Gobineau writes regarding his fall: “Hájí Mírzá Aqásí, robbed of the power which he had constantly ridiculed, had retired to Karbilá and he spent his remaining days playing tricks on the Mullás and scoffing even at the holy martyrs.” (“Les Religions et les Philosophies dans l’Asie Centrale,” p. 160.)
“This shrewd man had gained such power over the late Sháh that one could truly say that the minister was the real sovereign; he could not therefore survive the loss of his good fortune. At the death of Muhammad Sháh, he had disappeared and had gone to Karbilá where, under the protection of the sainted Imám, even a state criminal could find an inviolable asylum. He was soon overcome by gnawing grief which, more than his remorse; shortened his life.” (Journal Asiatique, 1866, tome 7, pp. 367–36; Footnotes to chapter 12 of The Dawn-Breakers provided by Shoghi Effendi)
“Hájí Mírzá Aqásí, the half crazy old Prime Minister, had the whole administration in his hands, and obtained complete control over the Sháh. The misgovernment of the country grew worse and worse, while the people starved, and cursed the Qájár dynasty.... The condition of the province was deplorable and every man with any pretension to talent or patriotism was driven into exile by the old haji, who was sedulously collecting wealth for himself at Tihrán, at the expense of the wretched country. The governorships of provinces were sold to the highest bidders, who oppressed the people in a fearful manner.” (C. R. Markham’s “A General Sketch of the History of Persia,” pp. 486–7; Footnotes to chapter 12 of The Dawn-Breakers provided by Shoghi Effendi)
“The state of Persia, however, was not satisfactory; for Hájí Mírzá Aqásí, who had been its virtual ruler for thirteen years, ‘was utterly ignorant of statesmanship or of military science, yet too vain to receive instruction and too jealous to admit of a coadjutor; brutal in his language; insolent in his demeanour; indolent in his habits; he brought the exchequer to the verge of bankruptcy and the country to the brink of revolution. The pay of the army was generally from three to five years in arrears. ‘The cavalry of the tribes was a almost annihilated.’ Such—to adopt the weighty words of Rawlinson—was the condition of Persia in the middle of the nineteenth century.” (P. M. Sykes’ “A History of Persia,” vol. 2, pp. 439–40; Footnotes to chapter 12 of The Dawn-Breakers provided by Shoghi Effendi)
