A Study on Order of the Payment Method of vaẓīfe (the stipend) from the Šāh Solṭān Ḥoseyn Ṣafavīd reign( 1105- 1135/ 1694- 1722)

The vaẓīfe (the stipend ) payment was one of the payment method of the Ṣafavīd period , which was paid to the scholars and clerics. In Mashhad, as a religious city, there were also individuals who received vaẓīfe from the Ṣafavīd government.

This article , through readout and interpreting a decree and payment order Shah Solṭān Ḥoseyn , intended to examine the issue that how has been the system and place of the vaẓīfe payment and what was the role of the officials of the Shrine in the city of Mashhad? 

Research Methodology and Approach:

 This article was written descriptively-analytically by a library research methodology with a documentary approach. 

The results:

Based on the studied document, for the vaẓīfe payment, the decree was first issued by the Shah. Then, the vazīr ( the Minister) and the bī􀇉glarbeygī􀇉/ begler-beygi (the governor- general)of Mashhad were set to be responsible for paying it out from certain sources of revenue, which have been mostly the soyūrġālāt (the land revenues/ feudal tenure?) of the Mashhad era . Afterwards, the the avāreje- nevīs (the writer of cash book department) towjīh-nevīs (the writer of payment department) and sarḵat- nevīs2 of Khorasan had to confirm the place of payment, according that the local authorities, like the ruler of Mashhad, the kalāntar( the chief man of Mashhad), mobāšerān ( the agents) and high officials like the vazīr-e a‘ẓam (the Grand vazī􀇉r) and mostowfī-yo’l-mamālek ( the chief of the accountant state domains) like the Grand Minister and the mostowfī-yo’l-mamālek would confirm that. Therefore, both state administrative and civilian agents were effective in the vaẓīfe payment process.