Mirza Mohammad Taher Vahid Qazvini ( fa, محمد طاهر وحید قزوینی; died 1700), was a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

bureaucrat, poet, and historian, who served as the

grand vizier Grand vizier ( fa, وزيرِ اعظم, vazîr-i aʾzam; ota, صدر اعظم, sadr-ı aʾzam; tr, sadrazam) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. The office of Grand Vizier was first ...

of two

Safavid Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...

monarchs, Shah Suleiman () and the latter's son

Soltan Hoseyn Soltan Hoseyn ( fa, شاه سلطان حسین, Soltān-Hoseyn; 1668 – 9 September 1727) was the Safavid shah of Iran from 1694 to 1722. He was the son and successor of Shah Solayman (). Born and raised in the royal harem, Soltan Hoseyn ascen ...

() from 1691 to 1699. He is also notable for writing the ''Abbas-nama'', the principal Iranian source regarding the events during the reign of

Shah Abbas II Abbas II (; born Soltan Mohammad Mirza; 30 August 1632 – 26 October 1666) was the seventh Shah of Safavid Iran, ruling from 1642 to 1666. As the eldest son of Safi and his Circassian wife, Anna Khanum, he inherited the throne when he was ni ...

().

Background

A native of

Qazvin Qazvin (; fa, قزوین, , also Romanized as ''Qazvīn'', ''Qazwin'', ''Kazvin'', ''Kasvin'', ''Caspin'', ''Casbin'', ''Casbeen'', or ''Ghazvin'') is the largest city and capital of the Province of Qazvin in Iran. Qazvin was a capital of the ...

, Taher Vahid was born around 1621. He was of Tajik (

)

Sayyid ''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Prophets in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali ...

ancestry, and belonged to a family that was notable for occupying the office of ''vaqa'i-nevis'' (court registar). His father Mirza Mohammad had occupied the office under

Shah Abbas I Abbas I ( fa, ; 27 January 157119 January 1629), commonly known as Abbas the Great (), was the 5th Safavid Shah (king) of Iran, and is generally considered one of the greatest rulers of Iranian history and the Safavid dynasty. He was the third so ...

(), and Taher Vahid would also later occupy it.

Career

Taher Vahid served as a chronicler during the reign of

(), composing the ''Abbas-nama'', the principal Iranian source regarding the events during the reign of Shah Abbas II. In March 1691, Shah Suleiman () appointed Taher Vahid as his vizier, following a one year and a half vacancy of the office. The previous grand vizier had been

Shaykh Ali Khan Zanganeh Shaykh Ali Khan Zanganeh ( fa, شیخ علی خان زنگنه, died 1689), was an Iranian statesman of Kurdish origin, who served as the grand vizier of the Safavid king (''shah'') Suleiman I (r. 1666–1694) from 1669 to 1689. Due to his effort ...

. After Taher Vahid's appointment, Shah Suleiman asked his opinion on the most pressing matters of the country, which Taher Vahid replied to by mentioning four serious problems that needed attention: the pay of the army of Iran, fiscal reform, unoccupied offices, and the renewal of trade. Shah Suleiman responded by increasing Taher Vahid's administrative authority to a unmatched level. Taher Vahid continued to serve as vizier under Shah Suleiman's son and successor,

(). Taher Vahid, as well to a lesser degree the court steward (''nazer'') Najafqoli Khan, were the main counselors of Soltan Hoseyn during his early reign. In May 1699, Soltan Hoseyn dismissed Taher Vahid, supposedly due to the latters old age. He replaced him with the ''eshik-aqasi-bashi''

Mohammad Mo'men Khan Shamlu Mohammad Mo'men Khan Shamlu ( fa, محمدمؤمن خان شاملو), was a Turkoman nobleman from the Shamlu tribe, who served as the ''vizier'' of the Safavid king (''shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historicall ...

, who, however, was also advanced in age. Taher Vahid died in 1700.

Poetry

Taher Vahid was also a poet, composing 35,000 verses in various genres. He also known to have sent poems to the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

, although they have not been published yet. Based on Taher Vahid's writings, the modern historian Sunil Sharma comments that "it is evident that his role in the intellectual and literary life of seventeenth-century

Persianate A Persianate society is a society that is based on or strongly influenced by the Persian language, culture, literature, art and/or identity. The term "Persianate" is a neologism credited to Marshall Hodgson. In his 1974 book, ''The Venture of Is ...

circles was not at all insignificant."

Hamid Dabashi Hamid Dabashi ( fa, حمید دباشی; born 1951) is an Iranian-American professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York City. He is the author of over twenty books. Among them are ''Theology of Disc ...

lists Taher Vahid amongst some of the leading Iranian poets of the Indian style who had never visited India, along with Shafi'i Mashhadi, Asir-e Esfahani and Shaukat Bukhari. Taher Vahid is also known to have composed poetry in

Azeri Turkish Azerbaijani () or Azeri (), also referred to as Azeri Turkic or Azeri Turkish, is a Turkic language from the Oghuz sub-branch spoken primarily by the Azerbaijani people, who live mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan where the North Azerbaijan ...

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mohammad Taher Vahid Qazvini Grand viziers of the Safavid Empire 17th-century Iranian politicians 1620s births 1700 deaths People from Qazvin 17th-century Persian-language poets Turkish poets 17th-century people of Safavid Iran