Goharshad Mosque rebellion

Goharshad Mosque rebellion
Date	August 1935
Location	Goharshad Mosque, Imam Reza shrine, Mashhad, Iran
Result	Massacre of the besieged civilians
Belligerents
Shahrbani Police; Imperial Iranian Army	Unarmed civillians
Commanders and leaders
Mohammad Vali Asadi	Shia clergy
Strength
	2,000
Casualties and losses
2 officers, 18 soldiers killed;; 2 soldiers executed for disobedience, 1 committed suicide.	2,000–5,000; (128 dead, 200-300 wounded, 800 arrested according to a British report")
	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 regime erupted in the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Iran.

The incident is described as a "genocide". Reza Shah Pahlavi stated later in exile his regret in violating the sanctity of God's house.^[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 reinforcements 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 and 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]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Ward, S.R. (2009). Immortal: A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces. Georgetown University Press. p. 140. ISBN 9781589015876. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Hovsepian-Bearce, Yvette (2015). The Political Ideology of Ayatollah Khamenei: Out of the Mouth of the Supreme Leader of Iran. Routledge. p. 44. ISBN 9781317605829. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
^ Farrokh, Kaveh (20 December 2011). Iran at War: 1500-1988. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 264. ISBN 978-1-78096-240-5.
^ "Guel Kohan". Talash-online. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
^ Milani, Farzaneh (1992). Veils and Words: The Emerging Voices of Iranian Women Writers, Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, pp. 19, 34–37, ISBN 9780815602668
^ Majd, Mohammad Gholi (2001). Great Britain and Reza Shah: The Plunder of Iran, 1921–1941, Gainesville: University Press of Florida, pp. 209–213, 217–218, ISBN 9780813021119
^ Katouzian, Homa (2003). "2. Riza Shah's Political Legitimacy and Social Base, 1921–1941" in Cronin, Stephanie: The Making of Modern Iran: State and Society under Riza Shah, 1921–1941, pp. 15–37, London; New York: Routledge; Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9780415302845
^ Katouzian, Homa (2004). "1. State and Society under Reza Shah" in Atabaki, Touraj; Zürcher, Erik-Jan: Men of Order: Authoritarian Modernisation in Turkey and Iran, 1918–1942, pp. 13–43, London; New York: I.B. Tauris, ISBN 9781860644269
^ Katouzian, Homa (2006). State and Society in Iran: The Eclipse of the Qajars and the Emergence of the Pahlavis, 2nd ed, Library of modern Middle East studies, Vol. 28, London; New York: I.B. Tauris, pp. 33–34, 335–336, ISBN 9781845112721
^ Beeman, William Orman (2008). The Great Satan vs. the Mad Mullahs: How the United States and Iran Demonize Each Other, 2nd ed, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 108, 152, ISBN 9780226041476
^ Ervand, History of Modern Iran, (2008), p.94
^ Bakhash, Shaul, Reign of the Ayatollahs : Iran and the Islamic Revolution by Shaul, Bakhash, Basic Books, c1984, p.22

[ward-1] Ward, S.R. (2009). Immortal: A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces. Georgetown University Press. p. 140. ISBN 9781589015876. Retrieved 10 April 2015.

[Rout-2] Hovsepian-Bearce, Yvette (2015). The Political Ideology of Ayatollah Khamenei: Out of the Mouth of the Supreme Leader of Iran. Routledge. p. 44. ISBN 9781317605829. Retrieved 15 January 2019.

[3] Farrokh, Kaveh (20 December 2011). Iran at War: 1500-1988. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 264. ISBN 978-1-78096-240-5.

[Talash1-4] "Guel Kohan". Talash-online. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2013.

[Milani-5] Milani, Farzaneh (1992). Veils and Words: The Emerging Voices of Iranian Women Writers, Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, pp. 19, 34–37, ISBN 9780815602668

[Majd-6] Majd, Mohammad Gholi (2001). Great Britain and Reza Shah: The Plunder of Iran, 1921–1941, Gainesville: University Press of Florida, pp. 209–213, 217–218, ISBN 9780813021119

[Katouzian3-7] Katouzian, Homa (2003). "2. Riza Shah's Political Legitimacy and Social Base, 1921–1941" in Cronin, Stephanie: The Making of Modern Iran: State and Society under Riza Shah, 1921–1941, pp. 15–37, London; New York: Routledge; Taylor & Francis, ISBN 9780415302845

[Katouzian4-8] Katouzian, Homa (2004). "1. State and Society under Reza Shah" in Atabaki, Touraj; Zürcher, Erik-Jan: Men of Order: Authoritarian Modernisation in Turkey and Iran, 1918–1942, pp. 13–43, London; New York: I.B. Tauris, ISBN 9781860644269

