Question

In Persia, why did al-Afghani set up a tobacco boycott?

A. He was angry that the Persian ruler sold a concession to a British company to export Persian tobacco.
B. He didn't; the boycott was organized by Nasir al-Din.
C. He wanted to rule Persia and used this as a way to take political control.
D. He was a severe non-smoker who saw the damage being done to his people by tobacco.

Answer 1

Al-Afghani organized a tobacco boycott in Persia in response to a concession given to a British company, as a form of protest against foreign economic control.

Step-by-step explanation:

In Persia, al-Afghani set up a tobacco boycott because he was angry that the Persian ruler sold a concession to a British company to export Persian tobacco. The correct answer to the question is A. He was a political activist who saw the concession as a form of economic and thus political control imposed by foreign powers. Many Muslim clerics and scholars at the time objected to the use of tobacco because it was deemed an intoxicant and harmful to health, similar to the objections later raised by King James I of England who called tobacco 'that noxious weed.' The boycott initiated by al-Afghani was a form of non-violent protest similar to that used by Gandhi in the Salt March against British control in India.