RASTḴIZ (Resurrection): With the outbreak of the First World War, a group of Iranian expatriates in Europe, headed by Sayyed Ḥasan Taqizāda, formed the Iranian Nationalists Committee (Komita-ye melliun-e Irāni) in Berlin in opposition to the Anglo-Russian domination of Iran. The strongly pro–German Committee established regular contacts with Iranian activists both inside and outside Iran, and dispatched a group of intellectuals to the west of Iran and to what is now Iraq, early in the summer of 1915, to advance the Committee’s agenda, including the publication of a newspaper. Named Rastḵiz, it circulated weekly in Baghdad. Eight issues were published, from 26 Ramażān to 17 Ḏu’l-qaʿda, 1333/August 8, to September 28, 1915; until the approach of the English forces resulted in the suspension of its publication in Baghdad and its move to Kermānšāh. Subsequently, Rastḵiz was circulated twice a week in Kermānšāh, and a total of sixteen issues were published from 19 Ṣafar to 10 Rabiʿ II, 1334/ January 1 through February 14, 1916, until the approach of the Russian forces precluded further activity (Purdāvud, p. 11). Returning briefly to Baghdad, the last issue was printed there on 29 Jomādā I, 1334/April 3, 1916 (Moṣṭafavi, p. 94), after which Rastḵiz was closed down permanently due to the objections and opposition of the Ottoman authorities (Purdāvud, “Nāma az Eslāmbol be Taqizāda, 10 August 1916,” in Nāmahā-ye Tehran, ed. Ḥasan Taqizāda, Tehran, 1999, p. 8).
Ebrāhim Purdāvud was the primary force behind Rastḵiz, and the author of the majority of the articles and poems that were published in the newspaper. However, his name did not appear on the masthead until the 11th issue. In Baghdad a certain ʿAbd-al-Amir, and in Kermānšāh, Moḥammad Taqi Yazdi, were identified as the managing editors. Some sources (Āryanpur, II, p. 279; Balaÿ p.113) have identified Moḥammad ʿAli Jamālzāda as a collaborator with, and at times founder of Rastḵiz, but this is unfounded. Similarly unsubstantiated is the assertion that Mehdi Farahpur, publisher of Bisotun, worked on the issues of Rastḵiz that were printed in Kermānšāh (Marduḵ Rowḥāni, p. 250). It should also be noted that Rastḵiz newspaper, contrary to the assertion of Moḥammad Moḥiṭ Ṭabāṭabāʾi (Moḥiṭ Ṭabāṭabāʾi p. 203), was not the organ of the provisional government, which was formed in Kermānšāh in February 1916, and was headed by Reza-Qoli Nezām-al-Salṭana Māfi.
Rastḵiz was, above all, a political newspaper with a nationalist bent and pro-German tendencies. The editorials played an important role in the newspaper, and were always accompanied by a patriotic verse from Purdāvud, published under the pen name Gol. The first issue of the newspaper in Kermānšāh featured a political mosammaṭ in Kurdish, which was also reprinted in Kaweh in Berlin (“Ašʿār-e kordi-e vaṭani,” Kaweh, Jomādā I, 1334). Rastḵiz of Kermānšāh, in contrast to Rastḵiz of Baghdad, also featured non-political articles.
In Baghdad, Rastḵiz was printed by Maṭbaʿa-ye Dankur, and consisted of 4 pages measuring 28 x 40 cm. It was printed in 4 columns without images, with high quality paper and lettering. The first issue consisted of 8 pages. The annual subscription in Iran was 1 tomān and in the Ottoman Empire, 30 Kurus. In Kermānšāh, the newspaper was printed in Šerāfat Aḥmadi printing house. The first five issues measured 23.5x35 cm, arranged in two columns without images. Subsequently , the newspaper measured 31.5x42 cm, and was arranged in three columns. The annual subscription was established at 12 qerān in Kermānšāh.
An incomplete series of Rastḵiz is kept in the Majles Library and a number of Baghdad issues in the Moʾassesa-ye moṭāleʿāt-e tāriḵ-e moʿāṣer.
Bibliography:
Iraj Afšār, Savad o bayāż, II, Tehran, 1970, pp. 564-67.
Yaḥyā Āryanpur, Az Ṣabā tā Nimā, II, Tehran, 1972, p. 279.
Idem, Az Ṣabā tā Nimā, III, Tehran, 2001 p. 150-54.
Christophe Balaÿ & Michel Cuypers, Aux sources de la nouvelle Persane, Paris 1983, p. 113.
Mohammad Ali Djamalzadeh “Introduction,” in Djamalzadeh: choix des nouvelles, tr. by S. Corbin & H. Lotfi Paris, 1959, pp. 16-17.
Mehdi Malakzāda, Ḡiam-e Āḏarbāyjān dar enqelāb-e mašrūṭīyat, Tehran, 1983, p.498.
Bābā Marduḵ Rowḥāni, Tārīḵ-e mašāhir-e kord, II, Tehran, 1987, p. 350.
Moḥammad Moḥiṭ Ṭabāṭabāʾi, Tāriḵ-e taḥlili-e maṭbūʿāt-e Iran, Tehran, 1987, p. 203.
ʿAli Aṣḡar Moṣṭafavi, Zamān o zendagi-e ostād Purdāvud, Tehran, 1993, p. 94.
Ali Norouse, (Hasan Moghdam) “Registre analytique de la presse persane depuis la guerre,” Revue du monde musulman, LX 1925, no. 47.
Ebrāhim Purdāvud, “Dibāča,” Purāndoḵt-nāma: Divān-e Purdāvud (no place, no date), pp. 11-12.
Taqizāda, ed., Nāmahā-ye Tehran, Tehran, 1999, p. 8.
Bāqer Šākeri, Tāriḵčā-ye maṭbūʿāt-e Kermānšāh, Kermānšāh, 1957, p. 168.
(Nassereddin Parvin)
Originally Published: February 4, 2011
Last Updated: February 4, 2011
