A Structural and Content Analysis of the Taṣdīq-nāmeh of a Siyurghal Decree Issued by Tīmūr Gurkānī in Favor of Mīr Ikhtiār al-Dīn Ḥasan al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī al-Bihbahānī from the Late Zand Period

Mansour, Seyyed Mohammad; Khazaei, Alireza

doi:10.22059/jis.2026.402271.1369

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

¹ Associate Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

² M.A student of History of ancient Iran, Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

10.22059/jis.2026.402271.1369

Abstract

The present article examines the structural and content-based aspects of a certification document related to a siyurghal decree issued by Tīmūr Gurkānī in favor of Mīr Ikhtiār al-Dīn Ḥasan al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī al-Bihbahānī. This taṣdīq-nāmeh of a Siyurghal Decree, written in the late Zand period (probably between 1201–1206 AH), is the only known document that extensively addresses not the original siyurghal decree issued by Tīmūr Gurkānī, but rather the formal confirmation of such a decree. The primary aim of this study is to conduct a thorough analysis of the internal and external elements of the taṣdīq-nāmeh of a Siyurghal Decree, examine the social status of the family that received the siyurghal, evaluate its historical authenticity, and compare it to existing examples of siyurghal decrees from various historical periods. This comparative analysis reveals that, unlike the original siyurghal decrees, such taṣdīq-nāmeh of a Siyurghal Decree were generally informal, non-bureaucratic documents whose legitimacy relied on the seals and testimonies of local elders, notables, and dignitaries. Accordingly, the document under examination stands as a unique case for identifying and evaluating taṣdīq-nāmeh of a Siyurghal Decree, particularly from the late Zand era. The authors in the present article have attempted, by structurally and content-wise examining the existing taṣdīq-nāmeh of a Siyurghal Decree and comparing it with the structure and content of Siurghal decrees based on previously published examples of Siurghal decrees, to identify the similarities and differences between these two types of documents and to distinguish their various aspects from one another

Keywords

https://doi.org/10.22059/jis.2026.402271.1369

Main Subjects

History

References

Agha Bozorg Tehrani, Muhammad Mohsen. (1403 AH). Al-Dhariʿah ila Tasanif al-Shiʿah. Vol. 4. Unedited version. Beirut: Dar al-Adwa. [In Arabic].

Astarabadi, Mirza Mahdi Khan. (2005). Sanglakh: A Turkish-to-Persian Dictionary. Edited by Roshan Khiavi. Tehran: Markaz-e Nashr. [In Persian].

Bosworth, C. E. (1978). The Mongols and the East. Translated by Mahmoud Mir-Afshar. Tehran: Bungah-e Tarjumeh va Nashr-e Ketab. [In Persian].

Badamchi, Hussein. (2016). "The Cavalry of Babylon in the Achaemenid Army: An Analysis of a Babylonian Document on Horse Land (UCP 9, 275-277)". Qavamin-e Hoquqi (Shahid Beheshti University), 19 (75), 253-271. [In Persian].

Busse, Herbert. (1988). A Study of the Islamic Chancery and Administration; Based on Documents of the Aq Qoyunlu, Qara Qoyunlu, and Safavid Periods. Translated by Gholamreza Vahram. Tehran: Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies Press. [In Persian].

Behbahani, Ali Reza ibn Mohebʻali. (2010). "A Calendar of Behbahan and Kohgiluyeh". Edited by Sayyed Muhammad Mansur Tabataba'i Behbahani. Mirath-e Baharistan, 2, 405-420. [In Persian].

Bayani, Shirin. (1970). "A Study of the Social Conditions of Iran Through the Rawdat al-Safa of Qazi Ahmad". Barrasi-ha-ye Tarikhi, 5 (3), 69-88. [In Persian].

Tehrani, Abu Bakr. (1977). Tarikh-e Diyarbakriyah. Edited by Najati Loghal and Faruk Somer. Tehran: Tahuri Library. [In Persian].

Hafez Abru, Shahab al-Din Abdullah. (1993). Zubdat al-Tawarikh. Edited by Sayyid Kamaal Hajj Sayyid Javadi. Tehran: Nashr-e Ney. [In Persian].

Al-Husayni al-Madani, Damn ibn Shadqam. (1999). Tuhfat al-Azhar wa Zalal al-Anhar. Edited by Salman al-Jaburi. Tehran: Mirath-e Maktoob. [In Persian].

Husayni Fasa'i, Mirza Hasan. (1988). Farsnama-ye Nasiri. Edited by Mansur Rastgar Fasa'i. Tehran: Amir Kabir Publications. [In Persian].

