end the riots, which he did forcefully. Qavam was also instrumental in the 1919 treaty between Iran, Russia, and Britain. He was again voted Prime Minister on January 26, 1946, with a slim margin in the Majlis of 52-51. The Majlis thought he would have the best chance of resolving the Soviet inspired rebellion of the occupied Azerbaijan province since Qavam was the largest property-owner in the region. Qavam did not disappoint. He ordered the Iranian delegation to the UN to negotiate issues pending before the Security Council directly with the Soviet delegation. He then flew to Moscow to discuss the issues personally with Stalin. When the Soviets violated the terms of the Tripartate Pact which called for all foreign military forces to be withdrawn from Iranian territory by March 2, 1946, it drew a strong rebuke from Parliamentary Whip, Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh. Qavam arranged a deal with the Soviets, granting an oil concessionin the North contingent on the approval of the Majlis after the elections. Under the terms of the agreement with Qavam, Soviettroops began withdrawing from Iran. When the new Majlis was seated, they immediately voted against the proposed Soviet oilconcession. This earned Qavam the congenial title, "The Old Fox “. He died at the age of 82 in 1955, in Tehran. He was survived by his second wife and his only son, Hossein.

AHMAD QAVAM (GHAVAM OL-SALTANEH)(1876-1955 AD)

PRIME MINISTER OF IRAN

Source: www. Wikipedia.org

A’lam was born in 1919, in Birjand and was educated at a British school in Iran. By a royal order from Reza Shah, Alam married Malektaj, the daughter of Qavam ol-Molk Shirazi. The son of Qavam ol-molk was then married to a sister of the Shah, Ashraf Pahlavi. At the age of 26, he was appointed governor of Sistan and Baluchistan provinces. At the age of 29, he became Minister of Agriculturein the cabinet of Mohammad Sa'ed. Assadollah A’lam became the main landowner of Birjand after his father's death. He was one of Iran's first big landowners to distribute his holdings to the peasants, insisting that his servants eat the same food as his family. Amir Assadollah A’lam was the longest serving minister of the Pahlavi era. The name A’lam means a banner or a flag in Arabic. A’lam's father Amir Ebrahim A’lam (Agha Shokat ol-molk) was the governor of the region of Qa'enaat. In the era of Reza Shah Pahlavi the Great he was the Minister of Telecommunications In 1953, A’lam helped organize the counter-revolution that overthrew Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh. A’lam was the director of the Pahlevi Foundation, a charitable trust worth at least $133 million, set up by the Shah to finance social-welfare plans out of the profits from royal holdings in banks, industries, and hotels. In 1962, he became Prime Minister at the age of 43.In May 1963, A’lam's anti-corruption drive was in full swing. In Tehran, a military tribunal sentenced General Abdullah Hedayat, Iran's first four-star general and once a close adviser of the Shah, to two years in prison for embezzling money on military housing contracts, brushed aside his plea for appeal with the brusque explanation that "more charges are pending“. The former boss of the Tehran ElectricityBoard was in solitary confinement for five years; cases were in preparation against an ex-War Minister and twelve other generals for graft.]

The most important event in A’lam's premiership were the riots that took place in June 1963 in response to some of the reforms enforced byMohammad Reza Shah and A’lam. It was the mullas who triggered the riots during the Muharram days. As the Moslems jammed the mosques,the mullahs assailed "illegal" Cabinet decisions and urged their followers to "protect your religion“. Small-scale riots quickly broke out in the Mullah’s capital of Qum, led by mullah Rouhollah Khomeini, and in several other cities. Police struck back, arrested Khomeini and some 15other ringleaders. With that, both sides declared open war and the battle was on. Nearly 7,000 troops were called out by A’lam's government to restore peace, albeit an uneasy one, in Tehran; by then damage was estimated in the millions, at least 1,000 were injured, and the officiallyreported death toll was 86. It was undoubtedly higher, but since the public cemetery was closed and under heavy guard to prevent furtherclashes at the gravesides, the real number remained unknown. Minister of the royal courtIn 1964, he was appointed as Chancellor of Shiraz University. As the minister of the royal court he was the closest man to the Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. Therefore A’lam became the channel through which most of the daily affairs of the country passed. A’lam's memoirs, published posthoumously, are exceptionally detailed documents on the life and the deeds of the Shah as perceived by an insider. Assadollah A’lam was diagnosed withcancer in late 1960s. He was never told of the nature of his illness and was only informed about an “imbalance” of blood cells in his body.In 1977, his illness worsened and he had to resign his post as the minister of court. He died in 1978, a few months before the political upheavalin Iran.

