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The Study of History in Post-Revolutionary Iran: Nostalgia, Illusion, or Historical Awareness?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Abbas Amanat
Abbas Amanat*
Affiliation:
Department of History, Yale University
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Extract

Lo! thou the awareness-seeking heart, see by the sight,

Make the palace of Mada'in the mirror of your heart.

Khaqani's opening verse in his famous qaṣīda of Ivan-i Mada'in has a recognizable resonance in the works of many Persian writers, poets, and historians of pre-modern times who tried to make sense of the events and upheavals of the past. For them ‘ibrat, which in this context may loosely be translated as a grievous sense of historical consciousness, was the essence of the past. It made them see in the ruins of the once mighty empire, or the records of kings of bygone times, the never-ending cycle of the rise and fall of worldly powers. The Sassanian arch of the palace of Ctesiphon in the above verse was a powerful metaphor for the believer and the skeptic alike.

In modern Persian historical accounts, for all intents and purposes, this sense of ‘ibrat was lost to the multitudes, if not to a handful of the adept.

Type
Research Article
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , 1989 , pp. 3 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 1989

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References

Notes

1 Furuzanfar, B., Sukhan va Sukhanvarān, 2d ed., (Tehran, 1350/1971), 682–83.Google Scholar

2 A term of Qur'anic origin. See for example 12:111 “In their stories [i.e., of the prophets and their people] is surely a lesson [‘ibratun] to men possessed of minds….” According to Maybudi (Kashf al-Asrār wa ‘Uddat al-Abrār, [Tehran, 1339/1960] V, 150)Google Scholar ‘“ibrat is to recognize the unknown and the non-existent in what is known and existent,” possibly an allusion to a capacity to deduce abstract lessons from historical realities.

3 On the pre-modern Muslim notion of history see Rosenthal, F., A History of Muslim Historiography (Leiden, 1952)Google Scholar and Gibb, H. R., “Tarikh,” Studies on the Civilization of Islam, (Princeton, 1962) 108–37.Google Scholar

4 For an insightful distinction between “the past” and the modern sense of history see Plumb, H.J., Death of the Past, (London, 1973), 82–115.Google Scholar

5 Tehran, 1318/1900.

6 Tārīkh-i Nādir Shāh-i Afshār, Tehran, 1321/1903.Google Scholar

7 Tārīkh-i Yūnān, Tehran, 1328/1910.Google Scholar

8 Tārīkh Tamaddun-i Islāmī, Tehran, 1329/1911.Google Scholar

9 Īrān-i Bāstān yā Tārīkh-i Mufaṣṣal-i Īrān-i Qadīm, 1st ed., 3 vols., Tehran, 1311-1313/ 1922-1924. 3rd ed., M.I. Bastani Parizi ed., 10 vols., Tehran, 1341/1962.

10 Tārīkh-i Mufaṣṣal-i Īrān az Ṣadr-i Islām tā Inqirāḍ-i Qājāriya, Tehran, 1347/1968Google Scholar. This posthumous compilation by M. Dabir Siyaqi of two independent works the second part being Tārīkh-i Mufaṣṣal-i Īrān az Istyilā'-yi Mughūl tā I'lān-i Mashrūṭīyat, (Tehran, 1312/1933).Google Scholar

11 3 vols., Tehran, 1319-21/1940-42.

12 Tārīkh-i Īrān az Azmāna-yi Bāstānī tā Sāl-i 1316 Shamsi, Tehran, 1317/1938.Google Scholar

13 Zindigānī-yi Shāh ‘Abbās Awwal, 5 vols., Tehran, 1332-1352/1953-1972.Google Scholar

14 Mīrzā Taqī Khān-i Amīr Kabīr, Afshar, I. ed. (Tehran, 1340/1961).Google Scholar Iqbal's incomplete work was a product of the mid-1950's.

15 Tārīkh-i Aḥzāb-i Siyāsī, I: Tehran, 1323/1944Google Scholar, II: Tehran, 1363/1984. This work was originally a collection of articles published by the author in Mihr-i Īrān around 1320-21/1942-43.

