"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٣‎٥‎٠] (١٧٨٢/١٥٠٥)

The Mujtabicb or most emiuent theologieai doctors of the Shi'ahs,
a class whose authority was at that day very great wherever they
were found, were obliged at Karbala, though it was one of the two
principal seats of Shi'ah learning, to play a part subordinate to the
Yararajiz in local politics. Of their number the two most distinguish
ed were *Saiyid Kazim, Kashti, and Saiyid Ibrahim, Qazvini, between
whom there was bitter opposition and jealousy. Each of them enjoyed
the support of a body of Yaramaz, the Kashti relying on Saiyid
Ibrahim, Za'frani, and the Qazvini on Mirza Salih. The titular Governor,
Saiyid Wahhab, trimmed as best he could between his more distant
master the Pasha and his nearer masters the Y aramaz, inclining to an
alliance with Saiyid Ibrahim, among the latter, against the Persian
factions of Mirza Salih and Muhammad ^Ali Khan.
Such|was the constitution of the Karbaline Alsatia when, in the summer
of 1842, a new provincial ruler was appointed to Baghdad in the person
of Najib Pasha. The new Pasha was of sterner stuff than his immediate
predecessor; and, about two months after he had assumed the Govern
ment, the failure of the people of Karbala to furnish him with supplies
and their refusal to allow him to enter the town, even in the character of
a pilgrim, if accompanied by more than four or five attendants, provoked
him to insist on the reception by them of a Turkish military garrison
within their walls. This was about the end of October 1842. Najib
Pasha was at the time encamped at Musaiyib with Sa'dullah Pasha, the
Army Commandant, who was engaged with his troops upon drainage
works intended to make more accessible the watery fastnesses of the
rebellious Ma'dan tribes,—a fact which shows that Ottoman autho
rity was in abeyance in the neighbouring districts as wejil as in the town
of Karbala itself. Negotiations followed, and the Pasha was visited in
his camp by a deputation consisting of the Mujtahid Saiyid Kazim, the
titular Governor Saiyid Wahhab, the Zill-us-Sultan (a son of the late
Shah of Persia, then living as a refugee at Karbala), and others. At
their request the Pasha sent a Baghdad! named Haji ; Abdul" Kahman to
Karbala to mediate between him and the rebels ; and the chiefs of the
latter as well as the principal inhabitants, at first undertook in writing to
admit 500 soldiers into the town; but the agreement was torn up almost
as soon as signed. Meanwhile the chiefs of the Yaramaz, who were the
most strenuous advocates of resistance, as the Mujtahid Saiyid Kazim
and the Zill-us-Sultan were of submission, made active preparations for
* This Saiyid Kazim was the founder of the Shaikhi sect, which still exists, Muhammad
Aii, the founder of Babi-isin studied under him at Karbala. His grandsoB, Saiyid Qisim,
Rashti, Area at Karbala and owns much property there.