Ebrahim Khan Zahir od-Dowleh ( fa, ابراهیم خان) was an
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
statesman from the
Qajar dynasty
The Qajar dynasty (; fa, دودمان قاجار ', az, Qacarlar ) was an IranianAbbas Amanat, ''The Pivot of the Universe: Nasir Al-Din Shah Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy, 1831–1896'', I. B. Tauris, pp 2–3 royal dynasty of Turkic peoples ...
. He is mostly known for his 22-year-old governorship of the
Kerman Province (1803-1824).
Life
Ebrahim Khan was from the Qawanlu (also spelled Qoyunlu) branch of the Qajar family; he was the son of Mehdi-Qoli Khan, who was the brother of the Qajar ruler
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar
Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar ( fa, آقا محمد خان قاجار, translit=Âqâ Mohammad Xân-e Qâjâr; 14 March 1742 – 17 June 1797), also known by his regnal name of Agha Mohammad Shah (, ), was the founder of the Qajar dynasty of Iran, rul ...
, and thus a paternal uncle of
Fath-Ali Shah
Fath-Ali Shah Qajar ( fa, فتحعلىشاه قاجار, Fatḥ-ʻAli Šâh Qâjâr; May 1769 – 24 October 1834) was the second Shah (king) of Qajar Iran. He reigned from 17 June 1797 until his death on 24 October 1834. His reign saw the irr ...
. Ebrahim Khan's mother was Asia Khanum, who was daughter of a certain Mohammad Khan Qawanlu. The date of Ebrahim Khan's birth is unknown, but he is known to have been a child when his father died during the siege of
Astarabad
Gorgan ( fa, گرگان ; also romanized as ''Gorgān'', ''Gurgān'', and ''Gurgan''), formerly Esterabad ( ; also romanized as ''Astarābād'', ''Asterabad'', and ''Esterābād''), is the capital city of Golestan Province, Iran. It lies appro ...
in 1783 by the
Zand Zand may refer to:
* Zend, a class of exegetical commentaries on Zoroastrian scripture
* Zand District, an administrative subdivision of Iran
* Zand Boulevard, in Shiraz, Iran
* Z And, a variable star
As a tribal/clan and dynastic name
* Zand trib ...
ruler
Karim Khan
Mohammad Karim Khan Zand ( fa, محمدکریم خان زند, Mohammad Karīm Khân-e Zand; ) was the founder of the Zand Dynasty, ruling from 1751 to 1779. He ruled all of Iran (Name of Iran, Persia) except for Khorasan Province, Khorasan. He ...
. After the early death of Ebrahim Khan's father, Agha Mohammad Khan married his mother, and then treated and raised Ebrahim Khan as one of his own sons along with his two nephews Fath-Ali Shah and Hosayn-Qoli Khan. In 1791, Ebrahim Khan married Fath-Ali Shah's eldest daughter Homayun Soltan. On 17 June 1797, Agha Mohammad Khan died and was succeeded by Fath-Ali Shah, who held Ebrahim Khan highly esteem and gave him the honorific title of "Zahir od-Dowleh" and "Ebrahim Khan-e Amu". Ebrahim was around this time appointed as the governor of
Khorasan
Khorasan may refer to:
* Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
* Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...
.
In 1803, Ebrahim Khan was appointed as the governor of
Kerman
Kerman ( fa, كرمان, Kermân ; also romanization of Persian, romanized as Kermun and Karmana), known in ancient times as the satrapy of Carmania, is the capital city of Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2011 census, its population was 821,394, in ...
, a region which had been subject to destruction by Agha Mohammad Khan and was troubled by the local rulers of the province. Ebrahim Khan greatly paid respect the province, and in the words of Mehrnoush Soroush, "undertook a comprehensive restoration plan and was remarkably successful in reconstructing socio-economic infrastructure and maintaining the political stability of Kerman and its surrounding regions."
He also requested Fath-Ali Shah to temporally free the province from tax in order to restore the economy of the province. Furthermore, Ebrahim Khan also successfully fought against the local rulers of the region, and thus secured the province from trouble, which the province able to resume trade. However, Ebrahim Khan also needed great manpower in order to restore the economy of the province, but because of the great population loss of the province during the campaigns of Agha Mohammad Khan, Ebrahim Khan was forced to ask for help from the inhabitants of the provinces close to Kerman, and managed to make many resettle in Kerman.
Furthermore, he patronized Islamic schools and invited religious scholars from
Khuzestan
Khuzestan Province (also spelled Xuzestan; fa, استان خوزستان ''Ostān-e Xūzestān'') is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the southwest of the country, bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf. Its capital is Ahvaz and it covers ...
,
Fars, and Khorasan. Some of these religious scholars were Shaikh Ne'mat-Allah Bahrayni, Shaikh Abd al-Hosayn Ahsa'i, Molla Ali A'ma, and
Sayyed
''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' ...
Kazem Rashti. Not only did he patronize religious scholars, but also did the same with poets, and himself made some poems under the pen name of Toghrol.
Death
In 1824, Ebrahim Khan appointed his eldest son Abbas-Qoli Mirza as his regent in Kerman and his other son Rostam Khan as his regent in
Bam, and, like some other governors, went to Iranian capital of
Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
in order to take place in a certain event. However, during his stay in Tehran, he died of illness. According to the author of the Ma'ather-e Soltaniya, "he was a young, good-humored, kind person."
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Ebrahim
Qajar princes
1824 deaths
Iranian royalty
1770s births
18th-century Iranian politicians
19th-century Iranian politicians
Qajar governors
Rulers of Kerman