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ŻIĀʾ-AL-SALṬANA, Šāh Begom (1799-1873), seventh daughter
of Fatḥ-ʿAli Shah Qajar (r. 1797-1834, q.v.), private secretary to him,
calligrapher and poet. Her mother, Maryam Khanom (q.v.), the shah’s
thirty-ninth wife, was of Jewish origin and had previously been married
to Āḡā Moḥammad Khan Qajar (Lesān-al-Molk, I, p. 555; Ḵāvari, II, p.
986; Ażod-al-Dawla, p. 33; Bāmdād, IV, p. 51). Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana had one
full sister, Solṭān Begom, and four full brothers, Maḥmud Mirzā,
Homāyun Mirzā, Aḥmad-ʿAli Mirzā and Jahānšāh Mirzā (see MARYAM KHANOM
and FATH-ʿALI SHAH). Of Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana’s four full brothers, the
eldest, Maḥmud Mirzā (1799-1835, q.v.), was the most accomplished.
Fatḥ-ʿAli Shah doted on his seventh daughter, Šāh Begom. He paid particular attention to her education, gave her the title Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana,
‘light of the realm’ and had her raised by his mother, Āsia Khanom, the
Mahd-e ‘Olyāʾ (Ḵāvari, II, p. 1012; Ażod-al-Dawla, p. 33). When
Fatḥ-ʿAli Shah’s mother died, all her valuables, jewellery and
cosmetics were given to Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana (Ḵāvari, II, p. 1012;
Ażod-al-Dawla, p. 33). Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana acted as her father’s personal
secretary, or Monši-al-mamālek-i andarun, and all his private
letters were written in her hand (Ażod-al-Dawla, pp. 33 and 175;
Lesān-al-Molk, I, p. 547; Ḵāvari, II, pp. 932 and 1012; Mošir Salimi,
p. 308). She also controlled the signing and sealing of the royal
decrees of the harem (farāmin-e andarun (Ḵāvari, II, p.1012;
Mošir Salimi, p. 308; see also HAREM ii; ANDARUN; FARMĀN). She was
intimately involved in the financial running of the harem and the
distribution of monies to younger princes, and worked closely with the
meticulous Golbadan Bāji Khanom (q.v.), Ḵāzen-al-Dawla and her
assistants, Ḵayr-al-Nesāʾ Khanom and Mirzā Maryam, in monitoring
withdrawals of gold and jewelry from the royal treasury (Mošir Salimi,
p. 308; Masʿud Anṣāri, pp. 23-24; Ażod-al-Dawla, pp. 31-32).
Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana was often to be found in her father’s presence, whether
in Tehran or when traveling outside of the capital (Ḵāvari, II, pp.
1011-12; Ażod-al-Dawla, p.34; Masʿud Anṣāri, p. 22). Fatḥ-ʿAli Shah
decreed that Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana be given separate living quarters beyond
the confines of the harem, with her own stables and farrāšḵāna,
and her own ‘vizier’, Šaʿbān-ʿAli Khan (Ażod-al-Dawla, p. 33; Mošir
Salimi, I, pp. 307-308). As the shah’s favorite daughter, every year
Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana organized the festivities in the royal palace to
celebrate her father’s birthday (Ażod-al-Dawla, p. 34). Just as she was
trusted by her father, so Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana was respected by her brothers
and sisters who were aware of the influence she had with the shah
(Ḵāvari, II, p. 1013).
It was Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana who recited poems composed in
praise of the shah sent to the court by contemporary poets, and it was
she who recorded many of her father’s poems in writing (Ḵāvari, II, p.
