Influential Iranian Women: Eftekhar ol-Saltaneh (1870–1946)

Pride of the firmament you are, and my aspiration
The shining light of every gathering of lovers you are…

The story goes that the “pride of the firmament” in the first line of this celebrated poem by the Persian poet Aref Qazvini was addressed to Eftekhar ol-Saltaneh, daughter of Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar, the absolute monarch who ruled Iran from 1848 to 1896. Eftekhar ol-Saltaneh was a princess who is not as famous as a couple of her sisters but, like them, was a passionate supporter of women’s rights and democratic freedoms.

All the daughters of Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar grew up inside his secluded harem. But several of them became passionate progressives despite this isolation. One such as Taj ol-Saltaneh, the shah’s fifteenth daughter who, notwithstanding her fondness for her father, removed her hijab and spoke out about women’s rights while criticizing the oppressive laws that ruled women’s lives under her family’s governments. Another was Touran Agha Forouq ol-Dowleh who, along with her husband Ali Zahir o-Dowleh, supported the Constitutional Revolution in the early twentieth century and who was killed by his relative Mohammad Ali Shah for his political efforts.

Eftekhar ol-Saltaneh, a favorite daughter of Nasser al-Din Shah, was perhaps less known than her sisters but she was also one of the first Iranian women to remove her hijab. Her story has been neglected by history in part because of rumors about her personal life and relations.

Eftekhar ol-Saltaneh, “Pride of the Kingdom”, was the twenty-third of Nasser al-Din Shah’s 36 children. Her mother, Leyla Khanoom Yushi, daughter of Mirza Mohammad Khan Yushi, was one of the shah’s concubines. The shah had previously taken Leyla’s elder sister, Aisha Khanoom, as a concubine. When the female members of the family paid a visit to Aisha Khanoom in the shah’s harem, he was attracted to Leyla, and asked her father to let her be added to the roster. The laws of Islam insist that a man cannot be married to two sisters at the same time. But the shah came up with a solution, albeit over the opposition of the elder sister; each year, he took one sister as a concubine for six months and then the other for the remaining six months.

Leyla Khanoom became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter, Zahra. Later, however, the shah bestowed the title of Iran ol-Moluk on her and, when she was six, titled her Eftekhar ol-Saltaneh.

Eftekhar ol-Saltaneh was one of Nasser al-Din Shah’s favorite daughters and he cared deeply for her. When the Shah was preparing for his second visit to Europe, for example, Eftekhar was among the last to be told since the shah was afraid that even anticipating the separation would distress her. She did indeed fall sick out of grief because her father was away, according to the shah’s writings. Nasser al-Din Shah  took with him a picture of her lying asleep in her bed.

After Nasser al-Din Shah was assassinated, in 1896, Eftekhar ol-Saltaneh married Ebrahim Khan Entezam, her cousin on her mother’s side. They had three daughters and one son but their marriage did not last. After her children were born, Eftekhar left her husband and married Amir Aslan Khan Khajeh Nouri, titled Nezam ol-Soltan. He was the grandson of Mirza Aqa Khan Nouri, one of Nasser al-Din Shah’s prime ministers.

Amir Aslan was an educated man, had visited Europe and spoke French fluently. He had a good position at the court of Mozaffar ad-Din Shah, who had succeeded Nasser al-Din Shah. He also supported the constitutional system of government and was elected to parliament .

Eftekhar ol-Saltaneh used to accompany her sister, Taj ol-Saltaneh, to gatherings of progressive and women’s rights activists; that is where she fell in love with with Amir Aslan. Their age difference was considerable but this did not stop their love from becoming the talk of the town.

Amir Aslan was wealthy. So was Eftekhar ol-Saltaneh, who had inherited considerable wealth from her mother and her aunt. They lived in a large house in Jamal Abad, outside of Tehran. They threw lavish parties at their home and invited intellectuals and progressives.

Eftekhar ol-Saltaneh and her sister Taj ol-Saltaneh had joined the Women's Freedom Association,  founded in 1907 by women like Sadiqeh Dowlatabadi, which fought for women’s rights during the reign of Ahmad Shah Qajar (1909-1925), the successor to Mozaffar ad-Din Shah and the last Qajar king.

The association met twice a week in secret at a location outside Tehran, to escape attention and possible attacks by the fanatics. At a time when women were dismissed as “weaklings” or as the “feeble-minded,” the association aimed to familiarize women with how to socialize and speak their minds in the community, especially in the presence of men.

The association accepted both women and men as its members and participated in its sessions but, to build their confidence, only female members were allowed to speak at the meetings.

Women’s problems in Iran’s traditional and patriarchal society, including family problems, and how to address them, were the focus of discussions in these meetings. The association believed that educating women was key to liberating them from bondage in society and within the family.

Eftekhar ol-Saltaneh was one the first Iranian women to remove her hijab, following in the footsteps of Qurrat’ul Ayn and she spoke in meetings against hijab as a major obstacle to the improvement of the lives of women. Many other members did the same, including her sister, Princess Taj ol-Saltanah, and Sadiqeh Dowlatabadi.

The Women's Freedom Association was later forced to dissolve itself for fear of infiltration or attacks. A man who was not allowed into the meetings, because he did not have a female companion, told the Islamic  clerics in a nearby bazaar about the gathering. The clerics incited a mob of fanatics to attack the location while the police took no action to stop the mob’s plans. But a young Armenian man who worked for a photography shop in the area took a bicycle to the meeting and warned them about the approaching mob. The members quickly left – it was the association’s last meeting.

Historians have written that Eftekhar ol-Saltaneh was an attractive woman and a poet. Famous poets were often invited to the parties that Eftekhar ol-Saltaneh and her husband, Nezam ol-Soltan, threw at their home. One of most famous was Aref Qazvini (1882-1934), often called a “national poet” for his poems about Iran. He was also an activist during Iran’s Constitutional Revolution.

During these parties, Eftekhar ol-Saltaneh and Aref fell in love and reportedly had an intimate relationship. It is even said that Eftekhar’s husband discovered them in an “inappropriate” state, although he kept his cool, and did not react immediately. But he stopped inviting Aref to private meetings where he or his wife would be present. Aref nevertheless continued to write love poetry for Eftekhar ol-Saltaneh, pushing Nezam ol-Soltan to divorce his wife Eftekhar ol-Saltaneh, while her affair with the poet became a feature of her life story.

Eftekhar ol-Saltaneh died in Tehran in 1946 after a long illness. Little is known about the last years of her life.