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Tagiyev Haji Zeynalabdin
Tagiyev Haji Zeynalabdin
Tagiyev Haji Zeynalabdin
ZEYNALABDIN
1838 - 1924
Group: 650r
Zeynalabdin Taghiyev was born into the poor family of a shoemaker Taghi and his wife
Umukhanum in the old part of Baku. After his mother's death and his father's second
marriage, he started learning masonry at the age of 10 to provide help for his family of
seven (sisters). His dedication to work ensured quick professional advancement and at
18, he was already a contractor.
In 1873, Zeynalabdin with two partners rented land in Bibi-Heybat. They hired laborers, foremen,
purchased equipment and, having built a rig, began to drill a well. Costs were growing day by day, and
no oil was shown. In the end, having lost hope, the partners decided to sell their share. Haji returns their
share and becomes the sole owner of the land. Failure does not discourage him. With enviable
persistence, he continues to drill the well. Finally, a fountain gushed in one of the four wells. The son of a
poor shoemaker becomes a millionaire Tagiyev.
The refrigerator built by Tagiyev in Port-Petrovsk also contributed to the development of the
fishing industry. He built a railway access road to it. It became possible to export fish to Russia in
refrigerated wagons. To sell the products of the fishing industry, Tagiyev made the most of the
possibilities of the railway, which connected Azerbaijan and Dagestan with Russia.
The fishing industry on the banks of the Kura Tagiyev leased from the state.
Tagiyev also played an important role in the development of the textile industry in Azerbaijan and
Dagestan. The Muslims of these republics received coarse calico from Russia for the shroud. But many
religious leaders reacted negatively to goods from a Christian country. Tagiyev took up this problem
too, decided to build a Textile Factory in Baku, but he encountered serious obstacles. He was not
allowed to build a textile factory.
A fierce struggle ensued with 28 of the largest manufacturers, led by the king of Russian
textiles, Savva Morozov. They saw Tagiyev as a serious competitor. They were worried
about the proximity of cotton plantations to Baku. They were afraid to let go of the sales
markets in Iran, Turkey, Turkestan, Transcaucasia. The threat also looms over the sales
markets in the Middle East and Central Asia. With expensive gifts Tagiyev obtained
permission to build a factory to produce only coarse calico. As a result, Muslims began to
buy Tagiyev's coarse calico of the best quality and at a cheap price.
Many consider Haji Zeynalabdin Tagiyev to be the father of the Azerbaijani economy.
Baku shipyards, oil factories, the first horse-drawn railway, fire station, Baku water pipeline, the
first banks - syndicates, the first cotton mill, schools, madrasahs, mosques (including in Russia),
hospitals, theaters were opened and developed at the suggestion of and on the money of Tagiyev,
one of the most weighty and generous Baku millionaire industrialists.
He was very active in all matters concerning the development of industry in his country.
Taghiyev was concerned about Muslim women’s closed lives and their ignorance of their rights. He
dearly wished them to be educated, cultured and broad-minded. He believed that an uneducated and
oppressed woman was also an uneducated mother. He often asked: What can such a woman give to
her child? He was certain that enlightenment should begin with girls, thus the enlightenment of a
child results in an educated individual, however, an educated girl means an educated mother and an
educated family in the future. That is why he sent his daughters Leyla and Sara khanim to study for
a higher education in Petersburg.
The school was the dawning of secular education for Muslim girls.
In 1901 a girls’ school was opened in Irevan, in 1902 in Ganja, in
1907 schools were opened in Nukha (now Sheki) and Eresh in the
Yevlakh region, in 1909 a Russian-Azerbaijan girls’ school was
opened in Baku.
The photograph can be dated between 1903 - January 1, 1903 Tagiyev was
awarded the 1st degree Persian Order of the Lion and the Sun with a star
and a ribbon over his shoulder, which is present in the photograph, and in
1907 - January 25, 1907, by the highest decree, Tagiyev was promoted to
rank of the actual state councilor (DSS), and in the photo he does not yet
have a DSS uniform.
Moreover, Taghiyev's charity work went beyond the borders of the Russian Empire. Pakistan is
an example of this Today it's the sixth most populous country in the world. It has the second
largest Muslim population after Indonesia.
In the 19th century, the territory of modern Pakistan was occupied by British troops. It became a
part of British India. At the beginning of the 20th century, when independence movement was on
the rise, a pandemic of plague broke out. Experts say that there are two clinical varieties of plague -
bubonic and pneumonic.
A flea bite may cause the first one, while the second one is a severe version of bubonic plague. The worst
thing is that pneumonic plague spreads like a flu and has 100% mortality rate. Over 100 thousand people
died from the rapidly spreading deadly disease. It was possible to defeat this disease only by vaccinating
those who had not yet fallen ill. And that' when Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev bought and sent over 300
thousand ampoules of vaccine to Pakistan, which played a major role in the victory over this deadly
disease.
