Women's Worlds in Qajar Iran

Women's Worlds in Qajar Iran

Ashraf al-Muluk Amini (Fakhr al-Dawlah)

b. 1882
d. 16 January 1956

Fakhr al-Dawlah, known as Ashraf Amini, was the daughter of Ashraf Khanum Surur al-Saltanah and Muzaffar al-Din Shah and the mother of ʻAli Amini, a Pahlavi-era prime-minister. Fakhr al-Dawlah married Muhsin Khan Amin al-Mulk (son of Muhtaram al-Dawlah and ʻAli Khan Amin al-Dawlah) on January 20, 1898. Fakhr al-Dawlah died of a heart attack in January 16, 1956 five years after her husband's death in Tehran. She was buried in Ibn Babivayh as she had requested in her will.

Fakhr al-Dawlah, known as Ashraf Amini, was the daughter of Ashraf Khanum Surur al-Saltanah and Muzaffar al-Din Shah, and the mother of ʻAli Amini, a Pahlavi-era prime-minister. She studied Qurʼan, Arabic grammar, and mathematics in the royal old-style school in Tabriz. After Nasir al-Din Shah's assassination and Muzaffar al-Din Shah ascension to the throne in May 1896, Fakhr al-Dawlah accompanied his father to Tehran and resided there. Her engagement to her cousin Muhammad Musaddiq was later cancelled and Fakhr al-Dawlah married Muhsin Khan Amin al-Mulk (son of Muhtaram al-Dawlah and ʻAli Khan Amin al-Dawlah) on January 20, 1898 in the gallery of the Ark Garden in Tehran. The couple started their married life in a house located in Amin al-Dawlah's park. The fifteen-year-old Fakhr al-Dawlah gradually became Amin al-Dawlah (her father-in-law)'s most reliable and trustworthy acquaintance. Amin al-Dawlah, who was Muzaffar al-Din Shah's premier, ultimately resigned because of the courtiers' intrigues against him. Amin al-Dawlah and his son, Muhsin Khan were exiled to Lasht Nisha, close to Rasht. Amin al-Dawlah died on June 8, 1904. Fakhr al-Dawlah remained his most reliable kin, to the extent that he gave her ownership of all his properties, along with Lasht Nisha. In the absence of her husband and her father-in-law, Fakhr al-Dawlah raised her children and took care of her mother-in-law, who had become depressed. After Muzaffar al-Din Shah's death and during Muhammad ʻAli Shah's reign, Fakhr al-Dawlah and Muhsin Khan (Amin al-Dawlah II) rented Lasht Nisha to a prominent constitunionalist figure in Gilan, Mirza Karim Khan Rashti, for ten years. After Ahmad Shah's coming to power and with the rising influence of Russia in Iran, Fakhr al-Dawlah and Amin al-Dawlah cancelled their lease contract with Karim Khan Rashti and rented Lasht Nisha to a Russian citizen. This caused a lengthy legal and financial conflict between the owners and their ex-tenant. Another incident worth mentioning is the hostage-taking by people in the Jangali Movement. This problem was resolved with Fakhr al-Dawlah's intervention. In Riza Shah's period, Fakhr al-Dawlah sent her sons to Europe for education but kept her daughter, Maʻsumah, with herself. Fakhr al-Dawlah was actively involved in the management of her properties; she was an expert in agricultural matters. After Riza Shah's abdication from power in September 1941, Fakhr al-Dawlah became more involved in charitable activities. She built the Amin al-Dawlah mosque (later became known as Fakhr al-Dawlah mosque) in Fakhrabad Street, an orphanage called ""Women's Eleemosynary for Care of Orphans"" and ran it with the help of her daughter. Fakhr al-Dawlah died of a heart attack in January 16, 1956, five years after her husband's death in Tehran. She as buried in Ibn Babivayh as she had requested in her will. Close

Naser Mohajer, "Fakhr-al-Dowleh Amini: The Woman and the Legend," Iran Nameh, 27: 4 (2012), 34-50. Close

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