1012; Ażod-al-Dawla, p. 34; Mošir Salimi, p. 308). Fatḥ-ʿAli Shah and
ʿAbbās Mirzā both composed short poems in praise of Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana,
who was an accomplished poet in her own right (Ażod-al-Dawla, pp. 34
and 124; Mošir Salimi, pp. 306-10; Bāmdād, IV, p. 78). Maḥmud Mirzā
authored a number of significant anthologies of early Qajar poetry,
including a lesser known work, Noql-e majles, an anthology of
contemporary Qajar women’s poetry, which Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana asked him to
write (Maḥmud, I, introd.; Golčin-e Maʿāni, Taḏkerahā., I, pp. 137-49, 728-36; II, pp. 392-93; for printed extracts from the Noql-e majles, see Mošir Salimi, pp. 257, 307-308).
Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana was also a skilled painter, musician and
embroiderer, but it was as a calligrapher that Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana excelled
(Ḵāvari, II, p. 1012; Ażod-al-Dawla, p. 33; Mošir Salimi, p. 308;
Masʿud Anṣāri, p. 22). She was taught initially by her brother Maḥmud
Mirzā, but was later tutored by Mirzā ʿAbbās Nuri (d. 1839, father of
Mirzā Ḥosayn-ʿAli, B ahāʾ-Allāh, q.v.) surnamed Mirzā Bozorg by the
shah (Nuri, p. 207). It has been suggested that Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana married
Mirzā ʿAbbās Nuri and then divorced him in a plot with Ḥāji Mirzā
ʿAbbās Āqāsi (q.v.) to ruin him financially, although there is not
sufficient evidence to support this claim (Nuri, pp. 207-208; Balyuzi
1980, pp. 14-18). Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana wrote a number of Qurʾans. One Qurʾan
is now kept in the Qom Holy Shrine Museum (A żod-al-Dawla, p. 33; Mošir
Salimi, p. 308; Bāmdād, IV, p. 76).
Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana had numerous suitors from among the Qajar
nobility, and although she did not marry during her father’s lifetime,
she was engaged briefly to her paternal cousin, Ḥosaynqoli Khan (see
ḤOSAYNQOLI KHAN SARDĀR-E IRAVĀNI), son of Fatḥ-ʿAli Shah’s brother of
the same name (Ḵāvari, II, pp. 1012-13 and 1158; Ażod-al-Dawla, p. 34;
Eʿteẓād-al-Salṭana, p. 441). Upon her father’s death, she pleaded with
her nephew, M oḥammad Shah, to be allowed to live out her days in
celibacy, in her own quarters. The shah did not agree and instead
forced her (by threat of execution) to marry (Masʿud Anṣāri, p. 24;
Bāmdād, IV, p. 77). He suggested to his aunt she marry the new Minister
of Foreign Affairs, Mirzā Masʿud Anṣāri Garmrudi (1790-1848), this she
did in 1835 at the advanced age of thirty-seven (Ḵāvari, II, p. 1013;
Ażod-al-Dawla, p. 34). As a sign of respect, Moḥammad Shah visited his
aunt on the night of her wedding and all the princes accompanied her
from the palace to Mirzā Masʿud’s house (Ażod-al-Dawla, p. 34). Ḥājji
Mirzā Āqāsi and Mir Moḥammad Mahdi, Tehran’s emām-e jomʿa
(q.v.) presided over the marriage, and negotiated a dowry of some
50,000 tomans (Ażod-al-Dawla, pp. 34-35; Masʿud Anṣāri, pp. 25-26).
Mirzā Masʿud, son of Mirzā ʿAbd-al-Raḥim Anṣāri and cousin of Mirzā
Saʿid Khan, Moʾtamen-al-Molk (see ANṢĀRI, MIRZĀ SAʿID KHAN
MOTAMEN-AL-MOLK), was first appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by
Moḥammad Shah in 1835, a position he held until 1838 and once again
from 1845 to 1848 (Eʿteẓād-al-Saltana, p. 441). He was the first
Iranian official to master French, a distinction that gained him entry
into the entourage of ʿAbbās Mirzā (Bāmdād, IV, pp. 75-76). Masʿud
acted as translator and personal secretary to ʿAbbās Mirzā, and was an
important member of the delegation headed by Ḵosrow Mirzā which was
sent to Russia following the murder of the Russian Ambassador,
Alexander Griboedov (q.v.) in Tehran in 1829. Mirzā Masʿud wrote a
history of the life of ʿAbbās Mirzā, part of which was published
together with Bahāʾ-al-Molk’s Safar-nāma-ye Ḵosrow Mirzā (pp.
