IRDC.IR: Tobacco regie, a contact between Iran's government and English Major Talbot, was considered as a colonial contract and brought transports of rage among Iranian nation. Soon they began a widespread protest which lasted for more than 300 days. Eventually, by Mirza Shirazi's fatwa Qajar government and British colonialsits withdrew.
People's resistance against Tobacco regie
The opposition striked from Fars Province. The leader was Haj Seyyed Aliakbar Faal Asiri. Amin-ol-doleh, from Qajar court, has written with anger:" The clergymen started to blame the government and Haj Aliakbar Asiri was the first to do so. He discredited the government and the crown in Shiraz".
The second city was Tabriz. People didn't let the board sent by the company enter the city. The headquarters of the crusade was Mirza Javad Tabrizi's house. In Isfahan, people complained to the governers in the first place. They got no answer so they turned to clergymen. With the leadership of Aqa Najafi, All of them boycotted tobacco. There were also protests in Qazvin, Yazd, Kashan and in Khorasan, people closed the shops and Bazaar and held rallies following Haj Sheikh Mohammadtaqi Bojnourdi and Haj Mirza Habib Mojtahed Shahidi. Tehran had an important role in Tobacco movement, due to its political relations and economic importance, and the leader was such a great scholar called Mirza Hassan Ashtiani.
The fatwa of boycotting Tobacco
Mirza Shirazi issued the tafwa: "Today, smoking tobacco by any means, means fighting against Imam Mahdi (a.s.)"
Historical reports reflect the impact of this fatwa: "IT spread all over the country by noon. Tommorow morning everyone of any age".
Even the court of King Naser-al-din obeyed the fatwa: "It had found its way deep into hearts so that the court, with such diffrent ideas, agreed on obeying. By friday evening, smoking hookahs couldn't be seen anywhere, neither in the court, nor in administrations, coffee houses or barracks". And "even Jews and Christians didn't smoke in public place, following Islam's order".
People and clergies together, in May 14, 1981, repudiated the concession of Tobacco. Naser-al-din was so afraid of the impact of fatwa, and he handed a note to Amin-ol-Sultan: "The domestic concession was repudiated few days ago. And we've done so to foreign concession too and everything is back to the way they used to be. Inform all clergies and people and assure them about that".
