The Role of Merchants’ Endowments in Financing Religious and Social Affairs in the City of Sari during the Qajar Period: Based on Endowment Deeds

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD in the history of Islamic Iran, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Iranian Studies Foundation, Tehran, Iran.

10.30484/ganj.2025.3288

Abstract

Purpose: To analyze the role of Sarī merchants’ waqf in financing religious and social affairs during the Qajar period, based on waqf documents. This study primarily addresses how Sarī merchants contributed to the support and management of religious and social affairs through the institution of waqf, and investigates the motivations and socio-economic functions of these activities.
Method and Research Design: This study adopts a descriptive-analytical approach, based on Qajar-era waqf deeds of Sarī merchants. Data regarding properties and donors’ intentions were extracted from the archival documents and analyzed using qualitative content analysis.
Findings and Conclusion: Analysis of Qajar documents reveals that Sarī merchants financed a wide range of religious and social needs by waqf-ing diverse properties—including shops, gardens, villages, caravanserais, hammams, mills, and houses. The main purposes of these waqfs included organizing religious ceremonies such as mourning rituals for Imam al-Husayn (AS), commemorations of other Imams, supporting pilgrims to holy shrines, providing alms to the poor and wayfarers, assisting students, and funding religious texts. They also included maintenance of religious and public buildings. Thus, waqf in the Qajar period was not merely a religious act for Sarī merchants, but also a tool for social engagement and support of religious and communal affairs.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

