Ahmad Kasravi احمد کسروی

Ahmad Kasravi was born in 1890 in Tabriz, Iran. In his teens, in spite of his conservative religious family background, he warmed to the principles and ideals of the Iranian Constitutional Movement.

Kasravi published almost one hundred books and essays between 1932 and 1946, all of them dealing primarily with Iran except for a history of America, a translation of Plutarch, selections from English to Persian, and an essay entitled “A Message to the Scholars of Europe and America,” written during WWII. For a period he also published a weekly and daily newspaper.

Among his most famous writings are: History of the Constitution of Iran, Eighteen Year History of Azarbaijan, Azari, or the Ancient Language of Azarbaijan, A Short History of the Lion and the Sun, Bahaism, Sufism and Shiism.

He was attacked vehemently by the clergy for his liberal ideas and by the court for his anti-monarchical statements. There were two attempts on his life. The first, in 1945, the year during which he had published his most scathing works, was unsuccessful. But the in the next year the Fadaiyan-e Islam assassinated him at the court chamber.