Sayyed Abol-Ghasem Mostafavi-Kashani ( fa, سید ابوالقاسم کاشانی ''Abu’l-Qāsem Kāšāni''; 19 November 1882 – 13 March 1962) was an Iranian politician and
Shia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...
Marja.
Early life
His father,
Ayatollah
Ayatollah ( ; fa, آیتالله, āyatollāh) is an Title of honor, honorific title for high-ranking Twelver Shia clergy in Iran and Iraq that came into widespread usage in the 20th century.
Etymology
The title is originally derived from ...
Hajj
The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...
Seyyed
''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, sons of Muhammad' ...
Mostafavi Kashani ( fa, آیتالله حاج سید مصطفوی کاشانی), was a noted scholar of Islam in his time. Abol-Ghasem was trained in Shia Islam by his religious parents and began study of the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
soon after learning to read and write.
At 16, Abol-Ghasem went to an Islamic
seminary
A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
to study
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
,
Arabic language
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
,
logic
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...
,
semantics
Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy
Philosophy (f ...
and speech, as well as the principles of Islamic jurisprudence, or
Fiqh
''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh.
The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...
. He continued his education at the seminary in an-
Najaf
Najaf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف) or An-Najaf al-Ashraf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف ٱلْأَشْرَف), also known as Baniqia ( ar, بَانِيقِيَا), is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated popula ...
in the Qur'an and
Hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
s as interpreted in Sharia law, receiving his jurisprudence degree when he was 25.
Later life
Personal life
Kashani had 3 wives and 26 children, including 12 sons.
His son Mostafa died in an accident in 1955; the newly appointed prime minister,
Hossein Ala'
Hosein Alā ( fa, حسین علاء; 13 December 1881 – 12 July 1964) was an Iranian politician who served as Prime Minister in 1951 and from 1955 to 1957.
Background
He was born in 1882 in Tehran and spent his early years in London. He was ed ...
, escaped an assassination attempt at the funeral. According to British intelligence, around this time two of his sons were involved in a lucrative business buying and selling import-export licenses for restricted goods.
One of Kashani's children,
Mahmoud Kashani
Sayyid Mahmoud Kashani (born 6 June 1942) is an Iranian politician, academic, writer and lawyer. He is also a professor in Shahid Beheshti University. He was head of the Iranian delegation to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Nether ...
, went on to become head of the Iranian delegation to the
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...
in
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
, Netherlands, in Iran's case with the United States and a presidential candidate in the
Iranian presidential elections of 1985 and
elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...
in 2005. His second son is
Ahmad Kashani
Ahmad Kashani ( fa, احمد کاشانی) is an Iranian politician. He was a member of the Iranian parliament from 1980 to 1986. On November 5, 1986, although he was still a member of the parliament, was arrested by Ministry of Intelligence and Na ...
, a former member of the
Iranian parliament
The Islamic Consultative Assembly ( fa, مجلس شورای اسلامی, Majles-e Showrā-ye Eslāmī), also called the Iranian Parliament, the Iranian Majles (Arabicised spelling Majlis) or ICA, is the national legislative body of Iran. The P ...
.
Kashani is also the great-grandfather of Iranian-American filmmaker
Sam Ali Kashani.
Political life and death
Abol-Ghasem expressed
Anti-capitalist
Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economi ...
leanings from early on in his career and opposed what he saw as "
oppression
Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment or exercise of power, often under the guise of governmental authority or cultural opprobrium. Oppression may be overt or covert, depending on how it is practiced. Oppression refers to discrimination w ...
,
despotism and
colonization
Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...
." Because of these beliefs, he was especially popular with the poor in Tehran. He also advocated the return of Islamic government to Iran, though this was most likely for political reasons.
[Samii, A.W. "Falsafi, Kashani and the Baha'is](_blank)
/ref>
Due to nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
positions, Ayatollah Kashani was arrested and exiled by the British and Soviets. He continued to oppose foreign, especially British, control of Iran's oil industry while in exile
Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...
. After he returned from exile on 10 June 1950, he continued to protest. Angered by the fact that the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company
The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) was a British company founded in 1909 following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Persia (Iran). The British government purchased 51% of the company in 1914, gaining a controlling number ...
paid Iran much less than it did the British, he organized a movement against it and was the "virtually alone among the leading mujtahids in joining" nationalist Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq
Mohammad Mosaddegh ( fa, محمد مصدق, ; 16 June 1882 – 5 March 1967) was an Iranian politician, author, and lawyer who served as the 35th Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, after appointment by the 1950 Iranian legislative election ...
, in his campaign to nationalize
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
the Iranian oil industry in 1951.
Kashani served as speaker of the Majles
The Islamic Consultative Assembly ( fa, مجلس شورای اسلامی, Majles-e Showrā-ye Eslāmī), also called the Iranian Parliament, the Iranian Majles (Arabicised spelling Majlis) or ICA, is the national legislative body of Iran. The Pa ...
(or lower house of Parliament), during the oil nationalization, but later turned against Mosaddeq during the 1953 Iranian coup d'état
The 1953 Iranian coup d'état, known in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup d'état ( fa, کودتای ۲۸ مرداد), was the overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in favor of strengthening the monarchical rule of ...
. Kashani protected the violent Islamist group Fada'iyan-e Islam
Fadā'iyān-e Islam ( fa, فدائیان اسلام, also spelled as ''Fadayan-e Islam'' or in English "Fedayeen of Islam" or "Devotees of Islam" or literally "Self-Sacrificers of Islam") is a Shia fundamentalist group in Iran with a strong activi ...
, led by Navvab Safavi
Sayyid Mojtaba Mir-Lohi ( fa, سيد مجتبی میرلوحی, 1924 – 18 January 1956), more commonly known as Navvab Safavi ( fa, نواب صفوی), was an Iranian Shia cleric and founder of the Fada'iyan-e Islam group. He played a role in a ...
, after their expulsion from the Qom
Qom (also spelled as "Ghom", "Ghum", or "Qum") ( fa, قم ) is the seventh largest metropolis and also the seventh largest city in Iran. Qom is the capital of Qom Province. It is located to the south of Tehran. At the 2016 census, its popul ...
seminary by Ayatollah Hosein Borujerdi
Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Hossein Ali Tababataei Borujerdi (Luri/ fa, آیت الله العظمی سید حسین طباطبایی بروجردی; 23 March 1875 – 30 March 1961) was a leading Iranian Shia Marja' in Iran from approximately 1947 t ...
in 1950. The group then engaged in public assassinations in Tehran in the early 1950s.[James Buchan. ''Days of God: The Revolution in Iran and its Consequences'' pp. 65–6. Simon & Schuster. 2012.] On 17 February 1956, a month after the execution of the Navvab Safavi due to his killing of senior figures Kashani confessed to an army prosecutor his role in these murders stating ""I issued the Fatwa to kill Razmara, for I was a qualified Mojtahed." Then Kashani was detained and following his release from the prison he retired from politics.[ He died on 13 March 1962.][
]
References
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kashani, Abol-Ghasem
1882 births
1962 deaths
Iranian ayatollahs
National Front (Iran) MPs
Iranian elected officials who did not take office
Speakers of the National Consultative Assembly
Iranian politicians who have crossed the floor
Members of the 17th Iranian Majlis
Society of Muslim Warriors members
Pupils of Muhammad Kadhim Khorasani
20th-century Iranian politicians