Persian Empire 1845

Chapter 597 Seeking Support
“Shah, Mr. Mousavi has arrived.” The chief guard knocked gently on the door.

When Naserdin looked up, he saw a man in a suit standing in the doorway, his cuffs dusty from his speech at the university that morning.

“Shah.” Musawi bowed. Nasser al-Din gestured for him to sit down and poured him a cup of coffee with sugar cubes. “I heard that after your speech in Parliament, conservative clerics have already posted a ‘repeating order’ against you in the mosque.”

“They said in parliament that they would hang me.” Mousavi took the coffee, his fingertips slightly warm. “But the dockworkers in Basra told me that they used mutual aid funds to buy winter clothes for their children, which reassured me more than any death threat.”

As the bell tolled seven times, members of parliament from the Progressive Party and the National Liberal Party began to arrive. The twelve Progressive Party members had just entered the corridor when they heard arguing coming from the next room.

The Whig leader was arguing with members of the Fatherland Party, and the noise was so loud it could penetrate the oak walls.

“It seems everyone has arrived.” Naserdin walked up to the group.

"I've heard about what happened in Parliament. It's really unexpected that a bill meant for the country and its people was rejected."

The Progressive Party leader immediately stood up: "Your Majesty, we are willing to submit the bill again, but the conservatives in the House of Lords will never budge. Last time, they voted against it without even listening to the debate."

“This time we’ll try a different approach. Waqf has 3,000 acres of cotton fields in Isfahan, half of which were abandoned last year because no one was cultivating them. I’ve already asked the Ministry of Finance to draft a new plan: not confiscation, but ‘trusteeship.’ The government will rent these lands at a rate of 3% per year, and all the rent will be invested in the mutual aid association, which will be managed by Mr. Mousavi’s team.”

Mousavi looked up sharply: "Trust? That would avoid the accusation of 'blasphemy against Vakhf'."

“But the priests will certainly say that we are encroaching on the territory,” the Whig MP hesitated. “Last Friday, Ayatollah said at the congregational prayer that not even a single leaf of a Waqf should fall into the hands of a heretic.”

“Then let’s invite them to oversee it. Let the religious court send representatives to join the mutual aid society’s management committee, and every expenditure must be approved by them. Don’t they say that the Vakf is sacred and inviolable? Let them see for themselves how these assets are used to help believers.”

At one o'clock in the morning, the lights in the warm room were still on. The group finally finalized the details of the plan: the government would take the lead in establishing the "Wakf Trusteeship Committee," whose members would include representatives of the religious court, members of parliament from various factions, and representatives of the mutual aid society; the land under trusteeship would be leased to landless farmers first, with 70% of the rent used to distribute relief funds and 30% invested in textile mills and flour mills to provide jobs for the unemployed.

“I will see Fakih in person tomorrow morning,” said Religious Affairs Minister Said, rubbing his throbbing temples. “If he is willing to back down, there will be less resistance from the Senate.”

As Naserdin watched his weary figure, he suddenly remembered a sentence he had read in a history book before his time travel: "History is not written by heroes, but pushed forward by countless ordinary people who want their families to live."

The next morning, when Saeed entered the mosque with the new plan, Fakih Muhammad, who had been chosen, was sitting on the pulpit covered with a wool carpet, his hands holding prayer beads. Sunlight streamed through the stained-glass windows, casting dappled shadows on his black robe.

"You want the government to take over the land of Vakhf?" His voice was like water from an ancient well, cold and deep. "Not take over, but protect." Said handed over the proposal. "There are three members of the Inquisition on the committee, and every expenditure must be reviewed by them. You can send your most loyal followers to supervise and see if the money is really being used for relief."

Although the power of Shia scholars has been diminished, some aspects have been retained. They maintain their authority through members of parliament and religious courts.

“Interesting,” Muhammad chuckled. “The Prophet was right. Waqf was used to relieve the poor, but you want to fill the national treasury.”

“Wakoff was indeed used for relief, and there is precedent for this.”

Said cited the example of the Ottoman ruler Mehmed III three hundred years ago, when the government was facing financial difficulties and incorporated some of the Waqf into the national treasury. Now, Mahmoud II has taken back all the Waqf in the country, so Iran can naturally do the same.

"You're comparing the Ottoman Empire to Iran? The national conditions of Iran and the Ottoman Empire are different, so naturally their methods of operation are also different."

Muhammad paused, his hand hovering over the prayer beads, the light and shadow on his black robe flickering with his movement. “The Prophet desires that Waqf be protected by faith, not by politicians in suits and officials calculating interest.” He picked up a yellowed copy of the Waqf Code from the pulpit. “It states that every grain of Waqf should be distributed to believers by religious figures themselves. Your committee has members of parliament, and those ordinary people shouting ‘reform,’ do they understand what is sacred?”

"They know how to keep children from starving."

These words left Muhammad speechless; who wouldn't love a child?

Said pressed his advantage. "Do you remember the Wakov orchard in Kerman ten years ago?" he said softly. "The fruit trees in the orchard were almost dead, and none of the priests knew how to take care of them. In the end, it was the nearby farmers who took the initiative to prune the branches, water and fertilize, which allowed the trees to bear fruit. Those farmers were not religious people, but they cherished the Wakov property more than anyone else, because it was their hope for survival."

Muhammad fell silent. Sunlight streamed through the stained-glass windows, casting red, blue, and yellow dappled patterns on the carpet before him, like scattered jewels. He turned his rosary beads and suddenly asked, "Who are the members of the mutual aid society?"

“There are dockworkers, weavers, and tenant farmers,” Sayed replied immediately. “Mr. Mousavi knows them and says they are all honest people. Last year, the mutual aid society bought cotton clothes for orphans with money they raised. They don’t understand the legal code, but they know that the land in Waqf should not be left barren and the money in Waqf should not lie in the warehouse and mold.”

Muhammad didn't speak. After a long while, he sighed, "You've won!"

With Fakih's agreement, things became much easier. The government announced that the bill would be revoked in four days, and a religious judge on the Supreme Court had to retire due to health reasons, while another liberal religious judge was promoted. Najaf's religious judges were also completely replaced. The whole process was smooth and without any delays.

(End of this chapter)