In 1947, after Pakistan gained independence, this story became a part of textbooks and since
then Pakistani people consider Azerbaijan a brotherly state and fully support Baku's position on
the Karabakh settlement. It's interesting that Pakistan is the only state in the world that doesn't
recognize the Republic of Armenia because of its position in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.
Pakistan also expressed its full support to Azerbaijan during the second
Karabakh war.
"I extend warmest felicitations to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev
and fraternal people of Azerbaijan on their Independence Day. We pay
tribute to Azerbaijani forces valiantly defending their territorial
integrity. Pakistan stands with Azerbaijan in its quest to resolve
Nagorno-Karabakh issue as per United Nations Security resolutions.”
-Imran Khan, Prime minister of Pakistan.
Oct 18th, 2020
Family
Taghiyev was married twice. His first wife Zeynab, who was also his cousin,
bore him three children. After her death, Taghiyev married Sona, the
youngest daughter of General Balakishi Arablinski. The wedding took
place in 1896. Arablinski's elder daughter Nurjahan had already been
married to Taghiyev's older son Ismayil.
Haji Zeynalabdin Tagiyev respected Akhund Abuturab very much, listened to his
advice and guidance. There are legends about Tagiyev's will, one of which tells the
following: “Tagiyev himself said that one day he was riding in his luxurious carriage to
his country house in Mardakan. Suddenly he saw Akhund Abuturab aga on his way,
riding in his old phaeton.
H.Z stopped the carriage and ordered the driver to invite Akhund to join his carriage.
Molla and H.Z started talking about many things , and then H.Z asked: Agha, do you
think wealth can slip out of my hands?" Abuturab agha replies: Haji, you went to
Mecca itself, made a pilgrimage; you know the vicissitudes of fate. If Allah wills, He will
deprive you of your entire fortune in the blink of an eye. So think more about the
eternal ... ".
“When in the twenties, after the nationalization of my factories, trades and palaces, I
moved to my Mardakan country house for permanent residence, I remembered the
words of the unforgettable Abuturab Agha and realized: what his little finger knew
my head doesn’t. That is why I bequeath to bury me at his feet. “
Great trials fell to the lot of Haji Zeynalabdin's relatives, whose misfortunes began immediately after Tagiyev's
death - the family was left without a livelihood and was practically thrown into the street.
In 1924, his eldest daughter Leila Hanım with children managed to emigrate first to Iran, then to Istanbul, as
her husband was threatened with imprisonment upon returning from a business trip.
By the way, it was this news of his daughter's escape that finally undermined her father's health - after that he
did not get up.
Sarah Khanym in 1935 spent two years in the Petrograd prison "Kresty" on charges of complicity in the
murder of Kirov.
Her daughter Safiya khanim with three children was exiled to Sterlitamak (Bashkiria) in 1941. Safiya's
husband khanim Zeynal Abdullayev, abandoning property and prestigious work, secretly made his way to
the boat and joined his wife and children.
With H.Z Tagiyev’s youngest daughter, Surayya khanim, fate was more
favorable - having married a humble dentist, she lived for many years in her
native Baku.
The sons of H.Z. Tagiyev were not destined to have a long life: Ilyas was also
arrested and died in prison, Mamed - died under mysterious circumstances.
There are legends about the tragic fate of Haji Zeynalabdin Tagiyev’s wife , Sona khanim. Sona khanum
Tagiyeva-Arablinskaya - wife, associate and great friend of Haji Zeynalabdin Tagiyev - was born in 1881 in
Derbent in the family of a hereditary nobleman General Balakishi bey Arablinsky. Sovietization turned into
a terrible personal tragedy both for Sona Hanım and for her household members.
Sona Hanım died in 1932 in terrible poverty, rejected by her closest people.
Tagiyev's daughter Sarah khanim, upon her return to Baku in the mid-1950s (after Stalin's death),
tried to achieve justice, tried to restore the honest name of her father, but all the doors of officials at
that time were closed to her.
Sarah khanum spent the money sent by her daughter Safiya from Bashkiria on
typists - she wrote letters to various authorities about her father, in most cases -
unanswered.
Finally returning to her homeland in 1991 after the death of Sarah khanim, her daughter Safiya
khanim decided to continue her mother's work.
Thanks to the support of the public and the energetic efforts of Safiya khanum herself, it was possible
to establish a charitable foundation named after Sara khanym Tagiyeva. All contributions to the fund
went, according to the tradition already established in the Tagiyev family, for charitable purposes. The
money was sent to boarding schools, children's hospitals and retirees in need.
In 2005, Safiya passed away. Still not fully recovered from her grief, her daughter Kamilla
khanim (great-granddaughter of H.Z. In the memory of Kamilla khanim, memories are still
fresh of what efforts it took for Safiya khanim to find those willing to participate in charity
events.