Event of Goharshad Mosque: Difference between revisions

The '''Event of Goharshād mosque''' refers to gathering of the people of [[Mashhad]] in [[Goharshad mosque]] objecting to the law of dress code change which was suppressed by government forces. This gathering was made in July 1935 during the rule of [[Reza Shah]]. The main reason of this sitting demonstration was objecting to the obligation of wearing chapeaus and the policies of changes in dress code and also house arrest of [[Ayatollah Sayyid Husayn Tabataba'i Qummi]].

In this gathering, [[Shaykh Muhammad Taqi Buhlul]] gave a speech and a fight happened between people and government forces. This sitting was heavily suppressed and more than 1600 people were killed and injured. After this event, distinguished clerics of Mashhad were arrested and exiled and also some managers of offices in Mashhad were changed.

One of the cultural policies of Reza Shah was dress code change he followed during the years after stabilization of his power. The law of dress code unity of Iranian citizens inside the country was approved in the national parliament on December 31, 1928. According to this bill, except some clerics, all Iranian citizens inside Iran had to wear unified dress code.

On April 03, 1935, a festival was held in Shiraz with the presence of Ali Asghar Hekmat, the minister of Ma’aref. In a part of this festival, some girls went on the stage and all of a sudden removed their masks and began dancing to orchestra. Some of the audience left the session in objection and the next day some people gathered in Wakil mosque and Sayyid Hisam al-Din Fali gave a speech for them and condemned what was done in the festival. Fali was arrested and imprisoned.

The order for changing Pahlavi hat to “international hat” called Chapeau was sent for Fath Allah Pakravan, the governor of Khurasan. Without any hesitation, he implemented the order of Reza Shah and issued definite orders to police of Khurasan and other offices. According to Muhammad Ali Shoushtari, the secret reporter of the time of Reza Shah who had a mission in Mashhad,

“implementation of the order in Mashhad was somehow difficult in Mashhad, because secret agents, religious people and neighbors of the shrine had entered a challenge. The phrase ‘one who becomes like to some people, he is one of them’ was used and secretly and publicly made objections.”

Scholars of Mashhad held several sessions for discussing about this bill. In one of these sessions which was held in the house of Ayatullah Sayyid Yunus Ardabili, it was suggested that Ayatullah Husayn Qummi goes to Tehran and speaks with Reza Khan about cessation of implementation of this bill and changing the dress code. On June 28th or 29th, he went to Tehran and after entering Siraj al-Mulk garden, was surrounded by security forces and was held incommunicado. In several announcements, clerics of Mashhad asked people to demonstrate and sitting demonstration in Goharshad mosque in objection to religious and social policies of Reza Shah and the restrictions they had made for Ayatullah Qummi. They themselves decided to join people in the mosque and every day, one of them gives speech for people.

== Entrance of Shaykh Buhlul to Mashhad ==

Shaykh Muhammad Taqi Buhlul who was sued and went from one city to another, was informed of Ayatullah Qummi’s problem and arrived in Mashhad on Wednesday, July 10th and went to the shrine of Imam al-Rida (a), but police officers arrested him after few hours and arrested him in one of the rooms in Kuhna courtyard. Few hours after detention of Shaykh Muhammad Taqi Buhlul, people gradually were informed of it and gathered in front of his detention place and released him. Shaykh Muhammad Taqi Buhlul said, “I wanted to frighten the ruling class and it was what I had done in Tehran and other cities and different cases, the government had to retreat.” He also mentioned, “In Mashhad too, I wanted to do the same, but it was not successful. When this debate occurred and the head of police and police officers were beaten, I was confused and did not know what to do…In all the mosque and courtyards, the shouts of ‘death to Shah’, ‘curse be upon Shah’, ‘may Shah be dead’, ‘viva Islam’, ‘curse on Baha’is’ and ‘curse be on the enemy of clergies’ were heard.” He added that with these happenings, giving up was meaningless and impossible; thus, in one of the speeches, I told people, “what should not be happened, happened and we should no more show lenience. We need to be steadfast and resist until Hajj Aqa Husayn Qummi will be freed from prison and Islamic rulings will be done.”

Based on Muhammad Ali Shoushtari’s reports, “responsible offices lost their decision-making power out of their fear from the capital and Shah and so much exaggerated the issue in reports that naturally Shah became very worried so much that in those two days, he himself sent telegraphs and issued orders.” Based on the report of the police of Mashhad, the number of people gathered in Goharshad mosque was increasing every moment and on the day of Saturday, shopkeepers were forced to close their shops. On Saturday, some people joined those sitting in the mosque from villages around Mashhad and Goharshad mosque and the courtyards became full of people and speakers spoke about different issues especially about Ayatullah Qummi, dress code change and removing hijab. On the hand, soldiers of the east led by general Iraj Matbu’i and police mobilized their forces to suppress people. Shoushtari quotes from Asadi and Pakravan, “His Highness had said, ‘if you compromise more and delay, neither you will have your hat on your head, nor I will have my crown on mine anymore; thus, I order that the rebellion must end tonight without spilling any blood. With as many as soldiers necessary, they should be besieged, motivators should be arrested and release other people.”

== The Trick of the Management of the Shrine for Sending Scholars out of Sitting Demonstration ==

This order was issued supposing that most demonstrators would leave the mosque the previous night; but, it did not happen so and the demonstrators increased in numbers every moment and they reached to 15 to 20 thousand people in Goharhad mosque and its surroundings. It is mentioned in the rest of the above order that, police should not use firearm in the courtyards and in the shrine and use bayonets and as such upon necessity.

Upon midnight, when people had not dispersed, all the doors, entrances and exits of the mosque were closed. Meanwhile, people began breaking the doors using mattocks and exiting. At that moment, the order to open fire was given and the massacre of people began and defenseless people in and out of the mosque were shot by soldiers. During few hours, a great massacre was made and in and out of the mosque became full of dead and injured bodies and also the mosque received some damages and the sanctity of the shrine of Imam al-Rida (a) was violated. Before the sunrise of July 14th, 1935, the resistance of demonstrators was broken and the uprising of Goharshad mosque was suppressed. Many of killed ones and even some of injured ones were thrown in a pit dug for this purpose.

The day after this event, top clerics and scholars of Mashhad were arrested and imprisoned. One of arrested ones was Ayatullah Mirza Muhammad Kafa’i Khurasani known as Aqazadeh, the second son of Akhund Khurasani who passed away in a suspicious way in one of the prisons of Tehran. Other distinguished people who were arrested were: Ayatullah Sayyid ‘Abd Allah Shirazi, Ayatullah Sayyid Yunus Ardabili, Muhammad Wali Nijat, Bahr al-‘Ulum, Muhaqqiq, Hashim Qazwini, Aqa Buzurg Shahrudi and Nawwab Ihtisham Radawi. Some others escaped the scene and even exited the country. Some managed to hide. Some clerics were later released and went to their own cities.

Shaykh Muhammad Taqi Buhlul who were alive after the event, exited the country in disguise and went to Afghanistan with the help of his family who were in the event of Goharshad mosque. After the event of Goharshad, by the order of Reza Shah, some changes were made at the level of the heads of offices in Mashhad and the management of the Shrine of Imam al-Rida (a). Although Muhammad Vali Khan Asadi was hated, but he remained in his position of management of the shrine for a while, but he was executed on December 20th, 1935. Some people who were actively involved in the event of Goharshad were exiled to Yazd and other cities. They were 18 people and were either clergies or students of religious studies and since no definite documents were found against them, their exile finished and they returned to their cities.