Khwandamir, Ghiyath al-Din. (1954). Tarikh-i Habib al-Siyar fi Akhbar al-Afadar al-Insan. Edited by Jalal al-Din Hamayi and Sayyed Muhammad Dabirsiyagi. Tehran: Khayam Bookstore. [In Persian].

Divan-Bigi Shirazi, Sayyid Ahmad. (1987). Hadiqah al-Shuʿara. Edited by Abd al-Husayn Nava'i. Tehran: Zarrin Publications. [In Persian].

Rezazadeh Langarudi, Riza. (2015). "Creativity or Imitation in Qajar Document Writing: An Analysis of the Endowment Document (Waqf-nama) of 1298 AH for Hajj Sadr al-Din Tajar". Ayin-e Pazhuhesh, 36 (211), 243-263. [In Persian].

Rafie, Amir Timur. (2009). "The Siyurghal in the Ilkhanid and Timurid Eras". Tarikh (Islamic Azad University, Mahallat Branch), 4 (12), 45-64. [In Persian].

Sasanpur, Shahrazad. (2023). "Beneficiaries of the Siyurghal in the Timurid Period and Their Privileges". Tarikh-namah-ye Iran baʿd az Islam, 14 (34), 53-84. [In Persian].

Samarqandi, Abd al-Razzaq. (1946). Matalʿ al-Saʿadin wa Majmaʿ al-Bahrain. Edited by Muhammad Saffʿi. Lahore: Gilani Press. [In Persian].

Siahpur, Keshvad; Zakipour, Nurallah. (2025). "The Qajar Policy of Buying and Selling Provinces (Frequent Political Changes and their Socio-Economic Consequences in the Province of Behbahan and Kohgiluyeh during the Nasiri Era)". Dow Fasl-namah-ye Tarikh-e Iran (Shahid Beheshti University), 18 (38), 1-26. [In Persian].

Shirazi, Abd al-Karim ibn Ali Reza. (1986). Tarikh-e Zandiyeh (The Successors of Karim Khan Zand). With an introduction and edited by Ernst Baer, translated by Gholamreza Vahram. Tehran: Gostreh Publications. [In Persian].

Safari Aq Qala, Ali. (2020). "A Persian-Language Siyurghal of Hudbiri from Uzun Hasan of the Aq Qoyunlu, in a Single Volume, and Some Observations on Genres and Methods of Document Preservation in the Past". Ayin-e Mirath (Institute for Intellectual Heritage), 18 (66), 43-72. [In Persian].

Ubaidli, Ibn Anba. (2000). Al-Tadhkirah fi al-Anasab al-Mutahharah. Edited by Sayyid Mahdi Rajai Qomi. Qom: Ayatollah Marʿashi Library. [In Persian].

Ghafari Kashani, Abu al-Hasan. (1990). Gulshan-i Murad. Edited by Gholamreza Muhammad Tabataba'i. Tehran: Zarrin Publications. [In Persian].

Fragner, Bert. (2000). "Institutions and Various Forms of Land Tenure". In: The Timurid Era, a study by the University of Cambridge. Translated by Yaʻqub Aʻzand. Tehran: Jam'i Press, 217-239. [In Persian].

Gharmrudi, Mirza Fattah. (1991). Safar-namah-ye Mamassani. Edited by Fath al-Din Fattahi. Tehran: Mostofi Publications. [In Persian].

Lambton, Ann K.S. (1983). Landlord and Peasant in Persia. Translated by Manuchehr Amiri. Tehran: Markaz-e Nashr-e ʻIlmi va Farhangi. [In Persian].

Muhammad Padshah. (1957). Anandraj's Comprehensive Persian Dictionary. Edited by Muhammad Dabirsiyagi. Tehran: Khayam Bookstore. [In Persian].

Mansur Tabataba'i Behbahani, Sayyed Muhammad. (2012a). Karnamah-ye Behbahan; The Notables of Arjan, Kohgiluyeh, and Behbahan. Tehran: Omid-e Majd Publications. [In Persian].

Mansur Tabataba'i Behbahani, Sayyed Muhammad. (2012b). "The Lineage of the Kalantars of Behbahan". Iranian Studies (University of Tehran), 2 (2), 35-54. [In Persian].

Mansur Tabataba'i Behbahani, Sayyed Muhammad. (2023). "Timur's Siyurghal for Mirkhwāj al-Din Hasan Tabataba'i Behbahani". Bukhara Magazine, 28 (159), 368-378. [In Persian].

