Seyyed Abdollah Behbahani

Born	1840
Died	1910
Era	Persian Constitutional Revolution
Religion	Islam
Denomination	Shia Islam
Jurisprudence	Twelver

Seyyed Abdollah Behbahani (Persian: سیدعبدالله بهبهانی‎‎, 1840–1910) was a Shi'a theologian and a prominent leader of the constitutional movement. He was born in Najaf and was educated by scholars such as Morteza Ansari. During the constitutional movement he was influential in the Majlis. On the night of 15 July 1910, four gunmen attacked his house and killed him. Seyyed Hassan Taghizadeh was suspected to be responsible, and he subsequently fled the country.

Seyyed Abdollah Behbahani was born in Najaf. His father, Seyyed Esmaeil, was a famous scholar in Iran. He was descended from a prominent Shia scholar of Bahrain, Abdollah al-Beladi from the village of al-Gorayfa. He was educated in Najaf by scholars such as Morteza Ansari, Hosayn Kuhkamarai, Mirza Ḥasan Sirazi, and Shaikh Rażi Naǰafi and became qualified to provide religious guidance.

Seyyed Abdollah Behbahani spent much of his life expressing his political views. His campaigns included refusing to participate in the Tobacco Protest; being dissatisfied with the selection of Ein al-Dowleh as grand vizier; desiring to conclude a solidarity treaty with Seyyed Mohammad Tabatabai; agreeing to fight against the ruler at that time (Ahmad Kasravi referred to this treaty as the beginning of the Persian Constitutional Revolution); circulating the photo of Naus (the Belgian supervisor of the Iranian customs) wearing Islamic scholar clothes at a Masquerade ball and asking for him to be dismissed; seeking sanctuary in Rey after objections were raised to the rise in the price of sugar, and punishing the merchants involved; establishing an assembly known as the Islamic seminary aimed at stopping sabotage by Ein al-Dowleh for founding the house of justice; and emigrating to Iraq as a protest against the failures of the government (this migration is now considered to be a major migration). He remained in Iraq until the constitutional decree of Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar. He was in agreement with the participation of Jews and Armenians as deputies in the 1st Iranian Majlis (Persian legislative assembly), he objected to the bombardment of the Majlis by Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar, and he objected to the execution of Sheikh Fazlollah Noori.

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