Amina Aqdas (Persian: امینه اقدس) (died 1893) was a royal consort of
Naser al-Din Shah Qajar
Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (; ; 17 July 1831 – 1 May 1896) was the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran from 5 September 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated. During his rule there was internal pressure from the people of Iran, as well as external ...
of
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
(r. 1848–1896).
[G. Nashat,]
Amīna Aqdas
" Encyclopædia Iranica, I/9, pp. 954-955, accessed on 30 December 2012.
She was the daughter of an impoverished shepherd from a village near Garrūs in Kurdistan, and was employed as a free maidservant to the shah's wife
Anīs-al-dawla in the
Qajar harem in 1859.
She eventually became a favorite of the shah, second only to Anīs-al-dawla. Contemporaries attributed her influence to an ability to manipulate the shah's weak spots: she catered to his whims, encouraged his obsessions, and appealed to his parsimony. Her power was also enhanced by the shah's intense attachment to her nephew, Gholam-Ali, Malijak-e Thani, also known as
Aziz Al-Soltan. She supported the career of
Mirza Ali Asghar Khan Amin al-Soltan. She was entrusted with several important responsibilities, such as supervising the shah's private apartment, where the crown jewels were kept; keeping the shah's most important seal, and put in charge of all presents given to the shah.
In 1890, she became the first royal consort to visit the West, when she went to Europe to have treatment for her eye condition, a journey which was widely criticised by the
ulama
In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam.
"Ulama ...
. During her last three years, she was paralyzed due to a stroke.
References
{{reflist
1893 deaths
Qajar royal consorts
19th-century Iranian women
People from Bijar