Ayatollah Modarres, martyr of struggle against despotism and colonialism

Today, the 1st of December is the martyrdom anniversary of a great scholar of Iran who opposed tyranny even if it meant death at the hands of the British-installed Pahlavi regime headed by the rootless, obscure, and unlettered soldier, Reza Khan.

This is yet another proof of the fact that throughout the history of Iran, religious scholars have played the greatest role in the grassroots struggles of the people in the way of freedom and justice. Many of these scholars have sacrificed their life in this way, thereby awakening the people and accelerating their struggle against despotism and colonialism. One of the most prominent scholars, who fought the dictatorial Pahlavi regime and foreign colonialism, was Ayatollah Seyyed Hassan Modarres. He was the scholar who stood steadfastly against the foreign occupation forces and their domestic agents.

Seyyed Hassan Modarres was born in 1870 in a village near Ardestan, a city in Isfahan province in a poor but religious family. He started his studies under his learned father and continued them at the seminary of Isfahan. After 13 years, he attained the status of Ijtehad, and left for holy Najaf in Iraq to continue his higher jurisprudential studies beside the holy shrine of Imam Ali (AS), the Vicegerent of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny).

For seven years, Modarres attended the classes of eminent ulema of Najaf, including the brilliant master of Islamic sciences Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hassan Shirazi, famous for his fatwa against the British bid to monopolize tobacco cultivation in Iran. He was 35 years old when he returned to Isfahan as an outstanding jurist and Mujtahid, simultaneous with developments of the Constitutional Movement. He announced his support for the movement against the despotism of the Qajar dynasty. Some twenty years later when the British replaced the Qajar dynasty with the upstart Pahlavi led by their illiterate Reza Khan Mir Panj, he strongly opposed the move.

Ayatollah Modarres had learnt from Islamic teachings which lay emphasis on political and social issues as well that a Muslim has social responsibilities and his duties are not limited to acts of worship. The practice and behavior of the Prophet and his Infallible Successors show that they were never indifferent to the fate of the society. Prominent ulema too, have always tried to solve the problems of the people in the face of the propaganda of colonial powers, especially Britain, to separate religion from politics, because of their fears that if devoted Muslims actively involve themselves in political affairs, the foreign-installed regimes would be ousted. This would end the British pillaging of the resources of Muslim lands. Ayatollah Modarres, sensing the great danger of separation of religion and politics, used to say: “Our politics are the same as our religiosity; and our religiosity is the same as our politics.”

Ayatollah Modarres entered the arena of politics as a conscious religious scholar. According to the Constitution of that era, it was the duty of 5-member board of jurisprudents to supervise the laws of parliament to determine whether these are compliant with the Islamic criteria. Ayatollah Seyyed Hassan Modarres was one of these jurisprudents. Thus, in 1909, he came to Tehran and in his first speech at the parliament invited everyone to national unity and cooperation in order to achieve the goals of Constitutional Movement for serving the people. But the parliament was closed down due to the Russian bid to re-impose despotism on Iran.

Ayatollah Modarres, used the opportunity to organize the affairs of religious seminaries in order to groom conscious and insightful students for the future of the country. His house became a place of commutation of people and resolving of their problems. The high number of votes of the people, especially of the holy city of Mashhad for Ayatollah Modarres in the various rounds of the parliament, despite rigging by the regime, indicated his high position among the masses. He was one of the real defenders of the rights of the Iranian people, both inside the parliament and outside; hence he was the target of assassination attempts several times. Another factor which endeared him to the masses was his simple way of life in conformity with the lower strata of the society. His astuteness and lack of dependence on material attachments made him a very brave combatant against oppression and colonialism.

Being aware of the international developments and the history of crimes of colonialists, Ayatollah Modarres believed that no colonial government had the right to meddle in the internal affairs of Iran or any other country. During the First World War, the Iranian government declared neutrality which enraged both the Russians and the British. The armies of these two empires occupied vase swathes of Iran’s soil in the north and the south and massacred many people. In those days, with the endeavours of Ayatollah Modarres, many religious and national dignitaries got the impetus to form the National Defence Committee to prevent further calamities in the country. This move, however, failed due to the advancement of the invading forces and Modarres had to leave for Ottoman Turkey where he resided for two years.

On his return to Iran, Ayatollah Modarres strongly opposed the 1919 accord imposed by Britain through the traitorous premier, Vosuq od-Dowla. According to the accord, the affairs and resources of the country would entirely be under British control.

The strong oppositions of the ulema and the awareness of people, however, forced the Qajarid dynasty to implement the unilateral accord. After the failure of this plot, the British hatched another plot to bolster their influence in Iran. On February 1921, they ordered their agent, the illiterate soldier Reza Khan to stage a coup. This cruel person, who at first had been appointed Minister of War, started oppressing the Iranian people. Ayatollah Modarres strongly opposed him.  

When Reza Khan announced changing of the system of government from constitutional to presidency, Ayatollah Modarres sensed Britain’s scheme to install him as dictator. He embarked on enlightening the ulema and people about the real purpose of the British making Reza Khan retreat from the scheme of formation of a so-called presidential system. Soon, however, the British came up with the idea of installing Reza Khan as the new king in place of the Qajarid dynasty.

The religious and national leaders, led by Ayatollah Modarres, strongly opposed this anti-Constitutional move. In the 6^th parliamentary elections, which were supervised by Reza Khan, who rigged the vote to enable several of his supporters to become members of parliament; but Ayatollah Modarres succeeded in garnering the highest number of votes from Tehran constituency to retain his own parliamentary seat. He now continued his struggles against Reza Khan more strongly. He was several times beaten by the hired agents of the regime and was a target of assassination attempts, which he was lucky to escape. The crafty British finally succeeded in installing Reza Khan as king through their agents in the parliament. Ayatollah Modarres, however, continued his opposition to the illegal Pahlavi regime, to the extent that a hysteric Reza Khan said: “Why don’t you let go of me? What do you want of me?” Ayatollah Modarres answered him very tersely but bravely, “I don’t want you as ruler of the country.”

He also said: “If you see that I express my opinion freely on many secrets and fearlessly tell the truth, it is because I don’t want anything from anyone.”

He also stressed, “God has saved me from two things: fear and greed. Anyone who is compliant with national interests and religious affairs I am with him; or else I will oppose him.”

Ayatollah Modarres’ relentless campaign made Reza Khan lose his patience and announce in the next round of parliamentary elections that this scholar hadn’t gained a single vote. But Ayatollah Modarres bravely replied: “Why don’t you announce even the one vote that I had voted for myself?”

Reza Khan was scared of Ayatollah Modarres’ charismatic influence and love among people. Therefore, he ordered him to be exiled to Khaaf in the east of the country and seven years later on December 1, 1937, he instructed his agents to martyr this great combatant and brilliant scholar.

Over decades later, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), who overthrew the illegitimate British-installed and American-backed Pahlavi regime, described the great character of Ayatollah Modarres in this way:

“Our great martyr, Modarres, for whom epithets are deficient and small, was a bright star on the horizon of the country at a time when darkness prevailed due to the oppression and injustice of Reza Khan. No one can understand the worth and value of this lofty personality unless he had experienced that period. Our nation is indebted to his services and sacrifices.”

RM/AS/ME