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The Office of Muhtasib in Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Willem Floor
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Extract

On his return to Qom on March 7, 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini announced during a remarkable speech the intention to create a ministry having as its main task amr bi'l ma'ruf wa nahi ‘an al-munkar, or to promote the good and forbid the bad. What is so astounding about this is the fact that a government institution charged with this task has long since ceased to exist. Moreover, the charge of amr bi'l ma'ruf has been historically associated with an official known as muhtasib. In view of the planned resurrection of this office, a historical analysis of the functions of the muhtasib and his office, the hisba or ihtisab, would seem to be in order.

Before describing the historical development of the function of muhtasib, two questions are posed. The first is: Does a direct relationship exist between pre-Muslim officials such as the Byzantine agoranomos and the Muslim muhtasib?

Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , Winter 1985 , pp. 53 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 1985

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Footnotes

1.

A German version of this article was published in Revolution in Iran und Afghanistan, ed. K. Greussing und J-H. Grevemeyer (Frankfurt: Syndikat, 1980), pp. 122–139.

References

Notes

2. Kayhan, airmail edition, March 7, 1979 (12 Esfand, 1357), p. 7, Vizarat-i “amr beh ma'ruf va nahi az munkar ijad mishavad.”

3. Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), art. Hisbah.

4. Foster, Benjamin R., “Agoranomos and Muhtasib,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 13 (1970), p. 128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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6. Ibid., p. 139.

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8. Foster, p. 143.

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid.

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30. D. Sourdel, Le vizirate d'Abbaside 749 a 936, 2 vols. (Damas, 1960), Vol. 2, p. 459; H. F. Amedroz, “The Hisbah Jurisdiction in the Ahkam Sultaniya of Mawardi,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1916), p. 291.

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38. Bosworth, p. 16.

39. Ibid., p. 86; Mez, p. 321.

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44. Chalmeta, p. 88; for such an example see Darke, p. 47.

45. Ibid., p. 46.

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49. Rashid ud-Din, Geschichte Ghazan Khan's, ed. K. Jahn, Gibb Mem. Series (1940), p. 228.

50. Nakhjivani, Vol. 1A, pp. 316 (note 11), 373 (note 19), Vol. 1B, p. 290.

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57. Chardin, J., Voyages en Perse, ed. Langles, L., 10 vols. (Paris, 1811), Vol. 6, p. 79.Google Scholar

58. Ibid., pp. 79, 80, 120, 130; see also note 56.

59. Chardin, Vol. 6, p. 131.

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67. Khan, Mirza Muhammad Hasan, ud-Dawla, Sani’, Mir'at al-Buldan, 4 vols. (Tehran, 1295/1878), Vol. 2, p. 250Google Scholar; See also note 3 (p. 491).

68. Ibid., al Ma'athir va al Athar (Tehran, 1306/1889), appendix, p. 54.Google Scholar

69. Wills, C. J., Persia as It Is (London, 1886), p. 41.Google Scholar

70. Hasan A'zam Qudsi, Kitab-i khatirat-i man, 2 vols. (Tehran, 1342/1963), Vol. 1, pp. 29, 35.Google Scholar

71. See Floor, “The Market Police in Qajar Iran,” pp. 224-29.

72. Ibid., p. 224.

73. Ibid.

74. Demorgny, G., Essai sur l'administration de la Perse (Paris, 1913), p. 51.Google Scholar

75. Floor, p. 229.