'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part IA & IB. J G Lorimer. 1915' [‎1608] (1763/1782)

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tions," from which Colouel Tweedie deduced " the impossibility of a
[too] hard and fast line being drawn between, so to speak, the Bachelor
and the Master of (theologic) Arts." He also submitted two lists,
obtained from different sources, of persons at Karbala and Najaf reputed
to be Mujtahids ; but he did not oomment on them. With reference to
the practical suggestion conveyed in the Government of India's letter he
remarked :
One thing may be ranked with the impossible, and that is, that the body of
Karbala and Najef Mujtahids, or so-called Mujtahids, shall ever, whether under the
lead^ of this Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. or independently, act in concert, like a Committee, for the
partition of the money among themselves, or for its dispensation to the poor. The
prevailing feeling among them one towards another is too surcharged with odium
theologicum and scholastic rivalry to admit of that. If a meeting of them were to be
convened for such a purpose, they would not attend it, but each send a servant. This
Mujtahid s adherents and expectants and the other's would at the same time hang about
the meeting place : any day a tumult might happen.
Further
discussions,
enquiry by
Major
Jennings,
and opinion
of Colonel
Mockler,
1892.
Colonel Tweedie had already, in February 1891, expressed the
important opinion that a mere change of the personnel of the Mujtahid-
Distributors would be useless, saying : " as far as I can judge, the
expedient of appointing other than the present Mujtahid distributors,
even were we quite free to try it, would yield no better results."
Colonel Mockler, who succeeded Colonel Tweedie in the Baghdad
Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. , was requested demi-officially, in January 1892, to inform the
Government of India of his opinion in regard to the practical points
at issue in the case, viz., the proposed distribution of the proceeds of the
Bequest among a number of Mujtahids at Karbala and Najaf instead of
their payment to one Mujtahid at each place, and the proposed abolition
(by a process of gradual reduction) of the separate Indian Fund, parti
cularly of the branch of it at Kadhimain.
In March 1892 Major K. H. Jennings, Assistant Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at
Basrah, visited Baghdad, and Colonel Mockler took the opportunity to
obtain fresh information in regard to opinion and feeling at Karbala
through him. In the meantime the Mujtahid Distributor at Karbala,
Mirza Abul Qasim, had died, and Colonel Mockler had appointed his
son Saiyid Muhammad Baqir, Tabatabayi, in his place. Major Jennings,
who was accompanied by Mr. Townley, Secretary of Her Britannic
Majesty's Legation at Tehran, then travelling in the country, was in
structed to interview, if possible. Shaikh Zain-ul-'Abidin, the greatest
Mujtahid of the day at Karbala, who was understood to have telegraphed
to the Government of India alleging that Saiyid Muhammad was not a
Mujtahid. In this mission Major Jennings was successful; the Shaik