English Translation of References
Documents
Ketāb-xāneh, Muzeh va Markaz-e Asnād-e Majles-e Šorā-ye Eslāmi (Kemām) (Library, Museum and Document Center of Iran Parliament):
“Sanad-e gozāreš-e kārgazār-e Vezārat-e Omur-e Xārejeh be Majles-e dovvom-e Šurā-ye Melli az qārat-e Ardebil dar sāl-e 1327 AH”. Document ID: 3-1/213365, 8 pages. [In Persian]
Books
Abrahamian, Ervand. (1377/1998). “Irān bein-e do enqelāb” (Iran between two revolutions). Translated by Ahmad Golmohammadi & Mohammad Ebrahim Fattahi. Tehran: Ney. [In Persian]
Amirkhizi, Esmaeel. (1339/1960). “Qiyām-e Āzarbāyjān va Sattār-xān” (The uprising of Azerbaijan and Sattar Khan). Tabriz: Ketāb-foruši-ye Tehran. [In Persian]
Aubin, Eugene. (1362/1983). “Irān-e emruz 1906 – 1907” (La Perse d’aujourd’hui, Iran, Mesopotamie 1906 – 1907) [Persia Today, Iran, Mesopotamia 1906 – 1907]. Translated and edited by Ali Asghar Saeedi. Tehran: Ketābforuši-ye Zovvār. [In Persian]
Babasafari, Ali Asghar. (1370/1991). “Ardebil dar gozargāh-e tārix” (Ardabil in the passageway of history) (Vol. 1). Ardebil: Dānešgāh-e Āzād-e Eslāmi-ye Ardebil (Ardabil Islamic Azad University). [In Persian]
Dehkhoda, Ali Akbar. (1377/1998). “Loqat-nāme-ye Dehkhodā” (Dehkhoda dictionary) (vol. 1). Tehran: Dānešgāh-e Tehran (University of Tehran). [In Persian]
Dolatabadi, Yahya. (1362/1983). “Hayāt-e Yahyā” (Yahya’s life) (vol. 3). Tehran: Ferdowsi. [In Persian]
Entner, Marvin L. (1369/1990). “Ravābet-e bāzargāni-ye Rus va Irān 1828-1914” (Russo-Persian commercial relations, 1828-1914). Translated by Ahmad Tavakkoli. Tehran: Bonyād-e Moqufāt-e Doktor Mahmud Afšār (Foundation of Doctor Mahmoud Afshar Yazdi’s Endowments). [In Persian]
Hassanzadeh, Nariman. (1386/2007). “Sattār-xān va Jonbeš-e Āzarbāyjān” (Sattar Khan and the Azerbaijan movement). Translated by Parviz Zare' Shah-Marasi. Tehran: Širāzeh. [In Persian]
Hedayat, Mehdi Gholi Khan. (1344/1965). “Xāterāt va xatarāt” (Memories and dangers). Tehran: Ketābforuši-ye Zawār. [Persian]
Houshang Mahdavi, Abdolreza. (1386/2007). “Tārix-e ravābet-e xāreji-ye Irān: Az ebtedā-ye Safavieh tā pāyān-e Jang-e Jahāni-ye Dovvom” (The foreign relations of Iran: From the beginning of the Safavid period to the end of World War II). Tehran: Amir Kabir. [In Persian]
Issavi, Charles. (1362/1983). “Tārix-e eqtesādi-ye Irān: ‘Asr-e Qājār 1215-1332 AH” (The economic history of Iran). Translated by Yaghoub Azhand. Tehran: Gostareh.  [In Persian]
Kasravi, Ahmad. (1385/2006). “Tārix-e hejdah-sāle-ye Āzarbāyejān” (The eighteenth-year history of Azerbaijan). Tehran: Kušeš. [Persian]
Kasravi, Ahmad. (1363/1984). “Tārix-e mašrute-ye Irān” (The constitutional history of Iran). Tehran: Amir Kabir & Franklin. [Persian]
“Ketāb-e ābi: Gozāreš-hā-ye mahramāne-ye vezārat-e omur-e xāreje-ye Engelis darbāre-ye enqelāb-e mašrute-ye Irān” (Blue book: Confidential reports of the British Foreign Office on the Constitutional Revolution of Iran) (vol. 3). (1362/1983). Edited by Ahmad Bashiri. Tehran: No. [In Persian]
“Ketāb-e nārenji: Gozāreš-hā-ye siāsi-ye vezārat-e ‘omur-e xārejeh-ye Rusie-ye Tezāri darbāre-ye enqelāb-e mašrute-ye Irān” (Orange book: Political reports of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tsardom of Russia on the Iranian constitutional revolution) (vols. 1 & 2). (1367/1988). Edited by Ahmad Bashiri. Tehran: Nur. [In Persian]
Mahmoud, Mahmoud. (1353/1974). “Tārix-e ravābet-e siāsi-ye Irān va Engelis dar qarn-e nuzdahom-e milādi” (History of Iran-Britain political relations in the nineteenth century) (vol. 8). Tehran: Eqbāl. [In Persian]
Malekzadeh, Mahdi. (1383/2004). “Tārix-e enqelāb-e mašrutiyat-e Irān” (The history of the constitutional revolution of Iran) (vols. 2 & 3 & 6). Tehran: Soxan. [In Persian]
