Tobacco Protest
The widespread 1890–1892 protest against a tobacco monopoly concession that, through a clerical boycott fatwa, forced its cancellation — an early demonstration of clerical and popular political power.
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- Period
- 1890–1892 CE
- Cause
- Tobacco monopoly granted to a British company (Régie)
- Climax
- Mirza Shirazi's boycott fatwa
- Outcome
- Cancellation of the concession (1892)
Detail
The Tobacco Protest (1890–1892) was the first widespread, nationwide popular protest in Qajar Iran, sparked by Naser al-Din Shah's grant of a monopoly concession over the purchase, sale, and export of Iran's tobacco to a British company (the Régie). Threatening the livelihoods of farmers, merchants, and the bazaar, the concession provoked broad anger and forged a coalition of clergy, merchants, and intellectuals against foreign influence. The movement's climax was a fatwa attributed to Ayatollah Mirza Shirazi, the leading Shi'a marja', declaring the use of tobacco forbidden until the concession was annulled; people across the country, even within the royal court, stopped smoking the water-pipe, and this nationwide boycott brought the government to its knees. Naser al-Din Shah was forced to cancel the concession in 1892, but had to take out the first major foreign loan to pay compensation to the British company. The protest revealed the mobilizing power of the clergy and the bazaar and is regarded as a precursor to the Constitutional Revolution.
Related entities
Sources
- Encyclopædia Iranica, "Tobacco Régie/Concession"
- Nikki R. Keddie, Religion and Rebellion in Iran: The Tobacco Protest of 1891–1892
- Ervand Abrahamian, A History of Modern Iran