Ahmad Kasravi

Who was Ahmad Kasravi?

Ahmad Kasravi, was a notable Iranian linguist, historian, and reformer.

Born in Hokmabad, Tabriz, Iran, Kasravi was an Iranian Azeri. Initially, Kasravi enrolled in a seminary. Later, he joined the Iranian Constitutional Revolution. He experienced a sort of conversion to Western learning when he learned that the comet of 1910 had been identified as a reappearance of Halley's comet. He abandoned his clerical training after this event and enrolled in the American Memorial School of Tabriz. Thenceforward he became, in Roy Mottahedeh's words, "a true anti-cleric."