| Ahmad
Kasravi |
Ahmad Kasravi |
| Birth name |
Ahmad Kasravī-ye Tabrīzī |
| Born |
29 September 1890(1890--)
Tabriz, Iran |
| Died |
March 11 1946 (aged 55)
Tehran, Iran |
| Nationality |
Iranian |
| Field |
Ancient Languages, history, Politics, religion, and Philosophy. |
| Famous works |
The Constitutional History of Iran; The 18 Year History of Azarbaijan; The Forgotten Kings (all in
Persian) |
Ahmad Kasravi (29 September , 1890 -
March 11, 1946) (Persian: احمد کسروی), was a notable Iranian
linguist, historian, reformer, and philosopher.
Born in Hokmabad (Hohmavar), Tabriz, Iran, Kasravi was an
Iranian Azeri[1].
Initially, Kasravi enrolled in a seminary. Later, he joined the Persian
Constitutional Revolution. He experienced a sort of conversion to Western learning when he learned that the comet of 1910
had been identified as a reappearance of Halley's comet. He abandoned his clerical
training after this event and enrolled in the American Memorial School of
Tabriz. Thenceforward he became, in Roy Mottahedeh's words, "a true
anticleric."
It was in Tbilisi where he first became acquainted with a wide spectrum of political ideas
and movements, and he soon was employed by the government of Iran in various cultural posts.
A prolific writer, Kasravi was very critical of both the Shi'a clergy and of the policies of the central government. He had liberal views on religion, was a strong supporter of democracy, and expressed them in
satirical pamphlets like What Is the Religion of the Hajis with Warehouses? that infuriated many readers. His views earned
him many powerful enemies such as Ayatollah Khomeini.
Kasravi is known for his solid research work on the ancient Azari language and
origin of the Azerbaijani people. He showed that the ancient Azeri language was an
offshoot of Pahlavi language. Due to this discovery, he was granted the membership of
London Royal Asiatic Society and American Academy [1].
In 1927-8 Ahmad Kasravi led the way in establishing the ancestry of the Safavids dynasty with the publication of three
influential articles and disputed the validity of the `official' Safavid family tree contained in the Safvat al-Safa, and argued
convincingly that the ancestors of Shaykh Safi al-Din, who founded the Safavid Order (tariqa), were indigenous inhabitants of
Iran and were of pure Aryan stock. Today, the consensus among Safavid historians is that the Safavid family hailed from Persian
Kurdistan.[2]
Ahmad Kasravi, who has been described as the most controversial of modern Iranian thinkers, was an active proponent of the
idea of linguistic assimilation of ethnic minorities in Iran, especially Azarbaijanis.[2]
On March 11, 1946, while being tried on charges of "slander against Islam," Kasravi and one of
his assistants were shot to death in open court in Tehran by followers of Navvab Safavi, a
Shi'a extremist cleric who had founded a terrorist organization called the Fadayan-e
Islam (literally Devotees of Islam). The same group had failed in assassinating Kasravi earlier in April
1945 in Tehran. Ayatollah Boroujerdi and Ayatollah Sadr issued
fatwas for killing Ahmad Kasravi.[3]
Some of his more famous books are:
- The 18 Year History of Azarbaijan (Persian:
تاریخ هجدهسالهٔ آذربایجان)
- The Constitutional History of Iran (Persian:
تاریخ مشروطهٔ ایران)
- The Forgotten Kings (Persian: شهرياران
گمنام)
- The 500 Year History of Khuzestan (Persian:
تاریخ پانصد سالهٔ خوزستان)
- A Brief History of The Lion and Sun (Persian:
تاریخچهٔ شیر وخورشید)
- Sheikh Safi and His Progeny (Persian: شیخ صفی
و تبارش)
- Azari or the Ancient Language of Azerbaijan (Persian: آذری یا زبان باستان آذربایجان)
- Shi'aism (Persian: شيعيگرى)
- Bahaism (Persian: بهاييگرى)
- Sufism (Persian: صوفيگرى)
See also
References
- ^ V. Minorsky. "Mongol Place-Names in Mukri Kurdistan (Mongolica, 4)",
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 19, No. 1. (1957), p. 66
- ^ Tadeusz Swietochowski. Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition.
ISBN 0231070683
- Roy Mottahedeh, The Mantle and the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985), ch.
3.
External links
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