Copyrighted Materials of the Authors

International Workshop“Early Modern Iran: The Safavids, Qajars and Waqf”
Date and time: 21 February, 2015, 13:00–18:00
Venue: Large Conference Room (303), ILCAA
Sponsored by
Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA)
Kakenhi Project:“International Comparative Study of Waqf (Islamic Endowment)”

Presentation 1:“Arming the frontier: Proliferation of modern firearms in Ottoman-Iranianborderlands in the aftermath of the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878)”
Ichiro Ozawa, Sophia University, Tokyo

This presentation is an attempt to clarify the impact which the “modern age” of thehistory of firearms had on Ottoman-Iranian borderlands in the latter half of the 19thcentury, from the viewpoint of the expansion of unofficial arms transfer and the armingof the region.
The Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) gave rise to the spread of Martini-Peabody rifle,
an example of modern arms, on an unprecedented scale. It was brought about byconditions peculiar to the frontier region, namely, the participation of Kurdish tribes onboth sides of the border in battles and border-crossing activities of Iranian merchants
during and after the War. This spread of modern arms and the consequent arming of theborderlands became one of the factors bringing about a revolt of Kurdish tribes led bySheikh ʻObeyd allāh and their subsequent invasion into the Qajar territory in 1880. In
this event, which signifies the destabilization of the borderlands caused by the spread ofmodern rifles, not only the invading force but also some parts of the Qajar army, chiefly
local irregular forces, were armed with those rifles, and the latter played an importantrole in suppressing the former. In other words, the Qajar dynasty utilized modern arms
thus spread in the form of the mobilization of irregulars. The importance which theQajar dynasty attached to its irregular forces is discerned from its purchase of

Martini-Peabody cartridges from Britain through the diplomatic channel in 1889, whichis termed as a case of official arms transfer caused by unofficial one.
The influence of the spread of Martini-Peabody rifles can be observed in the Siege ofTabriz in the Constitutional Revolution, in which both the besiegers and the besieged
seem to have been armed with these rifles. In addition, from the activities of the former,
which mainly consisted of local irregulars, the growing importance of local militaryforces is evident.

Presetation2:“An Enigmatic Dispute over Ownership of a Village:
Landlords, Villagers, and the Local Community in 19th Century Iran”
Naofumi Abe, ILCAA joint researcher,
University of Tokyo

This study examines a dispute over ownership of the village of Amīrzakariyā in
Azerbaijan of Iran in the 19th century. A sale of the village to a new owner triggered theoccupation of that village by the villagers who then claimed ownership. Interestingly,
the former owner of the village attended the court trial that settled the ownership disputeas a litigant. We need to know why this happened. Based on the analysis of Persianarchival sources, such as sharī‘a documents and correspondence, I figure out thedevelopment and resolution of the legal dispute and the changing understanding of thecase. In this paper, after a brief description of the village, I outline the background of
this dispute. I then read a maḥḍar or minutes to provide a general overview of the trialthat settled the dispute, and I will demonstrate that the witnesses had only a vague andhazy understanding of who the actual owner was. Subsequently, I examine the claims ofthe villagers and the putative owner of the village at the trial. Finally, I identify a change
in the understanding of the dispute that points to the ambivalent position of the legal
owner. We will see how the villagers and landlords of Amīrzakariyā, people residing inneighborhood, the ‘ulamā’, and local officials, interacted with each other on this issue.
The sources provide an example of “ambivalent ownership,” i.e., a discrepancy between
the legal facts of the case and competing ways of understanding land ownership. This
example demonstrates that legal transactions were not always well understood by thirdparties and that the effects of a legal transaction were not always absolute in 19thcentury Iran. It also highlights attempts by local ‘ulamā’ and villagers to restrict thelandlord’s rights over landed property in order to preserve the established local order.

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Presentation 3:“Structure and uses of Shia waqfs during the Safavid period”
Mohammadreza Neyestani, Aix Marseille Université
Iran during the 16th to the 18th century, when the Persian Empire was ruled by the Safavid
dynasty, offers an excellent opportunity for studying the evolution of Shia waqfs. Under
the Safavids, the waqf underwent a major evolution, due to experiments by the Shia inextending this practice to a wider range of social uses. For the first time, an independent
Shia government came to power in Persia and introduced new methods and systems forexercising power. Jurisprudence (fiqh) became one of the key elements in government
policies and political and administrative positions were given to Shia jurists (faqihs), suchas "sadr, shaykh al-islam and cadi etc."
Under the Safavid dynasty, the body (dîwân) responsible for managing waqfs was theDaftari mawqûfât and the ṣadr, the highest ranking religious person in the country, wasplaced at its head.
This was the Golden Age of the waqf in terms of its integration in social affairs. Certain
Safavid kings, including Shah ‘Abbâs I (1588-1629), placed their entire wealth into awaqf and, by their example, encouraged many members of their courts to establish waqfs
for their assets.
The Safavids used the waqf as a political instrument, and it proved to be a very effective
tool for developing new structures for the people, on the one hand, and for extending Shia
doctrines in a mainly Sunni society, on the other. The Safavids used the Shia waqf as apolitical instrument.
There was a mutual and reciprocal interaction between Shia waqf and Shia fiqh. The
conditions and specifications proposed by the Shia fiqh gave the waqf a structure anddeveloped new forms of purely Shia waqfs, such as waqfs for the tombs of imams orfuneral ceremonies for 'âshûrâ, which did not exist in earlier Sunni communities. The
waqf was also useful for strengthening Shia doctrine and customs and allowed its
expansion throughout Safavid society.

Presentation 4:“Illumination Waqfs: A new type of endowment in Safavid and Qajar Iran”
Christoph Werner, Philipps-Universität Marburg

Lighting or illumination (rowshana’i), that is the provision of lamps, chandeliers,
candles and torches, has been a substantial part of most endowments made in favour of3mosques, madrasas, shrines or Sufi convents. Beyond its obvious practical purpose,
illumination is related to religious symbolism in mystical Islam on the one hand and toritual performance on the other.
In most large scale endowment deeds from the pre-Safavid period the question oflighting is addressed in connection with other pragmatic needs of the endowed
institution or building complex. Expenditures for lamps, oil and candles are listed
together with other necessary provisions such as carpets, floor mats, cooking utensils,clothing, coal etc. Quite often they are not specified in detail, but only referred to in
general terms and with a certain percentage or amount of the total budget.
From the Safavid period onward, the importance of “illumination” (rowshana’i) appears
to gain in importance, to the point that rowshana’i becomes the single most important
item in the list of expenditures given in vaqf deeds. Perhaps even more important is thefact that we increasingly encounter endowments that are exclusively devoted toillumination. These might be small individual waqfs of a candlestick together with fixedexpenses for a shrine – or royal endowments that cater to illuminations in several HolyPlaces.
The availability of a more diverse corpus of source material from the Safavid period
onward might further enhance the perception of rowshana’i as the dominating purpose
in Safavid and Qajar owqaf. The present talk, however, raises the question whether thisphenomenon reflects shifts in religious practice and ritual, the spread of pilgrimage sites
and the extension of Shiite shrine complexes, as well as a new flexibility in the wordingof vaqf deeds and the application of waqf law. Could it be justified to consider“illumination waqfs” a new type of endowment?

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