16 For his lectures and articles on the Constitutional Revolution see Maqālāt-i Taqīzāda, Afshar, ed., (Tehran, 1349/1970), I.Google Scholar

17 Ḥayāt-i Yaḥyā; Tārīkh-i Mu'āsir, 4 vols (Tehran, 1336/1957).Google Scholar

18 Zindigānī-yi Man yā Tārīkh-i Ijtimā'ī va Idārī-yi Īrān, 3 vols. (Tehran, 1321/1942).

19 Siyāḥat-i Sharq, 2d ed. (Tehran, 1362/1983).Google Scholar

20 Dast-e Pinhān-i Siyāsat-i Ingilīs dar Īrān (the hidden hand of British policy in Iran) Tehran, n.d.Google Scholar

21 Ḥuqūqbigīrān-i Ingilīs dar Īrān (the pensioners of the British Government in Iran) Tehran, 1347/1968.

22 Tehran, 1341/1962.

23 See Barahani, R., Kīmiyā’ va Khāk, (|Tehran, 1364/1985] 96–99)Google Scholar on the quality of translations.

24 Among them Makki, H., Tārīkh-i Bīst Sālih-yi Īrān, 3 vols (Tehran, 1323-25/1944-46)Google Scholar with four additional volumes published after 1979; Rahimzada Safavi's memoirs Asrār-i Suqūṭ-i Aḥmad Shāh, Dihqan, B. ed. (Tehran, 1362/1983)Google Scholar; M.T. Bahar, Aḥzāb-i Siyāsī, (vol. 2 for the first time); Khwaja-Nuri, I., Bāzigarān-i ‘Aṣr-i Ṭalā'ī, (Sayyid Ḥasan Mudarris), new ed., (Tehran, 1358/1979)Google Scholar; Kasravi, A., Zindagānī-yi Man, (Tehran, 1323/1944)Google Scholar and other essays on literature and religion; K. Maliki's memoirs Khāṭirāt-i Siyāsī, M.‘A. Katuzian ed. (Tehran, 1360/1981); A. Khama'i, Khāṭirāt, (Tehran, 1365/1986); and J. Al-Ahmad Gharbzadihgī. For publications on Musaddiq see below.

25 Waqā'i'-i Ittifāqīya, Sirjani, Sa'idi ed., Tehran, 1362/1983.Google Scholar Presumably for reasons of security the editor does not reveal the identity of the author of the reports or the manner of gaining access to the material. This no doubt damages the value of his otherwise careful editing.

26 ‘“Illat-i Tawajjuh-i ‘Umūmī bi Tārīkh-i Mu'āṣir Chīst?” (What is the cause of public interest toward contemporary history?), Kitābnāma-yi Īrān, C. Pahlavan ed., Tehran, 1366/1987, 250.

27 Marāmnāmihhā va Nhẓāmnāmihhā-yi Aḥzāb-i Siyāsī-yi Īrān dar Dovvomīn Dawra-yi Majlis, Ettehadieh, M. (Nezam-Mafi) ed., Tehran, 1361/1982.Google Scholar

28 “‘Illat-i Tawajjuh,” p. 234.

29 Known in the jargon of the early revolutionary days of 1979-80 as jild-sifīd (white-cover) for their blank untitled covers.

30 Both terms went through an interesting metamorphosis. Ahmad Fardid who first coined gharbzadihgī, perhaps with some attention to Kasravi's debate on the cultural influence of the West, originally tended to use it in a philosophical context to contrast the evolution of the Western thought (to include post-Socratic Greek thought) with that of speculative mysticism in the Perso-Muslim East. Socio-politicization of this concept by Al-Ahmad aimed at a very different meaning much in vogue at the time. In the same vain Shari'ati's use of the Qur'anic mustaẓ'afīn, to equal Fanon's “malheureux de terre,” also points at a similar effort to demonize the West.