AMIR ASSADOLLAH A’LAM (1919 – 1978 AD)

PRIME MINISTER OF IRAN

Source: Wikipedia.org

 Amir-Abbas Hoveyda was an Iranian politician, who served as Prime Minister of Iran from January 27, 1965 to August 7, 1977. Born in Tehran to Habibollah Hoveida (Ayn al-Molk), a seasoned diplomat, most prominent during the latter years of the Qajar Dynasty, and Afsar ol-Moluk, a descendent of the very royal family, the senior Hoveida would servefor much of his adult life. While Hoveida's father had been a Bahá'í, he had left the religion and Hoveida himself was not religious. Studying in various countries provided Hoveida with a unique cosmopolitan flair that would remain beinghis most enduring characteristic. During the family's stay in Beirut, Lebanon, Hoveida attended Lycée Français, an institution affiliated with the French government. His ability to communicate in several languages, including Persian, French, English, Italian, German, and Arabic, helped him climb the political ladder later on in life. Hoveida enrolled at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles in Brussels, Belgium. His stay at the university would be markedly ephemeral because of the effects of the German Blitzkrieg which used Belgian territory as an entry route into France. After being displaced for a short time, Hoveida was able to return to the Belgian university, obtaining a bachelor's degreein Political Science in 1941, under the ever watchful eye of the occupying German administration. Hoveida's rise to power involved many years of service within the Iranian Ministry of foreign affairs, but this path took on a whole new approach once he joined the Board of Directors of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) in 1958, at the behest of his patron Entezam, who had by then assumed a high ranking positionat the company. Hoveida was very outspokenin favour of expelling foreign technicians and attracting indigenous sources of labour. Continuing his duties as managing director at the NIOC, Hoveida also helped Hassan Ali Mansour in establishing a semi-independent group of highly trained, Western educated, and young technocrats. Mansour's assassination on January 21, 1965, by a seventeen-year-old devotee of the Fada’yan-e Islam, would completely alter Hoveida's future. As he personally reported the news to an obviously distraught shah, he was ordered to formulate a cabinet. Hoveida would replace the deceased Mansour as the longest running premier in Iran's modern history. On July 19, 1966, Hoveida married Laila Emami in a small ceremony. Only a small number of guests were invited to attend, including the shah, Queen Farah, Laila's parents, Hoveida's mother, and his friend Dr. Manouchehr Shahgholi, and his wife. The marriage would unfortunately end five years later in 1971, but the two would remain friends. Hoveida resumed many of the reform initiatives set out by the Mansour administration. In particular, reform plans that were laid out by MohammadReza Shah in the White Revolution. Although a secularist, he would even allocate government revenues to the mullahs establishment, a policy that was on the decline ever since Reza Shah's modernization initiatives during the1920s .In private, Hoveida often lamented over Iran's conditions, admitting to insufficiencies of the state and his ownpolitical impotence. The powerlessness of the premier's office was coupled with intricate internal rivalries. Hoveidahad an intensely rough relationship with the likes of Assadollah A’lam and Ardeshir Zahedi, son of the famed participantin the 1953 coup against Dr. Mossadegh, General Fazlollah Zahedi. Hoveida would eventually serve as Minister of Court within Jamshid Amouzegar's administration in 1977. Hoveida resigned on September 9, 1978. On November 7, 1978, Hoveida was arrested by order of the monarch. On April 7, 1979, Hoveida was arrested by revolutionary guards and executed. His body was secretly released to his immediate family and buried in Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehranas an unknown deceased.