Nazem Al-Eslam Kermani, Mohammad Mirza. (1362/1983). “Tārix-e bidāri-ye Irāniān” (History of the Iranian awakening) (sec. 2, vol. 4). Edited by Ali Akbar Saeedi Sirjani. Tehran: Āgāh. [In Persian]
Nikbakht, Rahim. (1386/2007). “Tahavvolāt-e Mantaqe-ye Ardebil: Az Mašrūteh tā Jang-e Jahāni-ye Avval” (Developments in the Ardabil region: From the constitution to World War I). Tehran: Vezārat-e Xārejeh (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). [In Persian]
Nouri, Sayyad. (1391/2012). “Tārix-e Ardebil dar ‘ahd-e Qājār (1340-1210 AH)” (History of Ardabil in the Qajar era). Ardebil: Mohaqqeq-e Ardebili. [In Persian]
“Qowqā-ye Tabriz: Roxdād-hā-ye Mašrūte-xāhi dar Tabriz az marg-e Nāser-ed-Din-Šāh tā Jang-e Jahāni-ye Avval 1313-1334 AH” (Turmoil in Tabriz: Events of the Constitutionalist Movement in Tabriz from the death of Naser al-Din Shah to World War I (1313 – 1334 AH / 1896 – 1915 AD)). (1404/2025). Author: Unknown. Edited by Gholamali Pashazadeh. Tehran: Mirāš-e Maktub. [In Persian]
Safayi, Ebrahim. (1382/2003). “Tārix-e Mašrūtiyat be Revāyat-e Asnād” (The history of the constitution as told by documents). Tehran: Irān-yārān. [In Persian]
Taherzadeh Behzad, Karim. (1333/1954). “Qiām-e Āzarbāyejān dar enqelāb-e mašrutiat-e Irān” (Azerbaijan uprising in the Iranian constitutional revolution). With introductions by Hassan Taghizadeh & Rezazadeh Shafagh. Tehran: Eqbāl. [In Persian]
Taghizadeh, Hassan. (1379/2000). “Tārix-e Enqelāb-e Mašrute-ye Irān” (A history of the Iranian constitutional revolution). Prepared by Azizollah Alizadeh. Tehran: Ferdows. [In Persian]
Tapper, Richard. (1384/2005). “Tārix-e siyāsi-ejtemā’ee-ye Šāhsavan-hā-ye Moqān” (Frontier nomads of Iran). Translated by Hasan Asadi. Tehran: Axtarān. [Persian]
Vijouyeh, Haji Mohammad Baqer. (2535/1976). “Balvā-ye Tabriz” (The Tabriz tumult). Prepared by Ali Katebi. Tehran: Ketāb-hā-ye Simorq dependent on Entešārāt-e Amir Kabir. [In Persian]
Wright, Denis. (1368/1989). “Irāniān dar miyān-e Engelisi-hā” (The Persians amongst the English: Episodes in Anglo -Persian history‏). Translated by Karim Emami. Tehran: Našr-e No va Zamineh. [Persian]
Articles
Ahmadzadeh, Mohammad Amir. (Summer 1394/2015). “Ahammiyat-e kārbord-e olgu-hā va raveš-hā-ye tahlil-e asnād dar pažuheš-hā-ye tārixi” (The importance of the application of models and methods to analyze the documents in historical research). Do-fasl-nāme-ye Tārix-negari va Tārix-negāri-ye Dānešgāh-e al-Zahrā (Historical Perspective & Historiography), Year 25, New Series, issue no. 15, pp. 5-33. [In Persian]
Shirinkam, Fereidoun. (Spring & Summer 1393/2014). “Kālbod-šekāfi-ye komision-e ‘arāyez dar jāme’eh-ye Irān; Bā negāhi be Ketāb-e ‘Asnād-e Qom dar dore-ye Pahlavi-ye Avval (Majles-e Šešom tā Davāzdahom-e Melli)” (An anatomy of the petitions commission in Iranian society; With a look at the book ‘Documents of Qom in the first Pahlavi period [the sixth to the twelfth national parliaments]’). Našriyeh-ye Asnād-e Bahārestān, New Series, issue no. 4, pp. 129-140. [In Persian]
Newspapers
“Irān-e No”: (issue no. 46, dated 6 Šavvāl 1327 AH / 15 November 1909 AD). [In Persian]
“Habl ol-Matin”: (Wednesday 10 Rajab 1327 AH/21 July 1909 AD, Rasht, issue no. 58, Year 3, p. 4). [In Persian]
“Sharq”: (22 Šavvāl 1327 AH / 31 December 1909, issue no. 27). [In Persian]
“Kāveh”: (Year 3, issue no. 27, dated 3 Rajab 1336 AH / 7 Āzar 1287 SH / 15 April 1918 AD). [In Persian]
Ganjine-ye Asnad
Volume 35, Issue 3 - Serial Number 139
September 2025
Pages 95-133

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 07 June 2025
  • Revise Date: 14 June 2025
  • Accept Date: 10 August 2025

Share

How to cite

Statistics