Coll 28/112A ‘Persia. Tabriz – Monthly despatches of internal situation in Azerbaijan & misc. reports.’ [‎119r] (238/1237)

jiaku. when they were trier©, no wave r, triey i^ere not provided with
kUBfcian currency to apend aa they liked, but were ''looked after If
by their hoata, un leaving each was given 10 oottles of wine
and brandy ana sou© cigarettes* Ihc delegate froia Solduz,
dull Khan, and Moham«d Birya, the Workers* Union leader are
reported to have made fulsomely flattering speeches, which other
delegates thought overdone. But the President of the Azerbaijan
Soviet Republic, Jaafar Baghirov, is said to have made a
sensible farewell speech to the Delegation. He apologized for
any damage the Red idray might inadvertently have done in Persian
Azerbaijan, and declared that Soviet Azerbaijan was always ready
to help its friends over the border.
It is belie ©d that Wazi Muhammad, the Kurdish leader in
Mahadad, informed the Russian Vice-Consul in Rezaieh that he and
another member of the Koumala (J.K. Society) would like to go to
Baku with the Delegation, but the Soviet authorities declined to
invite him.
Ihe Sheikh-ul-Islam of the Caucasus, All Sadeh, arrived in
Tabriz on May 23rd. for a visit to the Shi*! snrinea of Persia*
He was accompanied by two other Russian mullahs. A civic recep
tion was arranged for him at Tabriz Railway Station and he waa
put up as the guest of Blqat ul Islam, a prominent Tabriz mullah.
He stayed in Tabriz until May 30th. and in that time received the
visits of, it is said, 7,000 people. (Only one, instead of the
usual two noughts would appear to have been added to the actual
figure.) The visit gave rise to a prolific crop of bazaar
stories on the theme -hat he wasn , t really a mullah but an Ogpu
agent, that his learning was faulty and his whiskers fal e.
dome of his visitors went in a highly critical spirit to
investigate the genuineness both of his Islam an , his whiskers.
Both seam to have stood the test. The Iraqi Consul, himself a
scholarly bhi'i, called on him and in tne course of a conversation
in classical Arabic formed tne conclusion that the Sheikh ul Islssn
was a man both of learning ana of piety. The more intelligent
T&brizls, of course, aid their best to trap the Sheikh into
some admission that the practice of Islam was not free in Soviet
Russia* But he seems to have ans.vered honest enquirers fairly
and to have avoided the traps adrodfciy enough. Mirza Hussein
Vf&’iz, a learned Mullah of Taoriz of strong anti-Communist
feelings, asked the Sheikh I ‘Could you and I go together now and
in the streets of Baku recite aloud the profession of Unity
(^ul, la ilaha ill^llah) ?" The Bheikh replied: ‘‘Inshallah oda
olaJakh ,, - "That also shall coiae to pass, God willing. "
The Sheikn preached a sermon in a Tabriz mosque <n May 27th.-
a purely religious discourse, ending v.ith an exhortation to
pray for friendship between the Shah and Marshal Stalin. He
visited the Boys* School ana spoke on education and religious
duties. He left for Tehran on May 30th.
A deputation of the unemployed (see para 109 below) Is
said to have called at tne Soviet Consulate-General recently and
appealed for assistance. Mr. Guliev, the Caucasian Vice-Consul,
tola them they should appeal to tneir own Government: there
was no rice in the Consulate-General.
The Soviet Consul-General has paid a visit of a week or ten
days to Ardcbil and Astara. H© reports that the road between
Ardwbii and Aetara is very bad and that he could reach the
latter town only by making a detour through Soviet territory to
the Barth. His visit was possibly connected with recent Russian
complaints about the unlawful behaviour of landlords and
Shahsevan chiefs in that area, and with the Russian military
authorities* demand that the Bhahsevans be disarmed. General
Glinsky apparently demanded the surrender of three hundred
rifles. The Commanaant of the Persian Third
/Division