Mir-Fatah-Agha

Mir-Fatah-Agha, commonly known as Mushthaid (died 24 October 1892), was a high-ranking Twelver Shi'a Muslim cleric (specifically, a mujtahid) from Tabriz (Persian Azerbaijan, Qajar Empire), whom the Russian government credited with keeping the Muslim population of the Caucasus loyal to the Russians, following their recent expansion and conquering of the Caucasus at the expense of Qajar Persia.

The Qajar Persian empire, who had reasserted century long Iranian suzerainty over the Caucasus following the ascension of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, had eventually indefinitely lost all their territories in the North and South Caucasus during the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813) and Russo-Persian War (1826-1828). In 1828, after the Russian victory in the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828) and the ceding of the final Persian territories in the greater Caucasus region to Russia, Ivan Paskevich, then governor general in the newly conquered regions wrote a letter to St.Petersburg to propose that Mir-Fettakh a high Muslim cleric from Tabriz, Persia, should be made head of the Muslim ulema in the Caucasus. Russia had already created an assembly in 1794 in Crimea as an intention to connect the state with its Muslim subjects and their precise responsibilities being changed in response to demands from St.Petersburg. Paskevich hoped that by the help of Mir-Fettakh's high stature in the Muslim community, he could make a very valuable contribution to the Russian consolidation of power in the Caucasus. The Russians however did not seem aware this could cause a problem as Mir-Fettakh was a Shia, while the majority of the Muslims in the Caucasus were Sunni. On a related note, the Russian administration did realize eventually that only religious figures from the Caucasus could have significant influence in the region.

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