ʿAŻOD-AL-MOLK, MOḤAMMAD ḤOSAYN

 

ʿAŻOD-AL-MOLK, MĪRZĀ MOḤAMMAD ḤOSAYN (d. 1284/1867), a senior official in the first part of Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah Qājār’s reign. Both he and his father Mīrzā Fażlallāh Mollā-bāšī Qazvīnī were initially employed as clerical secretaries at the provincial government of the crown prince ʿAbbās Mīrzā in Azerbaijan (Farhād Mīrzā, Zanbīl, Tehran, 1329/1911, p. 162). They claimed holy descent through Mīr Sayyed Ḥosayn b. ʿAlī Karakī Jabal-ʿĀmelī (M. Golrīz, Mīnū-dar yā Bāb al-jannat-e Qazvīn, Tehran, 1337 Š./1958. p. 327).

In 1267/1851, Mīrzā Moḥammad Ḥosayn, who then held the office of ṣadr-e dīvān-ḵāna (the chief official in charge of the state judicial administration), was appointed ambassador to Russia (Ḵormūjī, Ḥaqāʾeq al-aḵbār II, p. 100; Eʿtemād-al-salṭana, Montaẓam-e nāṣerī III, p. 210). Two years later he returned to Tehran (Ḥaqāʾeq al-aḵbār II, p. 126), and in 1270/1854 he was honored with the title ʿażod-al-molk and appointed minister of pensions and endowments (waẓāʾef wa awqāf) in one of the earliest attempts to reform the machinery of the state (Montaẓam-e nāṣerī III, pp. 230, 232). Having been deputed to express condolence and felicitation to the Russian embassy after the death of Nicholas I and accession of Alexander II in 1271/1855, he escorted the chargé d’affaires and other staff of the embassy to an audience with the shah (Ḥaqāʾeq al-aḵbār II, p. 153). In 1272/1856, he was sent to Mašhad on appointment as the trustee (motawallī-bāšī) of the shrine and endowments of the Emām Reżā (ibid., p. 169; Montaẓam-e nāṣerī III, p. 244). It was he who, on orders from Tehran, arranged the construction and erection of a gold door for the tomb chamber in 1276/1860 (Montaẓam-e nāṣerī III, p. 266). He remained at Mašhad until 1278/1862, when Mīrzā Jaʿfar Khan Mošīr-al-dawla took over his office (ibid., p. 277). ʿAżod-al-molk became the trustee of the shrine for a second time in 1282/1866 after the death of the incumbent, Ḥājjī Qawām-al-molk Šīrāzī (ibid., p. 293). He himself died in 1284/1867 at Tehran. His remains were interred at Mašhad.

 

Bibliography:

M. J. Ḵormūjī, Ḥaqāʾeq al-aḵbār-e nāṣerī, ed. Ḥ. Ḵadīv Jam, 2 vols., Tehran, 1344 Š./1965.

M. Ḥ. Eʿtemād-al-salṭana, Tārīḵ-emontaẓam-e nāṣerī, 3 vols., Tehran, 1300/1883, vol. 3.

Idem, Merʾāt al-boldān, 4 vols., Tehran, 1294/1877-1297/1880, vol. 3. Bāmdād, Rejāl III.

(Ḥ. Maḥbūbī Ardakānī)

Originally Published: December 15, 1988

Last Updated: August 18, 2011

This article is available in print.
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