Goharshad Mosque rebellion

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Goharshad Mosque rebellion
DateAugust 1935
Location
Goharshad Mosque, Imam Reza shrine, Mashhad, Iran
Result Massacre of the besieged civilians
Belligerents
Pahlavi Iran Shahrbani Police
Pahlavi Iran Imperial Iranian Army		 Locals and merchants
Commanders and leaders
Pahlavi Iran Mohammad Vali Asadi Shia clergy
Casualties and losses
2 officers, 18 soldiers killed;
2 soldiers executed for disobedience, 1 committed suicide.[1]		 2,000-5,000[2]
(128 dead, 200-300 wounded, 800 arrested according to a British report"[1])
Total: 151 killed

The Goharshad Mosque rebellion (Persian: واقعه مسجد گوهرشاد) took place in August 1935,[3] when a backlash against the westernizing and secularist policies of Reza Shah of the Pahlavi dynasty erupted in the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Iran.

The incident is described as a "bloody event".[2]

Background

The Shah's violent Westernization campaign against Shiite society saw a spike in hostilities with the regime in the summer of 1935 when Reza Shah banned traditional Islamic clothing[4] and ordered all men be forced to wear European-style bowler hats.[5][6][7][8][9][10]

Event

The event occurred in response to the de-Islamization activities by Reza Shah in 1935.[2] Responding to a cleric,[citation needed] who denounced the Shah's "heretical" innovations, westernizing, corruption, and heavy consumer taxes, many merchants and locals took refuge in the shrine, chanted slogans such as "The Shah is a new Yazid," likening him to the Umayyad caliph.

For four full days, local police and the army refused to violate the shrine. The standoff was ended when troops from Iranian Azerbaijan region arrived and broke into the shrine,[11] killing dozens and injuring hundreds, and marking a final rupture between Shia clergy and the Shah.[12]

Toll

According to a report of the Research Institute of Baqir al-'Ulum, which may have deliberately exaggerated the numbers, the number of killed by Reza Shah's forces was between 2000-5000.[2] According to a British report, which may have deliberately underplayed the numbers[why?], the outcome of the event resulted in 2 Army officers and 18 soldiers killed; 2 soldiers executed on the spot for disobedience; 1 soldier committed suicide; there were 800-1200 dead among the villagers, 100-500 wounded and 800 arrested.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 9781589015876
    . Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  2. ^
    ISBN 9781317605829
    . Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  3. ISBN 978-1-78096-240-5
    .
  4. ^ "Guel Kohan". Talash-online. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  5. ISBN 9780815602668
  6. ISBN 9780813021119
  7. ISBN 9780415302845
  8. ISBN 9781860644269
  9. ISBN 9781845112721
  10. ISBN 9780226041476
  11. ^ Ervand, History of Modern Iran, (2008), p.94
  12. ^ Bakhash, Shaul, Reign of the Ayatollahs : Iran and the Islamic Revolution by Shaul, Bakhash, Basic Books, c1984, p.22

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