Mirzā Jahāngir Khān (; , Shiraz — 23 June 1908, Tehran), also known as Mirzā Jahāngir Khān Shirāzi and Jahāngir-Khān-e Sūr-e-Esrāfil, was an Iranian writer and intellectual, and a revolutionary during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1905–1911).
He is best known for his editorship of the progressive and satirical weekly newspaper Sur-e Esrāfil,Sur-e Esrāfil means Trumpet of Esrāfil, Esrāfil being, by the Islamic traditions, the God's favourite angel whose trumpeting will announce the Day of Judgement, or the Day of Resurrection (). Compare with: "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (I Corinthians, ch. 15, verses 51 and 52). of which he was also the founder. He was executed, at the age of 38, or 32, for his revolutionary zeal, following the successful coup d'état of Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar in June 1908. His execution took place in Bāgh-e Shāh ( - The Shah's Garden) in Tehran, and was attended by Mohammad Ali Shah himself. He shared this fate simultaneously with his fellow revolutionary Mirzā Nasro'llah Beheshti, better known as Malek al-Motakallemin.Sur-e Esrāfil (Mirza Jahangir Khan Shirazi), Personalities During the Constitutional Revolution and In the Decennia Before and After ("Chehre-hāye Dorān-e Mashrutiaat va Dahe-ye [sic] Ghabl va Ba'ad as Ān"), edited by Sinā Yektā (), Roshangari (in Persian).Both Mirzā Jahāngir Khān and Malek al-Motakallemin were Azali Bábís. See: Nikki R. Keddie, with a section by Yann Richard, Modern Iran - Roots and Results of Revolution, updated edition (Yale University Press, New Haven, 2003), pp. 70, 179, and 180. It has been reported that immediately before his execution he had said "Long live the constitutional government" (Zendeh bād Mashrouteh) and pointed to the ground and uttered the words "O Land, we are [being] killed for the sake of your preservation [/protection]" (Ey Khāk, mā barāye hefz-e to koshteh shodim).Mirza Jahangir Khan Sur-e Esrafil, 19 July 2008, (7 min 11 sec). It is important to note that koshteh shodim is in the past tense and its use (by Mirza Jahangir Khan, while apparently still alive), along with his use of "we", instead of "I" (unless he had been referring to both himself and the other fellow prisoners), has a dramatic effect on the hearers who know Persian. Thus the translation "we are [being] killed" amounts to a compromise, as "we were killed" would feel odd and out of place in English.
Biography Mirzā Jahāngir Khān was born to a relatively impoverished family from Shiraz.Mirzā Jahāngir Khan's father's name is Rajab-Ali Shirāzi. It has been mentioned that as a child Mirzā Jahāngir Khan was put in the care of his aunt. See: Farhang va Honar (Culture and Art) . Here the age of Mirzā Jahāngir Khan at his death is given as 34. Two further details given here are, firstly, that 32 issues of Sur-e Esrāfil were published under the editorship of Mirzā Jahāngir Khan and, secondly, that after the murder of Mirzā Jahāngir Khan, Sur-e Esrāfil was continued to be published by Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda and Hasan Taqizadeh outside Iran. In Ali Akbar Dehkhoda, Iran Chamber Society, one reads that: "While in exile [following Mohammad-Ali Shah's coup d'état], first in Paris and then to [sic] Switzerland, Dehkhoda with the aid of other Iranian exiles in Paris such as Abolhassan Pirnia and Mo'azed al-Saltaneh published three additional issues of Sur-Esrafil [Sur-e Esrafil] in Yverdon, Switzerland, which according to [Abdollah] Mostowfi were sent to and circulated in Iran." In his youth he studied Persian literature, logic, philosophy and mathematics with the masters of these subjects in his birthplace Shiraz. He later moved to Tehran where he embarked on studying modern sciences at the élite school of Dar ol-Fonoon and some other centres of learning available in this city at his time. At the inception of the movement leading to the Constitutional Revolution, he joined a number of underground groups of revolutionaries and before long became one of the main pillars of the Revolution. He became a devotee of Hāj Sheikh Hādi Najmābādi.Sur-e Esrāfil (Mirza Jahangir Khan Shirazi), ibid.Hāj Sheikh Hādi Najmābādi () is known to have been one of the main patrons of the Roshddieh School in Tabriz. See Mahmud Hakimi, in Pioneers of Education: Mirza Hasan Roshddieh, founder of modern schools in Iran, Jazireh Danesh (in Persian). Although it is known that Mirzā Jahāngir Khān was an Azali Bábí,Nikki R. Keddie, ibid., pp. 70, 179 and 180. we do not know whether he became a Bábí in Shiraz, the cradle of Bábism, or in Tehran.According to Mangol Bayat (p. 43), Hāj Sheikh Hādi Najmābādi was "a mojtahed [a clergyman practising religious jurisprudence] declared heretical for his alleged Azali Babist sympathies." It seems therefore very likely that Mirzā Jahāngir Khan became a Bábí in Tehran where Hāj Sheikh Hādi Najmābādi gave private and informal lectures at the time. Mangol Bayat, Iran’s First Revolution: Shi’ism and the Constitutional Revolution of 1905–1909, Studies in Middle Eastern History, 336 p. (Oxford University Press, 1991).
