QAJAR IRAN, LATE 19TH CENTURY

'Alikhan Davallu Qajar, titled Zahir al-Dawla, was a son-in-law of Nasir al-Din Shah. He was appointed the Master of Cermonies at the court in 1304/1886-7 and governor of Hamadan and Kirmanshah. In 1326/1908-9 his house and khanqah were bombed and ransacked on the orders of Muhammad 'Ali Shah because they were known as a centre of Freemasonry. (Bamdad, M.: Dictionary of National Biography of Iran, Vol. II, Tehran, 1966, pp. 367-70).