[Katouzian6-9] Katouzian, Homa (2006). State and Society in Iran: The Eclipse of the Qajars and the Emergence of the Pahlavis, 2nd ed, Library of modern Middle East studies, Vol. 28, London; New York: I.B. Tauris, pp. 33–34, 335–336, ISBN 9781845112721

[Beeman-10] Beeman, William Orman (2008). The Great Satan vs. the Mad Mullahs: How the United States and Iran Demonize Each Other, 2nd ed, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 108, 152, 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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v t e List of modern conflicts in the Middle East
1910s	Italo-Turkish War World War I Middle Eastern theatre Battle of Robat Karim Arab Revolt Armenian genocide Assyrian genocide Mount Lebanon starvation Unification of Saudi Arabia Simko Shikak revolt 1919 Egyptian revolution Turkish War of Independence Anglo-Turkish War Al-Jazeera Front Greco-Turkish War Turkish–Armenian War Franco-Turkish War Revolts United States Mahmud Barzanji revolts
1920s	Franco-Syrian War Iraqi Revolt (1920) Intercommunal conflict in Mandatory Palestine Adwan Rebellion Arab separatism in Khuzestan Great Syrian Revolt Sheikh Said rebellion
1930s	Ararat rebellion Ahmed Barzani revolt Simele massacre Saudi–Yemeni War (1934) Goharshad Mosque rebellion 1935–1936 Iraqi Shia revolts 1935 Yazidi revolt 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine Dersim rebellion
1940s	World War II Italian bombing of Palestine Allied invasion of Iraq Syria–Lebanon campaign Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran 1943 Barzani revolt Al-Waziri coup Al-Wathbah uprising Kurdish separatism in Iran Iran crisis of 1946 Arab–Israeli conflict 1948 Arab–Israeli War Suez Crisis 1967 Six-Day War 1973 Yom Kippur War 1982 Lebanon War
1950s	1952 Egyptian revolution 1953 Iranian coup d'état Jebel Akhdar War Cyprus Emergency Suez Crisis Yemeni–Adenese clan violence 1958 Lebanon crisis 1958 Iraqi revolution 1959 Mosul uprising
1960s	Cyprus crisis of 1963–1964 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict First Iraqi–Kurdish War Second Iraqi–Kurdish War Dhofar Rebellion North Yemen Civil War Feb. 1963 Iraqi coup Mar. 1963 Syrian coup Nov. 1963 Iraqi coup Aden Emergency 1964 Hama riot Israeli–Palestinian conflict 1948 Palestine war First Intifada Second Intifada 1966 Syrian coup d'état
1970s	Black September in Jordan Yemenite War of 1972 Turkish invasion of Cyprus Shatt al-Arab clashes Lebanese Civil War Political violence in Turkey Islamist uprising in Syria 1977 Shia uprising in Iraq NDF Rebellion Yemenite War of 1979 Iranian Revolution Consolidation of the Iranian Revolution 1979 Qatif Uprising Grand Mosque seizure 1979–1980 Shia uprising in Iraq
1980s	Iran–Iraq War 1980 Turkish coup d'état Kurdish–Turkish conflict Turkey–PKK conflict South Yemen civil war 1986 Egyptian conscripts riot 1986 Damascus bombings 1987 Sharjawi coup d'état attempt Mecca massacre Abu Nidal's executions
1990s	Gulf War (1990–1991) 1991 Iraqi uprisings Terror campaign in Egypt (1990s) Yemeni Civil War (1994) Iraqi Kurdish Civil War Islamic insurgency in Saudi Arabia (2000–present) Operation Desert Fox al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen 1999 Shia uprising in Iraq
2000s	Iraq War Balochi insurgency in Iran 2004 Qamishli riots Houthi insurgency in Yemen Iran–Israel proxy conflict 2006 Lebanon War Fatah–Hamas conflict South Yemen insurgency
2010s	2011 Bahraini uprising Egyptian Crisis Sinai insurgency Insurgency in Egypt (2013–present) Syrian civil war Turkish involvement in Syria Syrian War spillover in Lebanon Iraqi insurgency (2011–2013) War in Iraq (2013–2017) Islamic State insurgency in Iraq (2017–present) Yemeni crisis Yemeni civil war (2014–present)
2020s	2021 Beirut clashes Israel–Hamas war Israel–Hezbollah conflict (2023–present) Red Sea crisis
This list includes World War I and later conflicts (after 1914) of at least 100 fatalities each Prolonged conflicts are listed in the decade when initiated; ongoing conflicts are marked italic, and conflicts with +100,000 killed with bold.

Background

Event

Toll

See also

References