Amir Kabir

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Amir Kabir bigraphy, stories - Prime Minister of Iran

Amir Kabir : biography

1807 – 10 January 1852

Mirza Taghi Khan Farahani () known as Amir Kabir () (1807 – 10 January 1852), also known by the titles of Atabak and Amir-e Nezam; chief minister to Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (Shah of Persia) for the first three years of his reign and one of the most capable and innovative figures to appear in the whole Qajar period. Amir Kabir served as Prime Minister of Persia (Iran) under Naser al-Din Shah. Born in Hezaveh, a county of Arak and put to death in 1852, he is a controversial historical figure. He is considered by some to be "widely respected by liberal nationalist Iranians" as "Iran’s first reformer", a modernizer who was "unjustly struck down" attempted to bring "gradual reform" to Iran.Molavi, Afghin, The Soul of Iran, Norton, 2005, p.195,197 As prime-minister he also ordered the killing of many Babis, and ordering the execution of the founder of the movement, the Báb.

Legacy

Among his Iranian contemporaries Amir Kabir received praise from several poets of the age, notably Sorush and Qaʾani, but his services to Iran remained generally unappreciated in the Qajar period. Modern Iranian historiography has done him more justice, depicting him as one of the few capable and honest statesmen to emerge in the Qajar period and the progenitor of various political and social changes that came about half a century later.

Contemporary Legacy

  • Amir Kabir Dam, inaugurated in 1961, is named after him.
  • Tehran Polytechnic, established in 1958, was renamed Amirkabir University of Technology after him in 1979.

In fiction

  • Amir Kabir Farahani is portrayed by actor Dariush Arjmand in Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s movie Nasereddin Shah, Actor-e Cinema.
  • He is also portrayed by Saeed Nikpour in the Iranian television series Amir Kabir.

Persecution of Bábís and execution of the Báb

Amir Kabir regarded the followers of Bábism, the predecessor of the Bahá’í Faith, as a threat and repressed them. He suppressed the Babi upheavals of 1848-51 and personally ordered the execution of the Seven Martyrs of Tehran and the execution of The Báb, the movement’s founder. `Abdu’l-Bahá referred to Amir Kabir as the greatest of the religion’s oppressors.

Background and achievements

Amir Kabir was born into a lowly household at Hezaveh in the Farahan district, situated in Markazi Province of Iran. His father, Karbalaʾi Mohammad Qorban, entered the service of Mirza Abu’l-Qasim Farahani Qa’im Maqam of Farahan as cook, and when Mirza Bozorg was appointed chief minister to ʿAbbas Mirza, the crown prince, in Tabriz, Karbalaʾi Qorban accompanied him there, taking his son with him. Amir Kabir first assisted his father in performing domestic duties in the household of Mirza Bozorg, who saw signs of unusual talent in him and had him study with his own children. After he had learned reading, writing, and some mathematics, Amir Kabir, still an adolescent, was appointed by Mirza Bozorg to supervise his stables, a function he performed with exemplary efficiency. Mirza Bozorg died in 1237/1822 and was succeeded in the post of minister to the crown prince by his son, Mirza Abu’l-Qasem Qaʾem-maqam. Under his aegis Amir Kabir entered government service, being appointed first to the post of lashkarnevis [military registrar] for the army of Azerbaijan. In 1251/1835, he was promoted to the position of mostofi-ye nezam, becoming responsible for supervising the finances of the army of Azerbaijan; several years later he was put in charge of the same army’s provisions, financing, and organization with the title of vazir-e nezam.

During his tenure, Amir Kabir participated in many missions abroad, he spent almost four years in Erzurum, participating in the work of a commission to delineate the Ottoman-Iranian frontier and settle certain other differences between the two states. He appears to have been the most forceful member of the Iranian negotiating team, resisting attempts to exclude Mohammareh (present-day Khorramshahr) from Iranian sovereignty and to make Iran pay compensation for its military incursions into the area of Solaymaniyeh. In this he acted almost independently of the central government in Tehran, which not only failed to formulate a consistent policy vis-à-vis the Ottomans but also opposed most of Amir Kabir’s initiatives. Although a form of treaty was concluded between Iran and the Ottoman state, the borders had still not been delineated when the Crimean War erupted and the British and Russian mediators found themselves at war and withdrew. Amir Kabir nonetheless acquired first-hand knowledge of the procedures of international diplomacy and of the aims and policies of Britain and Russia with respect to Iran. This helped him in the elaboration of his own distinct policies toward the two powers when he became chief minister.