Waqf, Space, and the Field of Power:

The Role of Waqf in the Reproduction of Religious and Political Fields

in Qajar Tehran

Abstract

This study examines the role of waqf in reproducing and regulating the relationship between religion and the state in Qajar-era Tehran, with a focus on three historical neighborhoods; Ud-lajan, Dowlat, and Arg. These neighborhoods, due to the density of political power centers and religious institutions, provide a suitable setting for analyzing the interaction between two fields of power: the religious field and the political field. The central question of the research is: How did waqf contribute to organizing relations between religion and the state at the neighborhood level? And how did the spatial order of endowments in these three neighborhoods correspond to the structures and positionalities of actors within the religious and political fields? Within this framework, Bourdieu’s theory of field, capital, and symbolic action is employed to analyze waqf as a mechanism for resource distribution, legitimacy consolidation, and the reconfiguration of actors’ positions. The primary sources consist of published waqf deeds, historical maps, and urban statistics. The methodology combines spatial analysis with discursive reading of historical documents, with an emphasis on reconstructing the positions of fields and dominant forms of capital in each period. The findings indicate that in Qajar Tehran, waqf functioned not merely as a religious institution but also as an instrument for recalibrating the balance of power and legitimacy at the intersection of the religious and political fields. This study is limited to the time frame of 1269-1317 AH in Tehran and relies on available historical data, not covering all socio-cultural dimensions of development. Generalizing the results to other historical cities in Iran and the Islamic world requires more case studies.