1-3; see also Masʿud Anṣāri, pp. 12-15; Bāmdād, IV, p. 75; Amanat, pp.
76, 97, 100). Mirzā Masʿud died in 1848 and was buried in Najaf.
Mirzā Masʿud and Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana had four children, two
daughters and two sons (Ḵāvari,. II, pp. 1150-51). Their elder son,
Mirzā Ḥasan Khan, Nāyeb-al-Wezāra (1839-1906), worked for the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs in Tehran and was later appointed consul at
Astrakhan and Erzurum (Momtaḥen-al-Dawla, p. 96; Masʿud Anṣāri, p. 2).
His son, ʿAliqoli Khan, Mošāwer-al-Mamālek (1868-1940), was first
appointed Persia’s Foreign Minister in 1916 (see ANṢĀRI, ʿALI-QOLI
KHAN). Mirzā Ḥasan’s younger brother, Mirzā Ḥosayn Khan,
Meṣbāh-al-Salṭana (b. 1843), also worked for the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs in Tehran and was later posted to Bombay (Momtaḥen-al-Dawla,
pp. 96-97).
Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana’s eldest daughter, Šahanšāh Begom, known
as Āḡā Jān (ca. 1836-1917), married Mirzā Moḥammad Hāšem Qāẓi
Ṭabāṭabāʾi (d. 1864) (Torābi Ṭáabāṭabāʾi, pp. 186-89, 202-207 and 411).
Of their three daughters, the eldest, Āḡā Šahzāda (1850-ca. 1910),
married Sayyed ʿAbd-Allāh Enteẓām-al-Salṭana (d. 1891), son of Mirzā
Musā Wazir (1783-1865) and younger brother of Mirzā ʿIsā Wazir (d.
1892) (Bāmdād, II, p. 514; IV, p. 164). A few months prior to his
death, Enteẓām-al-Salṭana was appointed Tehran’s chief of police
(Bāmdād, II, pp. 282-3). Enteẓām-al-Salṭana’s grandsons, ʿAbd-Allāh
(1895-1983) and Naṣr-Allāh (1899-1980) Enteẓām, rose high in the
service of the Pahlavi state (see ENTEẒĀM, ʿABD-ALLAH and NAṢR-ALLAH).
Both Enteẓām-al-Salṭana and Āḡā Šahzāda were prominent members of the
Tehran Bahāʾi (q.v.) community, and they succeeded in converting
Šahanšāh Begom and her youngest daughter, ʿAḏrāʾ Khanom, known as
Żiāʾ-al-Ḥajjiya (1861-1924), to the new religion (Balyuzi 1985, p. 173;
Aṣdaq, p. 36; Brookshaw, pp. 21-22). Both Āḡā Šahzāda and her sister
received numerous tablets (alwāḥ) from Bahāʾ-Allāh (q.v.) and
his son, ʿAbd-al-Bahāʾ (Bahāʾ-Allāh, pp. 235-300; Aṣdaq, pp. 13, 20,
36; Brookshaw, passim). Soon after converting (ca. 1884),
Żiāʾ-al-Ḥājjiya married the prominent Bahāʾi (see BAHAI FAITH) teacher (moballeḡ) Ebn Aṣdaq (1850-1928, q.v.).
