Dihkhuda

Dihkhuda, ‘Ali Akbar (1906-1955), son of Khanbaba Khan, journalist, poet, scholar, translator, editor, and lexicographer, with the nom de plume Dakhu. He was born in Tehran to a family of Qazwini descent. His father, Khanbaba Khan, was a landlord of no great affluence in Qazwin who had departed his hometown and settled in Tehran before Dihkhuda’s birth. ‘Ali Akbar lost his father at the age of 10 and continued his studies under his mother’s care. After his father death, Dihkhuda’s education was vested with a distinguished scholar by the name of Shaykh Ghulam Husayn Burujirdi. The shaykh, a teacher of Arabic and religious sciences, resided at Hajj Shaykh Hadi School on Shaykh Hadi street. Later, Dihkhuda studied at the newly established School of Political Science and took up the study of French. Then, he accompanied Mu’awin al-Dawla Ghaffari, Iran’s ambassador to the Balkans, learned modern subjects and furthered his study of French for two years. Muhammad Husayn Furughi, the founder of the Tarbiyat Newspaper and Dhuka’ al-Mulk Furughi’s father, taught Persian literature at the School of Political Science in Tehran and at times assigned Dihkhuda to teach literature classes. Residing in the vicinity of Ayatullah Hajj Shaykh Hadi Najmabadi, he availed himself of the opportunity to attend his teaching sessions and despite his tender age, he participated in discussions. He became acquainted with Sayyid Hasan Taqizadih in early 1907. In the same year, Mirza Qasim Khan Tabrizi who held a chancery office at Muzaffar al-Din Shah’s court, had joined constitutionalists, and had in his mind to establish a newspaper. Taqizadih recommended Dihkhuda to Mirza Qasim Khan and Mirza Jahangir Khan Shirazi. Thus, the Sur Isfrafil newspaper was established by Mirza Jahangir Khan as the license holder and director, Mirza Qasim Khan as the co-director, and Dihkhuda as the secretary. He accompanied Mu’awin al-Dala Ghaffari, Iran’s plenipotentiary to the Balkans, in 1903. Residing in Vienna, he studied French and modern subjects and returned to Iran in the wake of the Constitutional Movement. Upon his arrival, he was employed by Amin al-Zarb Mahdawi to serve as the assistant and translator of M. de Brooke, a Belgian engineer working for the Transportation Administration in Khurasan.  Despite his seclusion at the break of WWI, he valiantly defended the nationalization of oil industry and wrote articles against the English despotic rule. His contributions to the Sur Israfil introduced him to political activities. The Sur Israfil, appearing on a weekly basis, served as one of the most significant strongholds of constitutionalists and its print run was about 24,000. It was the earliest of the periodicals that published popular satirical, news, and political material whose readership included people from different walks of life. It was closed down five times. Dihkhuda’s support for Musaddiq and his followers led military officials to search his home for Dr. Fatimi, but they returned empty handed, apprehended Dihkhuda and subjected him to numerous forms of torture. Finally, they moved him who was unconscious to the vestibule of his home. Following the reign of terror, Dihkhuda, Taqizadih, Sayyid Jamal al-Din Wa’iz, and some others found a hiding place in a house in the vicinity of the National Consultative Assembly and stayed at the British Embassy as political refugees for 25 days until, Muhammad ‘Ali Shah, resorting to any stratagem, sent them into exile. After the bombardment of the parliament, Dihkhuda fled to Istanbul and departed for Europe to return after the conquest of Tehran by constitutionalists and re-establishment of constitutional principles. He represented Tehran and Kerman at the second parliament. He abandoned his political activities at the end of WWI and held different offices. After August 1941, he devoted all his time to his studies. His works include Lughatnama, a voluminous Persian monolingual dictionary compiled on millions of cards, dedicated to his compatriots through the National Consultative Assembly that passed a law aiming at the publication of such colossal heritage and establishment of an institute, the Lughatnama-yi Dihkhuda, to supervise its publication and following the path trodden by Dihkhuda who died shortly after the bill had been passed. As stipulated in Dihkhuda’s testament, the directorship of the institute was vested with Muhammad Mu’in who was later succeeded by Sayyid Ja’far Shahidi, Abu al-Hasan Sha’rani, Manuchihr Dabirsiyaqi and others and finally all volumes of the dictionary appeared.

