The Role of Nizām Vafā in the Iranian Constitutional Movement and Kashan Events

Nizām Vafā Arani was one of the Iranian Constitutional Movement activists who has reflected his observations of Constitutional Movement events, especially events related to Kashan, in his works and poems. He spent his childhood in Aran and then came to study in Kashan in his adolescence. He was 18 when he, encouraged by Ali Naraqi who was a constitutional activist in Kashan, joined other constitutional activists in “Tashviq Association” which was the basic core of the movement in Kashan. Along with the Constitutional Movement activists, Nizām fought with the forces of tyranny and rebellion as well as the notorious rogue, Naib Hossein Kashi and his entourage. He was among the earliest students in Hawza Elmiyya (where Shi’a Muslim clerics are trained) which was established by constitutionalists of Kashan. Then he came to Tehran and became a member of the Movement in Tehran and defended the Constitutional Assembly to the last bullet. After the Constitutional Assembly was shot by cannon balls, Nizām along with other advocates and leaders of Constitutional Movement were incarcerated in Baghe Shah (King’s Garden) prison. After being discharged from the prison, Nizām went to Najaf to study various courses in science. Returning from Iraq, at the time of the First World War, he became responsible for the Office of Government and was appointed as the head of Army Department in Kashan during the invasion of the Soviet :union:. When the city was occupied by the Russians and Cossacks, Nizām fled to Tehran through the Salt Lake. After that, he turned to teaching and education and continued his life of poetry and writing by the end of his life. His accounts of the Constitutional Movement are interesting and unique. This paper discusses his role in the Constitutional Movement and explains his accounts of this Movement, clearing up the doubts about his political activity levels.