31 Of Western statesmen and diplomats, works by Jimmy Carter, Zbignew Brzezinsky, Hamilton Jordan, William Sullivan, and Anthony Parsons were translated. Parsons’ memoirs enjoyed an even wider than usual readership in Iran because of endemic conspiratorial assumptions about the role of the British in Iran.

32 The unrivaled master of this home-made genre of pseudo-history is Zabihullah Mansuri. Among his many mutilations (often defined as “adaptation” [iqtibās]) of historical novels, travelogues, and other historical accounts is a best seller on the life of Qajar, Aqa Muhammad Khan (Khwāja-yi Tājdār, 2 vols., 1st ed. [Tehran, 1347/1968].Google Scholar See also Barahani, Kīmiyā, 98-99.

33 Tehran, 1359/1980.

34 (Rebellion against the Régie Concession) Tehran, 1360/1981.

35 Pp. 145-46.

36 Paris, 1363/1984. 54-66.

37 Īrān dar Rāhyābī-yi Farhangī, 1834-1848, London, 1988.Google Scholar

38 Paydāyish va Taḥavvul-i Aḥzāb-i Siyāsī-yi Mashrūṭiyat, Tehran, 1361/1982.Google Scholar

39 Nakhustīn Rūyārūīhā-yi Andīshihgarān-i Īrānī bā Du Rūyih-i Tammadun Burzhuazī-yi Gharb, Tehran, 1367/1988.Google Scholar

40 Tārīkh-i Ijtimā'ī-yi Īrān dar ‘Aṣr-i Afshāriya, I, 1st ed. Tehran, 1364/1985Google Scholar; 2d ed., Tehran, 1365/1986. Only the first volume has appeared so far.

41 Qatl-i Atābak va Shānzdah Maqāla-yi Taḥqīqī-yi Dīgar, Tehran, 1367/1988.Google Scholar

42 Īrān va Qudrathā-yi Buzurg dar Jang-i Jahānī-yi Duvvum, Tehran, 1367/1988.Google Scholar

43 Tārīkh-i Mardum-i Īrān, I: Tehran, 1365/1986Google Scholar; II: Tehran, 1367/1988. Volume one covers the pre-Islamic period, and volume two comes down to the end of the Ghaznavid period.

44 Perhaps with the exception of Anjuman-i Āthār-i Millī (National Heritage Society) in earlier decades. For a list of their publications see the appendix to Mustafavi, M. T., Āthār-i Tārīkhī-yi Tihrān, (Tehran, 1361/1982)Google Scholar, which lists 152 titles.

45 Since 1985 Nashr-i Tarikh-i Iran's publications dwindled in number presumably due to paper shortages and other restraints.

46 Tārīkh-i Sharīf, (which was given the awkward title of Wāqī'āt-i Ittifāqiya dar Rūzigār), M. Ettehadieh ed., 3 vols., Tehran, 1362/1983. For its rich primary material this work is only comparable to Nazim al-Islam's ārīkh-i Bīdārī-yi Īrānīyān.

