‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎247v] (501/722)

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to their prejudices and to their system of government, the ‘ urf/ or
customary law. But the administration of this law has always varied with
the power and disposition of the monarch. There have been periods in the
history of Persia when the religious zeal of the sovereign has caused almost
every case to be referred to the ecclesiastical judges; and at others the
whole authority has been vested in the secular magistrates. We may
safely conclude that the latter are prove to encroach upon the privileges of
the former; and as they possess power, they can seldom be at a loss for
pretexts to justify their proceedings.
The ecclesiastical order pretend that the shara, or divine law, which
they administer, should take cognizance of all cases whatever; while the
courts of c urf/ or customary law, supported by the temporal power, have
succeeded in limiting their functions to the settlement of disputes about
religious ceremonies, inheritance, marriage, divorce, contiacts, sales, and
all 'civil cases : it reserves to itself the decision on all proceedings respect
ing murder, theft, fraud, and every crime that is capital, or that can be
called a breach of the public peace. .
Before the reign of Nadir Shah, the hierarchy of Persia enjoyed
power and wealth. The chief pontiff, or sadr-us-sadur, was deemed the
vicar of the Imam, and exercised a very extended authority. The priest
hood were all subordinate to this spiritual ruler, who resided at court, and
nominated, with the approbation of the sovereign, the principal judges of
the kiimdom. The lands with which the different mosques and charitable
buildings were endowed, produced a veiy great revenue; and the office
instituted for the management of these funds acted entirely under the
direction of the sadr-us-sadur, or nawab An honorific title; an official acting as a provincial deputy ruler in South Asia; or a significant Muslim landowner in nineteenth century India. , as he was sometimes called,
in allusion to his office as lieutenant of the holy Imam. The policy of
Shah Abbas the Great made him desire to abolish an office which vested so
great a power in the individual who filled it; and on the occurrence of the
death of the chief pontiff, no successor was nominated. But his grandson
and successor, Shah Safi, who feared to persevere in this measure, adopted
the expedient of appointing two persons to this high dignity. He thought
by dividing the power to diminish the influence of those by whom it was
enjoyed. One of these pontiffs was distinguished by the name of the
sadr-us-sadur-i-khass, which signifies *' the personal or king's chief pontiff
the other was called sadr-us-sadur-i-am, or ‘ the chief pontiff of the
people/ The former took the rank of the latter, though their duties were
nearly the same. Nadir Shah not only abolished this office altogether, but
seized, as has been related, the lands appropriated to the support of eccle
siastical establishments, in order to pay his troops. These lands have never
been fully restored; and the hierarchy of Persia is not likely to regain
that wealth and power which it once possessed.
The order of chief priests, who are named c mujtahids/ have always
existed in Persia; but since the abolition of the station of sadr-us-sadur,
they have attained a greater degree of power than they before pos
sessed. It is not easy to describe persons, who fill no office, receive no
appointment, who have no specific duties; but who are called, from their
superior learning, piety, and virtue, by the silent but unanimous suffrage
of the inhabitants of the country in which they live, to be their guides
in religion and their protectors against the violence and oppression of their
rulers, and who receive, from those by whose feelings they are elevated, a
respect and duty which lead the proudest kings to joiu the popular voice