Dihkhuda’s return to Iran coincided with the wake of the Constitutional Movement. He published the Sur Israfil in 1907 with the collaboration of two colleagues. He published three issues of the newspaper in Yverdon, Sweden. The third issue appeared on 30 March 1907. Then, he returned to Istanbul and published 15 issues of the Surush newspaper in Persian with the support of a number of Iranians residing in Turkey. He departed Turkey for Iran upon the persistent invitations of constitutionalist leaders. During WWI, Dihkhuda led a secluded life in a village in the Chahar Mahal Bakhtiyari region. After the war, he returned to Tehran, but abandoned political activities devoting his time to scholarly, literary, and cultural endeavors. His erudition and scholarship are reflected in the 50 volume dictionary, the Lughatnama, which includes all Persian words with precise meanings, poetical citations, and annotations. He had mastery of Arabic and French as well. In addition to his scholarly distinction, he assiduously struggled in the cause of the Constitutional Revolution. In this vein, he contributed his articles on anti-Qajar despotic rule to the Sur Israfil, a newspaper of wide circulation. Lughatnama is not only an invaluable treasure in the Persian language, but it also includes meanings, annotations, and historical accounts of many an Arabic word. The Sur Israfil was a popular and significant periodical appearing at the wake of the Constitutional Movement. the most appealing pages of the periodical constituted its satirical columns titled Charand u Parand ('nonesense'), written by Dihkhuda under the nom de plume Dakhu. Its style was unprecedented in Persian literature and it created a novel school in Persian journalism and contemporary prose style. In his satirical articles, he included critical and political material. He also composed poetry, but it was not his main profession. His few poetical compositions were collected by Muhammad Mu'in who divided them into categories: those composed following the classical style, some of which are so vigorous and elegant that it would be hard to distinguish between them and those of his predecessors; he also composed poetry reflecting literary modernism. Some contemporary belletrists regard his musammat ‘Remember the burn’d out candle! Remember!’, composed in memory of Mirza Jahangir Khan Shiraz, the director of the Sur Israfil, as the harbinger of modern Persian poetry. Finally, after the victory of the constitutionalists, Dihkhuda returned to Tehran and represented Tehran and Kerman at the National Consultative Assembly. Amsal wa Hikam is devoted to all proverbs, including the aphorisms, Qur’anic verses, traditions, and poetry used in Persian sources. The work includes non-proverbial idioms, allusions, and traditions as well. He translated some books from French which are unpublished, including ‘Azamat wa Inhitat-i Rumiyan and Ruh al-Qawanin (De l'esprit des lois) by Montesquieu. Sharh-i Hal-i Abu Rayhan Biruni, whose compilation coincided with holding the millennium anniversary of Biruni, was published by the Publication Administration of the Education Ministry in September-October 1945 in lieu of the fifth issue of the Amuzish wa Parwarish Journal and was later reprinted in Lughatnama. His edition of Nasir Khusraw’s Divan of qasidas and qit’as, to which Rushana’inama and Sa’adatnama were supplemented, was published in Tehran (1925-1928) with Hajj Sayyid Nasr Allah Taqawi’s editing, Taqizadih’s introduction, and Mujtaba Minuwi’s annotations. His edition of the Divan of Sayyid Hasan Ghaznavi, bearing the title Ashraf, was published by Mudarris Razawi (Tehran 1949). His other works include: Farhang-i Faransa bih Farsi (French-Persian Dictionary); editions of the Divans of Hafiz, Manuchihri, Farrukhi, Mas’ud Sa’d, Suzani, Ibn Yamin; editions of Sihah al-Furs and Yusuf wa Zulaykha; Pand-ha wa Kalimat-i Qisar (Aphorisms); Divan-i Shi’r (Complete Poetical Compositions of Dihkhuda). Dihkhuda died at his home located on Iranshahr Street and was buried at his family tomb in Ibn Babiwayh/Babuyih in Rayy/Riy. 

Asar-afarinan (3/ 50); Az Nima ta Ruzigar-i Ma (129-137); Tarikh-i Jara’id (3/ 146-147); Zindiginama-yi Rijal va Mashahir (3/ 244-253); Sukhanvaran-i Nami-yi Mu’asir (2/ 1379-1383).