47 Khāṭirāt-i Tāj al-Salṭanah, Ettehadich, M. and Sa'dvandian, S. eds., Tehran, 1362/1983.Google Scholar Other publications of Nashr-i Tarikh-i Iran include memoirs and papers of Husayn Quli Khan Nizam al-Saltana, the statesman of the late Nāṣirī era and the Constitutional Period (Khāṭirāt va Asnād-i Ḥusayn Qūlī Khān Niẓām al-Salṭanah Māfī, M. Ettehadieh (Nezam-Mafi), S. Sa'dvandian eds., 2 vols., Tehran, 1361/1982); Memoirs and notes of Muhammad ‘Ali Ghaffari, a confidant of Muzaffar al-Din Mirza (Khāṭirāt va Asnād-i Muḥammad ‘Ali Ghaffārī Nā'ib Awwal Pīshkhidmatbāshī (Tārīkh-i Ghaffārī), M. Ettehadieh (Nezam-Mafi) and S. Sa'dvandian eds., Tehran, 1361/1982); two volumes of letters by Mughith al-Saltanah during the Constitutional Revolution (Nāmihhā-yi Yūsuf Mughīth al-Salṭanah, M. Etthadieh (Nezam-Mafi) ed., Tehran, 1362/1983); the hunting diary of Dust ‘Ali Khan Mu'ayyir al-Mamalik (Vaqā'i’ al-Zamān, Tehran, 1361/1982)Google Scholar and a new edition of his notes on the private life of al-Din Shah, Nasir (Yāddāshthā-yi az Zindigānī-yi Khuṣūṣī-yi Nāṣir al-Din Shāh, 2d ed., Tehran, 1362/1983Google Scholar [which regrettably leaves out some important passages]); several volumes of official correspondence; a biography of Mirza Hasan Rushdiyah based on his notes (al-Din Rushdiya, Shams, Savāniḥ-i ‘Umr, Tehran, 1362/1983Google Scholar). One unfortunate draw back in the above mentioned publications is the somewhat pontifical and bombastic style of the editors’ introductions. The introduction to Āmār-i Dār al-Khilāfa-yi Tihrān (Asnādī az Tārīkh-i Ijtimā'ī-yi Tihrān dar ‘Aṣr-i Qājār), Sa'dvandian, S. and Ettehadieh, M. (Neam-Mafi) eds., (Tehran 1368/1989)Google Scholar is a case in point. In twenty-two pages of what could only be called a rhetorical essay, the author, presumably Sa'dvandian, fails to discuss any historical aspect of this important collection.

48 Tehran, 1345/1966.

49 Zindigī-yi Ṭūfānī: Khāṭirāt-i Sayyid Ḥasan Taqīzāda, Afshar, I. ed., Tehran, 1368/1989.Google Scholar

50 Awrāq-i Tāzihyāb-i Mashrūṭiyat, Tehran, 1359/1980Google Scholar; Maqālāt-i Taqīzāda, 6 vols., Tehran, 1349-/1970.Google Scholar

51 Khāṭirāt va Ta'allumāt-i Muṣaddiq, Musaddiq, G. and Afshar, I. eds., Tehran, 1364/1985.Google Scholar The English translation appeared as Musaddiq's Memoirs (Amin, S.H. trans, and Katouzian, H. intro., London, 1988).Google Scholar

52 Afshar's other publications on modern period include Mustashar al-Dawla's papers (Yāddāshthā-yi Tārīkhī, 2 vols., Tehran, 1361-5/1982-60; Mumtahin al-Dawla's biographical notes on Persian diplomats of the Qajar period (Rijāl-i Vizārat-i Khārīja dar ‘Ahd-i Nāṣirī va Muẓaffarī, I. Afshar ed., 1365/1986); Husayn ‘Ali Maqsudlu's telegrams on the post-Constitutional Period (Mukhābirāt-i Astarābād, Afshar, I. and Daryagasht, R., 2 vols, Tehran, 1363/1984)Google Scholar; and Abul-Hasan ‘Alavi's notes on the less known figures of the Constitutional Period (Rijāl-i ‘Aṣr-i Mashrūṭiyat, Yaghma'i, H. and Afshar, I. eds., Tehran, 1363, 1984).Google Scholar

53 Appearing with a new title, Chihil Sāl Tārīkh-i Īrān (2nd. ed., 3 vols., Afshar, I. ed., Tehran, 1363/1984)Google Scholar, it contains useful addenda by H. Mahbubi Ardakani and I. Afshar.

54 Others include Munṭaẓam-i Nāṣirī, (2nd ed., M. I. Rizvani ed., 3 vols., Tehran, 1363-67/1984-88. [The first edition of this work by Muhammad Hasan Khan I'timad al-Saltanah was published between 1298-1300 Q./1880-82]); Mir'āt al-Buldān Nāṣirī, (P. Nuri-'Ala and M.'A Sipanlu ed., 2nd ed., vol.1, 1364/1985); and Fārsnāmih-yi Nāṣirī, (2nd ed., 2 vols., Rastgar Fasa'i, M. ed., Tehran, 1367/1988).Google Scholar

