Saad ad-Daula

Najaf Qoli Khan Bakhtiari (Persian نجف قلی خان بختیاری; * 1851, † 1931 in Isfahan) known as Saad al Dowleh and Samsam -os Saltaneh was for a few months two times Iranian Prime Minister at the time of the Constitutional Revolution.

Life

Najaf Qoli Khan was the son of Hosein Qoli Khan Bakhtiari and the elder brother of Ali Qoli Khan Bakhtiari ( Sardar As'ad II). After Mohammed Ali Shah threatened to destroy the constitutional movement, Sardar Asad Najaf Qoli Khan called for help. Sardar As'ad and Najaf Qoli Khan led the command of the Bachtiyārī troops who moved in 1909 to Tehran to free the entrapped by the Cossack Brigade parliamentarians.

Najaf Qoli Khan was several times minister in several cabinets and took over seven times the premiership. His first term lasted from 3 May 1909 to 16 July 1909. His second term of office from December 23, 1912 until January 11, 1913 was very short. Saad al Dowleh was also a deputy in the fourth term of the Iranian parliament. Najaf Qoli Khan had no formal education. He was regarded as rather apolitical. His social position as a tribal leader of the Bakhtiari and his support of the Constitutional Revolution led to the overthrow of Mohammad Ali Shah and the restoration of the constitutional monarchy in Iran.