The Translation Movement in the Pre-Constitutional Era and the Formation of Discourses of the First Generation of the Iranian Intelligentsia

Abstract

This paper investigates the translation movement in the pre-constitutional era and its role in the formation of the first generation of the Iranian Intelligentsia in Iran under the Qajars. It primarily covers 1807–1906 time period—from the initiation of the translation movement around 1807 in the reign of Fath Ali Shah to the victory of the Constitutional Revolution in 1906 in the reign of Muzaffar al-Din Shah. The paper, as a library research utilizing second hand sources and their content analysis, shows that the translation movement in the pre-constitutional era was one of the main factors in introducing progressive Western thoughts to Iranians. As a result, the first generation of the Iranian Intelligentsia emerged under the title of monavar al-fekr and created various intellectual discourses including the discourse of intellectuals (radical seculars, protestant reformers and expedient realists) and ulama (conformists and fundamentalists) in both of which modern ideas and concepts were being used. Furthermore, the illustration of the ideological characteristics of each discourse shows that although these discourses were fundamentally different in terms of some orientations, they were parallel and increased people's awareness and motivated them to fight against tyranny, which ultimately led to the victory of the Constitutional Revolution.