The Homeland’s Uprising Spirit, by Mirza Fatolah Qudsi Kermani (Foad Kermani, is published in critical edition by Mahdi Ganjavi and Ali Mozafari Sirjani. The volume also incldues introduction by Mahdi Ganjavi and contributions by Manochehr Bakhtiary and Ali Mozafari Sirjani on the life and times of Foad Kermani and on the legacy of Azali discourse in the Constitutional Revolution, as well as a note by Mehran Rad. It was publushed by Asemana Books on March 30, 2026.
ISBN: 9781997503309
Language: Persian
The Azali movement, which took shape after the death of the Báb and in opposition and competition with the Bahá’í religion, was not merely a religious one. The Azalis sought to produce, from within the Islamic–Iranian tradition, an esoteric, anti-despotic, and reformist reading and discourse—one that on the one hand demanded a reworking of the Islamic tradition, and on the other sought to transform the foundations of religious authority by expanding the textual core and displacing established loci of authority. In this respect, the Azalis occupied an intermediary position, oscillating among three domains: mystical and esoteric tradition, modern rationality, and emancipatory thought.
The Azalis were well aware that openly expressing their beliefs in Qajar Iran would cost them their lives. For this reason, their writings assumed a dual character: an outward, exoteric layer and an inward, esoteric one. On the surface, they offered moral counsel and called for the ethical reform of society. At a deeper level, however, they pursued a critique of religious authority and the dissolution of the clerical institution, a critique of Islamic law and a call for its reconfiguration, as well as an invitation to struggle against the Qajar state.
This duality is clearly manifested in the works of Foād-e Kermānī, especially in Hayajān al-Vaṭan (composed circa 1914). At first glance, the language of the poetry appears nationalistic and declamatory; yet at a deeper level, it enters into dialogue with the thought and worldview of the Bábí movement and its social and political implications. Consequently, if the text is not read through a symbolic and code-conscious lens—one attentive to Azali allusions and the numerical calculations of words—it may be understood merely as a secular or Shiʿi reformist constitutionalist text, causing its distinct intellectual layers to be overlooked. Such oversight has plagued many readings of Azali beliefs and interpretations of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution.
Foad was a constitutionalist poet from Kerman, and since figures such as Mirza Aqa Khan, Shaykh Ahmad Ruhi, Mirza Reza, Majd al-Islam, and Nazem al-Islam emerged from this city, studying his poetry may be regarded as opening a window onto one of the major centers of the Iranian Constitutional Movement—namely, Kerman. Kerman in Foād’s time was a site of convergence for diverse ideas and beliefs, and can rightly be described as a vibrant workshop of theological thought: a city in which Shaykhis, Ismaʿilis, Neʿmatollahi Sufis, Bahá’ís, and Azalis were present, and through their interactions and conflicts over the relationship between the old and the new, articulated many of the concepts that would shape Iran’s future within this very sphere.
The present book, in addition to providing a rigorous and critical edition of this work, constitutes a conscious effort to rethink certain established narratives of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution. By offering a critically edited text and introducing its historical, intellectual, and social contexts, the volume seeks to move this work beyond a purely literary or local framework and situate it within the discursive struggles of the constitutional era. Alongside the critical edition and introduction, the book includes a collection of articles whose aim is not merely explanation or commentary, but analytical intervention in the understanding of constitutionalist discourse in Iran—an intervention that seeks to move away from the dominance of Tehran- and Tabriz-centered narratives and to foreground the role of the provinces, particularly Kerman, in the formation, continuity, and diversity of this movement.
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Mirza Fatolah Qudsi Kermani (Foad Kermani) [1851-1938] (1268 AH – 1358 AH / 1317 SH)
Qodsī Kermānī—poet, vocalist, and player of the tār—was one of the leaders of the community of the People of the Bayān (the Azali Babis). Writing under the pen name “Foād,” he was the son of Solṭān-ʿAlī, born in Kerman, and lived to nearly ninety years of age. However, within the context of the Babis’ clandestine mode of existence, Foād has been introduced and recognized in public sources as a mystically inclined poet and a Shiʿi believer.
