KĀŠĀNI, ʿABD-AL-RAZZĀQ KHAN

 

KĀŠĀNI, ʿABD-AL-RAZZĀQ KHAN, the fourth governor of Kashan for nearly a quarter of a century in the Zand period (1164-1209/1751-94).  He was the son-in-law of Mirzā Moʿezz-al-Din Ḡaffārri, whom he succeeded (he was the third governor of Kashan After Nāder Shah founded the office of governor.  One of his sisters was married to a Ḡiāṯ-al-Din Moḥammad Šaybāni, a leader of the powerful Šaybāni clan of Kashan.  During his tenure as governor, his nephew, Moḥammad-Ḥosayn Khan Šaybāni, was governor of Qom and Maḥallāt (Kalāntar Żarrābi, pp. 388-89, 394, 404).

In the Zand-Qajar conflict (on which, see ZAND DYNASTY), ʿAbd-al-Razzāq Khan supported the Zand cause, but, according to Mirzā Moḥammad-Ṣādeq Nāmi (pp. 262-63), in 1198/1784, while the Qajars were preparing to attack Isfahan, ʿAbd-al-Razzāq Khan, in a note to Jaʿfar Khan Zand, underestimated the strength of the enemy forces and failed to mention the three to four thousand tribal men who had joined the Qajar army.  The Zands were defeated in Qom.  Moḥammad-Ḥosayn Khan Šaybāni, governor of Qom and ʿAbd-al-Razzāq Khan’s nephew, reportedly signed a secret treaty with Āqā Moḥammad Khan Qajar (Musawi Nāmi, p. 389) and fought against his uncle’s army.  In Kashan, ʿAbd-al-Razzāq Khan was defeated and heavily fined, and his two sons were taken hostages while Solaymān Khan, a cousin of Āqā Moḥammad Khan, remained in the province to ensure the speedy payment of the fine.  ʿAbd-al-Razzāq Khan, with the military support of Esmāʿil Khan ʿArab-e ʿĀmeri, a neighboring chieftain, succeeded in expelling Solaymān Khan from Kashan.  The latter reported to the Qajar leader, who retaliated by sentencing ʿAbd-al-Razzāq Khan’s two sons to death.  Moḥammad-Ḥosayn Khan Šaybani intervened on his cousins’ behalf by promising the Qajar Khan a ransom of 30,000 tomans; then he marched to Kashan, defeated ʿAbd-al-Razzāq Khan, paid the Qajars off, and took over the governorship of Kashan. ʿAbd-al-Razzāq Khan fled to Shiraz to the Zand court, but, following the final defeat of the Zands by 1205/1791, he acknowledged the Qajar sovereignty, and once more was appointed governor of Kashan in the reign of Fatḥ-ʿAli Shah.

ʿAbd-al-Razzāq Khan is credited with the repair of the main bazaar and the foundation of places of public service.  A subterranean canal built by him during his tenure as the governor supplied a good part of the city with water coming from a spring in the southern suburb of the city (Kalāntar Żarrābi, pp. 94, 394).  He is, however, blamed for the total destruction of a beautiful old garden in Niāsar, whose foundation was credited in popular belief to Alexander the Great.  He took possession of the garden, cut down its very old trees for their wood, and removed the columns of white marble, all to be used in his own house in the city (Kalāntar Żarrābi, pp. 86-87). 

 

Bibliography

Moḥammad-Ḥasan Khan Eʿtemād-al-Salṭana, Tāriḵ-e montaẓam-e nāṣeri, 3 vols., Tehran, 1300/1883, III, pp. 42, 52; ed. Moḥammad-Esmāʿil Reżwāni, 3 vols., Tehran, 1984-88, p. 1416. 

ʿAbd-al-Raḥim Khan Kalāntar Żarrābi, Tāriḵ-e Kāšān, ed. Iraj Afšār, Tehran, 1962, pp. 389-90, 394-96. 

Mirzā Moḥammad-Ṣādeq Musawi Nāmi Eṣfahāni, Tāriḵ-e gitigošā dar tāriḵ-e Zandiya, Tehran, 1938. 

Ḥasan Narāqi, Āṯār-e tāriḵi-e šahrestānhā-ye Kāšān wa Naṭanz, Tehran, 1969, pp. 40, 96-98, 103, 204.

(Mangol Bayat)

Originally Published: December 15, 2011

Last Updated: April 24, 2012

This article is available in print.
Vol. XV, Fasc. 6, p. 640