Through part of the legislative period of the First Majles, Mirzā Jahāngir Khān published the Sur-e Esrāfil weekly newspaperMirza Jahangir Khan-e Sur-Esraafil [sic] (in Persian), Rozaneh Magazine (September - October 2003) . Here the age of Mirzā Jahāngir Khān at the time of his death is indicated as having been 32, implying that he must have been born in 1875 or 1876. The same text provides two further relevant pieces of information, namely that, firstly, Mirzā Jahāngir Khān had had the opportunity to take refuge in the compound belonging to the British Legation in Tehran, however he had expressly rejected to use this option, and secondly, Mirzā Jahāngir Khān's execution was effected through strangling and stabbing in his heart: first two executioners affixed two separate ropes to his neck and pulled these in opposite directions until blood flew from his mouth, upon which a third executioner stabbed him is his heart. as its editor, receiving financial backing for this enterprise from Ghāsem Sur-e Esrāfil (), son of Mirzā Hasan Khān Tabrizi. The first edition of Sur-e Esrāfil was published on Thursday 30 May 1907 (8 Khordād 1286 AH); one year and six days later, on Thursday 4 June 1908 (14 Khordād 1287 AH), Mirzā Jahāngir Khān was arrested and executed.Mirza Jahangir Khan-e Sur-Esraafil [sic] (in Persian), Rozaneh Magazine, ibid. The circulation of Sur-e Esrāfil is said to have been approximately 20,000;Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda, Persian Language & Literature, Iran Chamber Society.The writer of these lines has encountered a single document that indicates that the Sur-e Esrāfil newspaper was printed in Shiraz. This information needs to be verified since it appears very unlikely to be correct, as, at the time, both the Editor and the main contributors to this newspaper were residents of Tehran; Shiraz is located south of Tehran and given the state of the public transportation of hundred years ago, one can have serious doubts as to whether it could have been feasible to print a weekly newspaper at such a distance from its Editor. the number of printed copies of this newspaper had been as high as 24,000.A.-A. Sa'īdī Sirjāni, Dehkhodā, Encyclopaedia Iranica, . It was during this period that he overtly attacked the deposed Mohammad Ali Shah, a fact that did not pass unnoticed either by the latter or by his own devoted following, making him by equal measures both hated and loved.
One of the most celebrated literary figures of the time who contributed to Sur-e Esrāfil was Ali-Akbar Dehkhodā. His satirical political column, named Charand o Parand (Balderdash and Piffle)Dehkhodā's Charand o Parands have been collected and published in book format; see: Charand o Parand (in Persian) by Ali-Akbar Dehkhodā (Afrasiyab, Tehran, 2002) - . Very recently even an audiobook of this collection has been brought to market; see: Ketab-e Gooya. and signed by such imaginary figures as Dakhoo, Dakhoo-Ali, Khar-Magas (Gad-fly), Ruz-Numeh-Chi (Journalist)Ruz-Numeh-Chi is the vulgar pronunciation of Ruz-Nāmeh-Chi. Gholām-Gedā Āzād Khān-e Ali-Allāhi,A compound name, consisting of incompatible sub-names: Gholām-Gedā meaning 'Servant-Beggar', Āzād Khān meaning approximately 'Sir Sovereign'. Ali-Allāhi is a minority sect within Islam that attributes godhead to Imam Ali. Khādem ol-Foqarā Dakhoo-Ali Shāh,Meaning 'Servant of the Poor, King Dakhoo-Ali'. Note the juxtaposition of 'Servant' and 'King'. Nokhod-e Hameh Āsh (Busy-Body),The literal translation of Nokhod-e Hameh Āsh is 'The Pea of All Soups'. Be'rah'neh-ye Khosh'hāl (The Happy Destitute),The literal meaning of Be'rah'neh is 'Naked'. Someone is said to be Be'rah'neh if that person is unable to provide in his or her most basic material needs. Hence the translation 'Destitute'. proved both popular and controversial.Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda, Persian Language & Literature, ibid.
Further, Sur-e Esrāfil "played an important role in the political scene by supporting the Constitutional Movement and the paper ran many articles which were aimed at exposing the despotism, dependency, and corruption of the monarchy and the traditional views of the reactionary clergy. The paper was among the first to use ordinary language of the common people in place of the traditional didactic and flowery literary approach popular at the time among the literary circles and men of erudition. It identified with the masses and it could be understood by them and in this sense, it did not only play an important political role but also one of literary significance by establishing a new modern style of writing and journalism in Iran. Sur Esrafil [Sur-e Esrāfil] was popular newspaper among the people and was the first of its kind to be sold in busy street corners by children and petty city vendors and peddlers."