AMIR-ABBAS HOVEYDA(1920 – 1979 AD)

PRIME MINISTER OF IRAN

Source: www.Wikipedia.org

Dr. Jamshid Amuzegar was Prime Minister of Iran. Born in Estahban, Fars province,Iran in 1923, he first climbed his way into college graduating with degrees in Law and Engineering from Tehran University. While World War II was brewing, he was able to enroll in Cornell University with the help of Colonel Crawford, an American friend inIran at the time. After finishing his PhD at Cornell University, he returned to Iran andbecame deputy minister in Iran's ministry of Health, under Dr. Jahanshah Saleh in 1955. Dr. Amuzegar was among the first of Iran's politicians schooled and trained in the United States. Prior to that time, Iran's elite were almost entirely trained in France, among other European states. Dr. Amuzegar then soon became Minister of Labour andthen Minister of Health in the cabinet of prime minister Hasan-ali Mansour. He then became Minister of Finance in the cabinet of Amir Abbas Hoveyda after the assassinationof Prime minister Mansour in 1964, remaining in that post for nine years. In 1971, hewas instrumental in implementing the series of price hikes that quadrupled the price of oil and provided the resources for Iran to modernize its infrastructure, agriculture, and defense. For this accomplishment, Amuzegar was awarded the Taj-e Iran, first class, anhonor normally reserved for only the prime minister and former prime ministers. He was appointed Minister of the Interior in 1974. In December 1975, he was taken hostage by the Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal during an OPEC meeting. Carlos was ordered to execute him, but did not do so, and Amouzger was released along with the other hostagesafter a few days. Dr. Amuzegar was finally appointed prime minister of Iran in August 1977in Ramsar, succeeding his rival Amir Abbas Hoveyda. However, he rapidly became un-popular as he attempted to slow the overheated economy with measures that, althoughgenerally thought necessary, triggered a downturn in employment and private sector profits that would later compound the government's problems. Dr. Amuzegar today resides in the United States.

DR. JAMSHID AMOUZEGAR(1977 – 1978 AD)

PRIME MINISTER OF IRAN

Source: www.Wikipedia.org

Dr. Shahpour Bakhtiar was an Iranian political scientist, writer and the last Prime Minister of Iran under His majesty Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. He was the only courageous politician who accepted to become Prime minister of Iran during turmoil in Iran in 1979. After the Iranian upheaval in 1979, he migrated to Paris, France. On August the 6th, 1991 Prime Minister Dr. Shahpour Bakhtiar was murdered by the terrorist agentsof the Islamic Republic Mafia with knife in his Paris home. What the regime did not realize is that they will never kill his ideas. As a firm opponent of all totalitarian rule, he volunteered for service with the French Resistance and served in the "Orlean" battalion in WWII. France shamefully sold his hero and soul tocheap oil and contracts from criminal and terrorist Islamic Mafia.

Sources: www.activistchat.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=32292 &

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapour_Bakhtiar

DR. SHAHPOUR BAKHTIARPRIME MINISTER OF IRAN

(1915 - 6 AUGUST 1991)

PERSIANCONSTITUTIONAL

REVOLUTION

Source:www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=image+of+a+Persian+constitution+revolution&btnG=Search&meta=&aq=f&oq=

