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In economic realm, Husayn Khan attempted a tax reform by limiting the authority of the governors,
landlords, and ‘ulama in taxing their subjects, and by reforming the ministry of finance through
better accounting system and statistics. He also tried to create an infrastructure for a modern
economy by construction of roads and railroads. Given his suspicion of Russia and lack of budget,
he gave railroad concession to a British company.
Finally, Husayn Khan tried to initiate some cultural reforms as well. He wanted to expose the Shah
to the modern developments in the West. Consequently, he encouraged Nasiri’d-Din Shah to travel
to Europe so that he would note the need for reform in Iran. In 1873 Shah made his first trip to
Europe. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
The Secret
was written between Shah’s first and second trip to the West.
Husayn Khan expanded and created modern educational colleges and created new weekly papers.
He constructed several important buildings, streets, and mosques, and installed lights in Tehran’s
streets.
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As I mentioned before, the reform attempts of the 70s did not continue and was not effective.
Nasiri’d-Din Shah himself was not pleased with the limits on his own dictatorial power. But it was
the united opposition of the Qajar princes and conservative religious leaders which made the
reform initiatives from the beginning condemned to failure. Qajar princes and ‘ulama were the
main authority in the semi-feudal patrimonial system of authority in Iran. and they resented any
attempt at formalization or centralization of their judicial, political, and financial powers. The
‘ulama were particularly unhappy with the codification and centralization of the judicial and
educational systems. That meant effective limitation of the authority of religious leaders in legal
jurisdiction, education, and taxation. The construction of railroad was also vehemently opposed
by them since it opened contact with the infidel West.
We can now understand the alternative political directions of the two opposing groups in more
technical language. Max Weber (1864-1920), the prominent German sociologist, has explicated
the sociological terminology for alternative forms of authority. According to him authority can be
either charismatic, traditional, or bureaucratic. Charismatic authority is based upon the belief of
the people that the leader is endowed with extraordinary characteristics. Prophets of God are the
best historical examples of charismatic authority. The word of charismatic figure is the sole
criterion of law by itself. However, charismatic authority is normally unstable, and is soon replaced
by traditional authority. Most of human history is the history of traditional authority. Traditional
authority, which maintains the legitimacy of blind imitation of the past traditions, is itself divided
in patriarchal and patrimonial types of authority. Patriarchal authority is a family type of authority.
The father is the leader and he has no staff or officials. The leader is not dissociated from the
subjects. In patrimonial authority, however, the leader is dissociated from his subjects. But the
entire group is ruled as the personal possession of the ruling family. It is normally the relatives of
the ruler who have arbitrary power over different parts of the country. Usually, these relatives are
the governors and the generals of the local armies who finance themselves through their feudal
rights of taxation over the peasants. Opposed to both types of traditional authority are the
bureaucratic authority in which authority becomes impersonal, based upon formal and universal
rules and laws, and allocation of offices is determined in terms of technical knowledge and
qualifications, and not personal characteristics or connections, of the individuals. Max Weber calls
this bureaucratic form of authority legal-rational.
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‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
The Secret
is clearly related to these important developments in the decade of