War and Peace in Qajar Persia: Implications Past and ... - Oguzlar.az

Merchants without frontier 201Figure 8.7Jourabchi sisters (daughters of Hajj Hasan, and sisters of Hajj Mohammad-Taqi)(photo taken in the Pahlavi period, probably 1930s), from right to left:1. Soghra, married to Sadeq Reshad; 2. Robabeh, married to Mohammad-HosseinPartovi; 3. Fatemeh, married to Seyyed Mir-Mohammad Jourabchian-Haqqi;4. Rokhsareh, married to Mohammad-Hossien Harandian; 5. Ma’soumeh,married to Ebrahim ‘Abedi-Fard.anti-constitutionalist clerics. On the other hand, given the political dynamics,the very constitutional movement which merchants like the Jourabchibrothers sponsored or went along with, at times adversely impacted theirfortunes. For example, after the Russian ultimatums in 1911, a constitutionalistcampaign was waged to boycott the purchase of Russian and British goods,along with the use of Russian-owned trams, and the Imperial Bank. Theboycott had an adverse impact on transactions by those merchants (constitutionalistor otherwise) who imported Russian or British goods. Also, thebusiness of some merchants on either side of the revolutionary struggle hadperiodically been affected or even ruined by their political opponents, throughlooting and plunder or confiscation and extortion.In the social history of the late Qajar period, including the period of theConstitutional Revolution, the merchants clearly played a significant part.However, it cannot be overtly assumed that all that concerned them duringthe revolution revolved around the topic of politics; the Jourabchis clearlyfelt otherwise. In our assessment of the constitutional era, and in order togain a better understanding of Iranian society and its complexities at the time,this personal/social space deserves to be further studied on its own.