Constitutional revolution took place between 1905 and 1911. The revolution led to the establishment of a parliament for the first timein Persia (Iran). The Persian Constitutional Revolution was the first event of its kind in Asia. The Revolution opened the way for cataclysmic change in Persia, heralding the modern era. Many different groups fought to shape the course of the Revolution. The old order, which Nasser-al-Din Shah Qajar had struggled for so long to sustain, finally collapsed, to be replaced by new institutions, new forms of expression, and a new social and political order. The system of constitutional monarchy created by the decree of Mozzafar-al-Din Shah that was established in Persia as a result of the Revolution ultimately came to an end in 1925 with the dissolutionof the Qajar Dynasty and the ascension of Reza Shah Pahlavi the Great to the throne. In 1905, first protest broke out over the collection of Persian tariffs to pay back the Russian loan for Mozzafar-al-Din Shah's royal tour. In December 1905, two Persian merchants were punishedin Tehran for charging exorbitant prices. They were bastinadoed (a humiliating and very painful punishment wherethe soles of one's feet are caned) in public. An uprising of the merchant class in Tehran ensued, with merchants closing the bazaar. In a scuffle in early 1906,the Government killed a mullah. A more deadly skirmish followed a short time later when Cossaks killed 22 protesters and injured 100.Bazaar again closed. In the summer of 1906, approximately 12,000 men camped out in the gardens of the British Embassy. Many gave speeches, many more listened, in what has been called a “vast open-air school of political science” studyingconstitutionalism. It is herethat the demand for a parliament was born, the goal of which was to limit the power of the Shah. In August 1906, Mozaffareddin Shah agreed to allow a parliament, and in the fall, the first elections were held. In all, 156 members were elected, with an overwhelming majoritycoming from Tehran and the merchant class. October 1906, marked the first meeting of parliament, who immediately gave themselves theright to make a constitution, thereby becoming a Constitutional Assembly. The Shah was getting old and sick, and attending the inaugurationof the parliament was one of his last acts as king. Muzaffar ed-Din Shah's son Muhammed Ali, however, was not privy to constitutionalism. Therefore they had to work fast, and by December 31, 1906, the Shah signed the constitution, modeled primarily from the Belgian Constitution. The Shah was from there on "under the rule of law, and the crown became a divine gift given to the Shah by the people." Mozafaredeen Shah died five days later. Aftermath Within the decade following the establishment of the new majlis a number of critical events took place. Many of these events can be viewed as a continuation of the struggle between the constitutionalists and the Shahs of Persia, many of whom werebacked by British and Russian goverments against the majlis. The following January Shah Muhammad Ali, the 6th Qajar shah, came to power.He moved to "exploit the divisions within the ranks of the reformers" and eliminate the Majlis. In August 1907, an Anglo-Russian agreementdivided Iran into a Russian zone in the North and a British zone in the South. The British switch their support to the Shah, abandoning the Constitutionalists.

PERSIAN CONSTITUTIONAL REVOLUTION

Source: Wikipedia.org

Sattar Khan (1868—November 9, 1914), honorarily titled Sardār-e Melli (means national General ), born in Tabriz (Janali village),located in Iranian Azerbaijan, was a key figure in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution and one of the greatest heroes of Persia . Initially an unknown man, he became a main figure of the revolution by galvanizing the people of Tabriz to endure two sieges in defence of the Iranian Constitution of 1906, resisting against the royalist forces sent by Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar. He later led the Azerbaijani contingent of Iranian constitutionalist forces (along with contingents from Gilan, Isfahan and Bakhtiari tribal forces) to Tehran in order to protest the abolishment of the constitution by the Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar. As a result of these efforts, the constitution was restored, and Mohammad Ali Shah deposed. Upon his return to Tabriz, Sattar Khan was treated as a national hero. Sattar Khan had a major fall out with the interim constitutionalist government over disarming and disbanding of his forces. In 1910, Sattar Khan & Haj Baba Khan-e- Ardabili refused to obey the government order to disarm, believing that their volunteer militias were Iran's best defense against any future attempts by the British and Russians to saddle Iran with another tyrant puppet like Mohammad Ali Qajar. After a brief but violent confrontation at Atabek Park in Tehran, Yeprem Khan, Sattar Khan's former comrade and now the police chief of Tehran, disarmed his forces using Bakhtiari tribesmen and Armenian veterans. Sattar Khan was wounded during the confrontation. He was later pensioned off and his followers were disbanded. There are some claims that Sattar Khan died in 1914 from the wounds he sustained at Atabek Park. Sattar Khan is remembered in Iran for his heroic actions in defense of thefreedom of the Iranian people. Constitutionalists of Tabriz The two men on the top are Sattar Khan & Bagher KhanBagher Khan (1870s , Tabriz - November , 1911) honorarily titled Sālār-e Melli (Persian: meaning National Leader), was one of the key figures in the Persian Constitutional Revolution

Sattar KhanBagher Khan’s statue

in Tabriz, Iran

Source: www.Wikipedia.org

The original parliament building , Tehran, (1946)Source:en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/Majlis_of_Iran

Persian Parliament (Majlis), 1946

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