![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎341r] (684/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0695.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎341r] (684/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [341r] (684/1814)
The record is made up of 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios). It was created in 1892-1924. It was written in English, Urdu and German. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
453
“"“r*'««%
and it,, „i
lts admi n
is well 1
> amon ;
t ' le religi
1 tlle Moha
!dent i that
is adminis-
,wn as the S
urisprudenci
onably p rac
the needs
iar > or Ecclesiastical
t in the Koran ; 0 f
nns, whose voice in
"dans is of scarcelj
aries of a school of
have played much
the national juris-
Ii the Common Law
the Hebrew system,
modified and divided
ous rites and duties,
1 affairs, and with
law is administered
, i.e. lay priests and
isted sometimes by
i official, known as
appointed to every
the chief of this
adur, or Pont*
e king and pl»
but the
ofaB
own ctf'
jnd co®-
Persia
THE GOVERNMENT
over the entire priesthood and judicial bench of the kingdom.
But this office was abolished in his anti-clerical campaign by
Nadir Shah, and has never been renewed. In smaller centres of
population and villages, the place of this court is taken by the local
mullah or mullahs, who, for a consideration, are always ready with
a text from the Koran. In the case of the higher courts, the
decision is invariably written out, along with the citation from the
Scriptures, or the commentators, upon which it is based. Cases of
extreme importance are referred to the more eminent mujtaheds,
of whom there is never a large number, who gain their position
solely by eminent learning or abilities, ratified by the popular
approval, and whose decisions are seldom impugned. Those who
have been brought into contact with these distinguished doctors
have expressed a high opinion of their general integrity and of the
merciful inclination of their sentences. In works upon the theory
of the law in Persia, it is commonly written that criminal cases
are decided by the ecclesiastical, and civil cases by the secular,
courts. In practice, however, there is no such clear distinction;
the functions and the prerogative of the co-ordinate benches vary
at different epochs, and appear to be a matter of accident or choice
i ather than of necessity ; and at the present time, though criminal
cases of difficulty may be submitted to the ecclesiastical court,
yet it is with civil matters that they are chiefly concerned.
Questions of heresy or sacrilege are naturally referred to them ;
they also take cognisance of adultery and divorce; and intoxica
tion as an offence, not against the common law (indeed, if it were
a matter of precedent, insobriety could present the highest
credentials in Persia), but against the Koran, falls within the scope
of their judgment.
I have remarked that the authority of the ecclesiastical courts
has varied at different epochs of history. The reason is to be
Abridg- sought in each case in the character and predilections of
authority the . soverei g 1 b according to whose bigotry or liberal
sentiments the Shar or the Urf has been invoked to
settle both civil and criminal cases. Sometimes the mullahs and
mujtaheds have been supreme; at others, as in the reign of Nadir
Shah, they have been superseded and ignored. What I have said
about the policy and inclinations of the reigning Shah will have
prepared my readers for the statement that, during the present
reign, they have suffered a steady decline. This new departure
About this item
- Content
These two volumes are George Curzon's own personal annotated copies of both volumes of his book Persia and the Persian Question , which was published in 1892. Alongside the volumes are various loose papers relating to Persia [Iran], consisting of the following: received correspondence; newspaper cuttings; publishers' press releases; cuttings from various booksellers' catalogues; various journal and magazine articles; two items of printed official British correspondence; several prints of photographs and sketches; and a few handwritten notes by Curzon.
In most cases these papers, which range in date from 1892 to 1924, relate to the chapters in the book where they were originally inserted, suggesting that they were kept by Curzon with the intention of using them to inform a revised edition of the book.
Of particular note among the small amount of correspondence are two letters received by Curzon in 1914 and 1915 from retired schoolmaster and Islamic scholar Sayyid Mazhar Hasan Musawi of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India (ff 5-9 and ff 44-53). These letters, which are written in Urdu and are accompanied by English translations, discuss in detail several inaccuracies found in the Urdu version of Persia and the Persian Question .
The various prints of photographs and sketches, which were originally inserted into volume two, are of different locations in the Gulf region. Several of these appear to have been produced in preparation for the publication of the second volume of John Gordon Lorimer's Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Oman and Central Arabia (i.e. the 'Geographical and Statistical' section) in 1908, as they are identical to the versions found in that volume.
Also of note among the loose papers are an illustrated article from Country Life dated 5 June 1920, entitled 'The People of Persia' (ff 36-37), and a printed family tree of the Shah of Persia [Aḥmad Shah Qājār], produced in preparation of his visit to Britain in 1919 (f 233).
Volume one of Persia and the Persian Question contains a map of Persia, Afghanistan and Beluchistan [Balochistan], which is folded inside the front cover (f 1).
The German language material consists of a publisher's press release for two books authored by German archaeologist Ernst Emil Herzfeld (ff 29-30).
- Extent and format
- 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: this shelfmark consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the first folio of volume one (1-463), and terminates at the last folio of volume two (ff 464-898); these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Each volume contains a large number of loose leaves, which have been foliated in the order that they were inserted into the volume; for conservation reasons, these loose folios have been removed from the volume and stored separately. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers of the two volumes.
Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English, Urdu and German in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [341r] (684/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x00005b> [accessed 5 April 2025]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/33
- Title
- Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Questionby George Curzon, with Inserted Papers
- Pages
- 54r:135v, 147r:149v, 158r:180v, 183r:221v, 224r:224v, 227r:246v, 248r:257v, 259r:260v, 268r:362v, 364r:364v, 367r:388v, 390r:400v, 402r:416v, 419r:432v, 434r:444v, 448r:462v, 464r:471v, 475r:481v, 483r:513v, 516r:525v, 527r:544v, 546r:563v, 566r:598v, 600r:622v, 624r:656v, 658r:665v, 667r:675v, 678r:684v, 687r:688v, 691r:691v, 693r:693v, 695r:708v, 711r:721v, 724r:726v, 728r:729v, 731r:736v, 742r:742v, 746r:757v, 759r:761v, 763r:763v, 765r:765v, 772r:777v, 780r:789v, 793r:794v, 797r:809v, 811r:821v, 825r:840v, 843r:898v
- Author
- Curzon, George Nathaniel, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
- Usage terms
- Public Domain