A French columnist reopened the wound one month later by rehearsing the incident under the punning headline "n'y avait pas la de quoi fouetter un Shah".

The poor pun was enough to make Reza Shah Pahlavi immediately recall Nadjm to Tehran "for an explanation", and withdraw his promise to lend Iranian art objects to the coming Paris International Exhibition which was planned for May 1937.

As a neighboring country and a Persian-speaking monarchy, Afghanistan was considered very important and the post of ambassador in Kabul had more significance attached to it than it has had in more modern times.

He was the minister of finance in Ebrahim Hakimi's cabinet and tried to fight corruption, but was held back by interference from the royal family.

Since the intentions [of the Majlis] were clear, Hakimi presented his resignation to His Majesty on the evening of Sunday, January 20th, [1946] and made me sad. ...

Long after retirement from politics, Nadjm retained his good name as one of the few Pahlavi era politicians who were clean of financial and ethical corruption.

Near the end of his life, the Shah, embattled by the Iranian revolution, called on him to return to the government as a part of the reforms intended to quell the revolutionary fervor.