Vahram, Gholamreza. (1987). "An Analysis of Several Historical Documents from Iran: Siyurghal and Muslimi". Jostaru-ha-ye Nowin Adabi, 20 (78), 665-722. [In Persian].

Hamadani, Rashid al-Din Fazl Allah. (1994). Jamiʿ al-Tawarikh. Edited by Roshan Moosavi and Mustafa Moosavi. Tehran: Nashr-e Now.[In Persian]. [In Persian].

Aubin, Jean (1965), “Un soyurghal Qara-Qoyunlu concernant le buluk de Bawanat-Harat-Marwast”, In: S. M. Stern (ed.), Documents from Islamic Chanceries, Oxford: Bruno Cassirer, pp. 159-170, 236-245.

Efendiyev, O. A. (1979), “In stituta Suyurghal tsentralliskaya politika praveteley Akkoyunlu I pervih Sefevidov”, ormi Feodalnay Zemelnoy Sobstvennosti I Vladeniya na Blijnem I srednem Vostoke, pp. 168-175.

Hambly, Gavin R. G. (1991), “ĀGHĀ MUHAMMAD KHĀN AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE QĀJĀR DYNASTY”, The Cambridge History of Iran, Cambridge University Press. p. 104–143.

Herrmann, Gottfried (1986), “Zwei Erlasse Shah Isma'ils I.”, Archaeologische Mitteilungen aus Iran, Vol. 19, pp. 287-312.

Hinz, W. (1952), “Zwei Steuerbefreiungsurkunden”, Documenta Islamica Inedita, pp. 211-224.

Horst, H. (1955), “Ein Immunitätsdiplom Schah Muhammad hudabandäs vom Jahre 989/1581”, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Vol. 105., No. 2., pp. 289-297.

Khanykov, nikolaĭ (1857), “Lettere de M. Khanikoff à M. Dorn”, Mélange Asiatiques, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 70-74.

Lambton, A. K. S. (1952), “Two Safawid Soyurghals”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental & African Studies, Vol. XIV, No. 1., pp. 44-54.

Martin, B.G. (1965), “Seven Safavid documents from Azarbayjan”, In: S. M. Stern (ed.), Documents from Islamic Chanceries, Oxford: Bruno Cassirer, pp. 171-206, 247.

Minorsky, V. (1939), “A Soyurghal of Qasim b. Jahangir Aq-qoyunlu 903/1498”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental & African Studies, Vol. 9., No. 4., pp. 926-960.

Murakami, M. (1961), “Mongoru chika no hooyuusei no kigen tokuni soyurghal to Qubi to Emēü tono Kanren nit suite”, Töyö Gakuhö, vol. 44, pp. 1-35.

Ortayli, Ilber (1978), “Osmanli Toprak Düzeninin Kaynaklari”, Toplum ve Bilim, Istanbul, Vol. 4, pp. 72-77.

Papazian, A. D. (1956), Persidaki dokumenty Matenadarana I Ukazy, Erevan: Izdatel'stvo Akademii Nauk Armianskoi SSR.

Paydaş, Kâzim (2004), “AK-Koyunlu Ahmed Bey ve Onun Osmanli idarî Sistemini Ak- Koyunlu Devleti’nde Uygulama Çabasi”, Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih Coğrafya Fakültesi, Tarih Araştirmalari Dergis, vol. 36, pp. 205-212.

Paydaş, Kâzim (2006), “Moğol ve Türk – Islâm Devletlerinde Suyurgal Uygulamasi”, Bilig, pp. 195-218.

Petrushevski, I. P. (1949a), “K istorii instituta Soyorghala”, in Sovetskoe Vostokovedenie, vol. VI, pp. 227-246.

Petrushevski, I. P. (1949b), Ocherki po istorii feodal’nik otnoshenij V Azerbaidzhanei I Armenii VXVI- nachale XIX v. v., Leningrad.

Roemer, Hans Robert (1986), “Timür in Iran”, In The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 6, ed. Peter Jackson and Laurence Lockhart, Cambridge, pp. 42-97.

Röherborn, K. (1977), “Staatkanzlei und Absolutismus im Safawidischen Persien”, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, vol. 127, No. 2, pp. 313-343.

A Structural and Content Analysis of the Taṣdīq-nāmeh of a Siyurghal Decree Issued by Tīmūr Gurkānī in Favor of Mīr Ikhtiār al-Dīn Ḥasan al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī al-Bihbahānī from the Late Zand Period

References

References

Volume 16, Issue 1May 2026Pages 123-149

Volume 16, Issue 1
May 2026
Pages 123-149