55 Khāṭirāt-i Iḥtishām al-Salṭanah, Musavi, M.M. ed., Tehran, 1366/1987.Google Scholar

56 Farhād Mīrzā Mu'tamad al-Dawla, I. Nawwab-Safa ed., 2 vols., I: Sharḥ-i Ḥāl, II: Safarnāmih, Tehran, 1366/1987. Another edition of the same work appeared simultaneously, Safarnāmih-i Farhād Mīrzā, (Tabataba'i, G. ed., Tehran, 1366/1987).Google Scholar

57 H. Mursilvand ed., Tehran. 1364/1985.

58 Ibid. 194.

59 Reprints of several newspapers, including Ṣūr Isrāfīl (two editions of this famous newspaper have been published by Intisharat-i Rudaki [Tehran, 1361/1982] and by Nashr-i Tarikh-i Iran |Tehran, 1362/1983|); Rūḥ al-Quds (Gulbun, M. ed., Tehran, 1363/1984)Google Scholar; Lavā'iḥ of Shaykh Fazlullah Nuri (H. Rizwani ed., Tehran, 1362/1983); and Jangal, the organ of the Jangali movement (Tehran, 1363/1984), reflect enthusiasm for the Constitutional period.

60 Although among recent publications in Iran and abroad the memoirs of ‘Abdullah Bahrami, ‘Ali Akbar Siyasi, Karim Sanjabi, Iraj Iskandari and the diaries of Nasir Qashqa'i, Qasim Ghani, Parviz Raji, and Asadullah A'lam are exceptions.

61 Kimiyā va Khāk, 100-101. References to Qajar photographs and other allusions are no doubt pointed at I. Afshar and M. Ittihadiya. Implicit reference to the expenditures of Qajar princes is perhaps to papers and expenditure lists of ‘Abd al-Husayn Mirza Farmanfarma published as Siyāq-i Ma'īshat dar ‘Ahd-i Qājār (Ettehadieh, M. and Sa'dvandian, S. eds., 2 vols., Tehran, 1362/1983).Google Scholar Later the same editors published the rest of Farmanfarma's papers as Guzidih-ī az Asnād-i ‘Abdul-Ḥusayn Mīrzā Farmānfarmā, 1325-1340 Qamarī, (3 vols., Tehran, 1366/1987). Most recently the Janbazan Foundation in the first number of its historical journal responded to Barahani's criticism by publishing documents on Ashraf Pahlavi's expense account of her foreign tours.

62 Kīmiyā va Khāk, 103-104.

63 Vāqi'āt-i Ittifāqiya, I, which is based on clandestine revolutionary leaflets.

64 Tārīkh-i Bīdārī Īrāniyān, Sirjani, Sa'idi ed., 3 vols., 2nd ed. (Tehran, 1346/1967), I, 40, 64, 85–88Google Scholar, and particularly 170. Compare to Vāqi'āt Ittifāqiya (Tārīkh-i Sharīf), I, 155-157, 164, 207-208. A new reprint of Tārīkh-i Bīdārī (Tehran, 1981/1982) with a print run of 30,000 was sold out by 1985 (Kitābnāmih-yi Īrān, 242).

65 In particular Mirza Hasan Shirazi, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Husayn Lari, Shaykh Fazlullah Nuri, Shaykh Muhammad Husayn Al Kashif al-Ghita', Hasan Mudarris, and Ayatullah Kashani were subjects of numerous biographies in recent years.

66 Nihḍat-i Ruḥāniyūn-i Īrān, 10 vols., Tehran, n.d.Google Scholar

67 Nihḍat-i Imām Khumaynī, 2 vols., Tehran, 1360-64/1981-85.Google Scholar

68 One example is ‘A. Baqi (pseudonym ?), Dar Shinākht-i Ḥizb-i Qā'idīn-i Zamān, (Mawsūm bi Anjuman-i Ḥujjatiya) (3rd print, [Tehran, 1363/1984])Google Scholar which provides useful information on the background of the shadowy Hujjatiya Society.