Mirza Ali Khan Amin al-Dowleh

1844 - 1904

One of the most influential statesmen of the Qajar dynasty.

Born in Tehran (Persia) to an important court official, Mirza Ali Khan was a proponent of Westernization and modern education and an opponent of the ulama (Islamic clergy). He is regarded as a reformer who tried to centralize revenue collection and cut expenditures. He held a succession of high posts under the Qajar dynasty, under Naser al-Din Shah, serving for twenty years as his private secretary. He enriched himself by managing the mint and the postal system. His archrival was Ali-Asghar Amin al-Soltan.

In 1880, the shah granted him the title Amin al-Dowleh (Trusted of the State). In 1897, Mozaffar al-Din Qajar named him prime minister. To alleviate the fiscal crisis, he encouraged the shah to contract foreign loans, a disastrous policy that contributed to the downfall of the dynasty. After failing to obtain a large loan from the British-owned Imperial Bank of Persia, to which he had promised significant concessions, including control of the southern customs, rivals at court helped to engineer his dismissal from office on 5 June 1898. Amin alDowleh, although noted for his personal pessimism over the country's prospects for reform, was later (especially during Iran's Constitutional Revolution) admired for his progressive policies.

Bibliography

Farmayan, Hafez. "Portrait of a Nineteenth-Century Iranian Statesman: The Life and Times of Grand Vizier Amin ud-Dawlah, 1844 - 1904." International Journal of Middle East Studies 15 (1983): 337 - 351.

— LAWRENCE G. POTTER