Isfahan was one of the first cities to outlaw the sales and usage of tobacco. The people of Isfahan follow suit by resisting the foreign monopoly on the trade. It has been written in history that after agents of the Régie were stationed in Isfahan, the company began confiscating the tobacco of a respectable merchant who did not sell his tobacco to them.
Against this, he asked to be given a day and burnt twelve thousand bushels of tobacco in the Naqshe Jahan overnight. At the morning, the British agents found nothing but ashes to confiscate. Professor Edward Brown wrote in his book One year among Iranians about this incident: “the knowledge and zeal of this patriotic merchant is indescribable, that by burning his own capital, shows that the actions of the company are against the nation’s interests, and following the decrees of religious leaders are mandatory for all Muslims.”
Name Professor Edward Brown
Profession Orientalist, Iranologist
Name of Committee The Iran Committee
Notable Books Iran’s Literary History, Iran’s History of Constitutional Revolution