After the birth of her children, Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana performed the pilgrimage to Mecca (ḥajj)
and went on pilgrimage to the shrines of the Imams in Najaf, Karbalāʾ
and Mashad (Ḵāvari, II, p. 1013; Ażod-al-Dawla, p. 195). During the
reign of Moḥammad Shah, Żiāʾ-al-Salṭana appears to have retained some
of her influence in the running of the royal treasury and was one of
the shah’s few paternal aunts allowed to sit in his presence
(Ażod-al-Dawla, pp. 192 and 248-49; Masʿud Anṣāri, p. 24). She died in
1873 aged 76 and was buried in a room of the house she owned in
Karbalāʾ.
Bibliography: ʿAbd al-Ḥosayn Masʿud Anṣāri, Zendagāni-ye man wa negāhi beh tāriḵ-e moʿāṣer-e Irān wa jahān, 6 vols., Tehran, 1970, vol. 1. Ruḥā Aṣdaq, Yek ʿomr, yek ḵāṭera, Copenhagen, 1987. Ażod-al-Dawla [Solṭān Aḥmad Mirzā], Tāriḵ-e ażodi, ed. ʿAbd-al- Ḥosayn Navāʾi, Tehran, 1997. Bahāʾ-Allāh [Mirzā Ḥosayn-ʿAli Nuri], Majmuʿa-ye āṯār-e qalam-e aʿlā, INBA
(Iranian National Baha’i Archives), 105 vols.; vol. 26, Tehran, 1976.
Bahā’-al-Molk [Mirzā Moṣṭafā Afšār) and Mirzā Masʿud Anšāri, Safar-nāma-ye Ḵosrow Mirzā wa tāriḵ-e zendegāni-ye ʿAbbās Mirzā, Nāyeb-al-Salṭana, ed. Moḥammad Golbon, Tehran, 1970. Hasan Balyuzi, Bahá’u’lláh the King of Glory, Oxford, 1980. Idem, Eminent Bahá’ís in the Time of Bahá’u’lláh, Oxford, 1985. Mahdi Bāmdād, Tāriḵ-e rejāl-e Irān,
6 vols.; vols. I, II and IV, Tehran, 1968; vol. VI, Tehran, 1972.
Dominic Parviz Brookshaw, “Letters to Bahaʾi Princesses: Tablets
Revealed in Honour of the women of Ibn-i Asdaq’s Household,” Lights of ʿIrfan 5, 2004, pp. 19-41. Eʿteżād-al-Salṭana [ʿAli-Qoli Khan Mirzā], Eksir al-Tawāriḵ, ed. Jamšid Kiānfar, Tehran, 2001. Golčin-e Maʿāni, Taḏkerahā. Ḵāvari [Mirzā Fażl-Allāh Širāzi], Tāriḵ-e Ḏu ʾl-Qarnayn, 2 vols., ed. Nāṣer Afšārfar, Tehran, 2001. Lesān-al-Molk [Moḥammad-Taqi Sepehr], Nāseḵ al-tawāriḵ, 3 vols. in 2, ed. Jamšid Kiānfar, Tehran, 1998. Maḥmud Mirzā Qājār, Safinat al-maḥmud, 2 vols., ed. ʿAbd-al-Rasul Ḵayyāmpur, Tabriz, 1968. Moḥammad-ʿAli Malek Ḵosravi Nuri, Eqlim-e nur, Tehran, 1958. Momtaḥen-al-Dawla [Mirzā Mahdi Khan] and Mirzā Hāšem Khan, Rejāl-e wezārat-e ḵāreja dar ʿahd-e nāṣeri wa moẓaffari, ed. Iraj Afšār, Tehran, 1986. ʿAli-Akbar Mošir Salimi, Zanān-e soḵanvar, 3 vols., Tehran, 1956-57 (especially vol. 1). Jamāl Torābi Ṭabāṭābāʾi, Nasab-nāma: šāḵaʾi az Ṭabāṭābāʾihā-ye Tabriz, Tabriz, 1997.
(Dominic Parviz Brookshaw)
October 7, 2005 |