The Vaqf and the religious patronage of Manchihr KhÇn Mutamad al-Dawlah

As with other Muslim societies in history, Qajar society was not religiously homogeneous. It was made up of various religious minorities, and also converts to Islam. Even at the Qajar court, there were some powerful elite converts, like Manchihr KhÇn and Khusraw KhÇn during the reigns of Fatª Al¥ ShÇh and Muªammad ShÇh. Though the role and status of convert and slave elites has been one of the most attractive issues in Islamic history, and over the past few decades a considerable amount of research have been done on them,1 little research has appeared to date dealing with these issues in Qajar society. On the other hand, few attempts have been made so far to study the religious patronage of the Qajar court elite, despite growing attention on Sh¥ ¥ Islam after the Islamic Revolution.2 In particular, the study of Qajar vaqf had been totally neglected until recently.3