AMĪN(-E) ḤOŻŪR (Trustee in Presence), an official title under Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah whose successive administrative reorganizations after 1858 led to a multiplication of offices, particularly in the royal household where laqabs in ḥażrat, ḥożūr, and ḵalwat became frequent (see Alqāb). In 1284/1867-68, the laqabamīn(-e) ḥożūr, akin to monšī, mošīr, wazīr(-e) ḥożūr, was bestowed on Āqā ʿAlī Āštīānī who was the Shah’s private servant (pīšḵedmat-e ḵāṣṣa). In 1286/1869-70, he was entrusted with the superintendence (omūr-e eḥtesāb) of Tehran and two years later became treasurer for the Shah’s expenditures (ḵāzen-e ṣarf-e ǰīb-e mobārak) and administrator of royal gardens. He also received governorate of Kāšān as an apanage (nān-ḵāna) in 1293/1876-77 (see Bāmdād, Reǰāl II, pp. 341f.). Amīn-e Ḥożūr belonged to a faction opposed to the reforms of Mīrzā Ḥosayn Khan Mošīr-al-dawla (S. Bakhash, Iran: Monarchy, Bureaucracy and Reform under the Qajars: 1858-1896, London, 1978, p. 117). After the latter’s dismissal (1873), the Ḵezāna-ye ṣarf-e ǰīb and the office of national gardens and summer buildings were taken from him and bestowed on Āqā ʿAlī āǰūdān-e maḵṣūṣ and Moḥammad-Ḥasan Khan Ṣanīʿ-al-dawla (Mīrzā ʿAlī Khan Amīn-al-dawla, Ḵāṭerāt-e sīāsī, ed. Ḥ. Farmān-farmāʾīān, Tehran, 1341 Š./1962, p. 50). He tried to regain his former position but was ousted from the court together with a few other officials (Ramażān, 1298/August, 1881) (see M. Ḥ. Eʿtemād-al-salṭana, Rūz-nāma-ye ḵāṭerāt, ed. Ī. Afšār, 2nd ed., Tehran, 2536 = 1356 Š./1977, pp. 76, 105). The following month he was forgiven by the Shah (ibid., p. 111) and in Moḥarram, 1299/December, 1881, he was appointed dārūḡa-ye daftar-ḵāna in charge of collecting the arrears (moḥaṣṣel, later wazīr-e baqāyā; ibid., pp. 137, 192; on the office see ʿA. Mostawfī, Šarḥ-e zendagānī-e man yā tārīḵ-e eǰtemāʿī o edārī-e dawra-ye Qāǰārīya I, Tehran, 1321 Š./1942, p. 370, n.). He was the first person to occupy the post of wazīr-e baqāyā (Bāmdād, Reǰāl II, p. 342), which he held until 1304/1887 when Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah, angered by some unguarded remark made by him, replaced him by Moḥammad-ʿAlī Khan Amīn-al-salṭana and even wanted to banish him to Iraq. But soon he was forgiven (Eʿtemād-al-salṭana, Rūz-nāma, pp. 513, 514, 515) and in 1306/1888-89, was appointed governor of Sāva and Zarand and the head of the Šāhsavan-e Baḡdādī tribe (ibid., p. 716). He was among the officials who examined the Reuter concession and in 1309/1891, during the events following the granting of the concession, he was dispatched to Tabrīz to calm the rebellious city; his mission ended in total fiasco (ibid., pp. 765-66). He was also once the governor of Semnān (1311/1893). He died (aged 67) on 4 Raǰab 1314/9 December 1896. His laqabamīn-e ḥożūr was inherited by his elder son Asadallāh Khan Mīr-panǰ, who became Moẓaffar-al-dīn Shah’s pīšḵedmat-e ḵāṣṣa.
According to Eʿtemād-al-salṭana, who despised him, Amīn-e Ḥożūr was a paragon of dishonesty and a perfect example of unscrupulousness. He accuses him of using the tribesmen under him to commit murders for his own profit (Ḵalsa, p. 80; Rūz-nama, p. 716). A more favorable picture of him is given by Afżal-al-molk who praises his achievements in collecting the arrears from reluctant officials (Afżal-al-tawārīḵ, p. 105). His memory was preserved in Tehran by an avenue, Ḵīābān-e Amīn-e Ḥożūr (see ʿA. Mostawfī, I, p. 467) and by a crossroad (Serāh-e Amīn-e Ḥożūr).
Bibliography:
See also Ḡ. Ḥ. Afżal-al-molk, Afżal-al-tawārīḵ, ed.
M. Etteḥādīya and S. Saʿdvandīān, Tehran, 1361 Š./1982, pp. 46, 191, 392.
M. Ḥ. Eʿtemād-al-salṭana, Ḵalsa mašhūr ba Ḵᵛāb-nāma, ed. M. Katīrāʾī, Tehran, 1348 Š./1969, p. 74.
(J. Calmard)
Originally Published: December 15, 1989
Last Updated: August 3, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 9, pp. 945-946
J. Calmard, “AMĪN ḤOŻŪR,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition, 1982, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/amin-hozur-title
