With the Russian Expedition
among the Shiahs[1] the right to reject all laws not in accordance with the Sheriat (the religious canon of Islam). Hitherto the civil and religious law had been kept apart in Persia. The more free-thinking section of the Constitutionalists were not of course in sympathy with this clause, and only agreed to its insertion in order to avoid an open breach with the Mollahs. Thus, as with most revolutions, the forces that brought it about did so for different and conflicting reasons; and this became clear as soon as the common enemy had been removed. The Mollahs were of course joined by the powerful land-owning khans, and by many of the chieftains of the non-Persian tribes on the northern and western fringe of Persia, especially the Khurds and Lurs. In the subsequent disorders Russian influence supported the latter, with the result that the whole movement came to grief. Shortly before my arrival in Tabriz there had died a well-known character, whose career gives a typical picture of what went on in Persia after the Revolution. Sujar-ed-Dowleh had started life as a caravan-thief on the road between Tabriz and Maragha. Having acquired enough in the first few months to bribe off all the gendarmes and police that were sent to bring him to justice, he then developed a desire to become a Governor-General. The disorders during the siege of Tabriz and its occupation by the Russians had left it without a Governor. The appointment of Sujar-ed-Dowleh was convenient to the reactionary Russian Government, and in due course he was installed, although another Governor had already been appointed
- ↑ That is, followers of Ali, first cousin of Mahomet, and the husband of his daughter Fātimah. The Shiahs regard themselves as the orthodox Muslims.
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