علما و اولتيماتوم روس (1329ق )

The Ulema and the Russian Ultimatum.

The Russian ultimatum to Iran occurred at a time when the Constitutional Revolution of Iran had put only five years behind. The Iranian politicians were trying to compensate for Iranʹs backwardness in the light of Parliamentarian system and lead the country through progress and development - like Japan that had attained a Constitutional monarchy. But during this very short period, the defeated dictators,supported by the Russian and British governments, did not tolerate the new developments and through coup, riot, dismemberment of the country through the agreements of 1905 and 1907, the bombardment of the Parliament, and finally the ultimatum, tried to weaken the people and make them remorseful of the Constitutional Revolution. The present article studies the stance of the clerics towards the ultimatum. It seems that they considered the ultimatum the question of death and life of the revolution. Hence in their opinion, silence against the ultimatum was tantamount to the victory of dictatorship and colonialism. It also studies the confrontation of religion with the colonial onslaught against Iran during the past two centuries.