Constitutionalism in Light of Mīrzā Nāʾīnī’s Theological Principles: Challenges and Innovations

Author

Assistant Professor, Islamic Sciences and Culture Academy, Qom, Iran

Abstract

The present article aims to demonstrate how Mīrzāyī Nāʾīnī, within the tradition of the Shiite political theology and by employing the concepts and teachings of this intellectual tradition, has addressed theoretical questions and concerns about politics during his time. Thus, through textual analysis and within the framework of semantic theories, the article seeks to answer how he arrived at a stance supportive of constitutionalism from the core principles and tenets of Shiite theology. This study reveals that the outcome of his work, in comparison with other jurists of his time, lies in the particular formulation of concepts and doctrines from this old tradition in response to newly emerging issues regarding modern politics. This formulation has two key features: first, the inescapability of theological discourse on the guardianship of the jurist, which arises from his adherence to the Shiite theological tradition; second, the theological reflection on the foundations and various aspects of constitutionalism, which stems from his attention to the nature of the politics of his time. This analysis highlights Nāʾīnī's prominent role in the evolutionary process of Shiite political theology.

Keywords

References

  1. The Quran.

    1. ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī. (1998). Kashf al-murād fī sharḥ tajrīd al-iʿtiqād (8th, H. Hassanzadeh Amoli, ed.). Qom: Islamic Publishing Institute. [In Arabic]
    2. Amid Zanjani, A. A. (1998). Fiqh-i siyāsī: niẓām-i siyāsī va rahbarī dar Islam. Tehran: Amir Kabir. [In Persian]
    3. Amiri, A. (2013). Khirad-i āvārih: ẓuhūr va zavāl-i ʿaqlāniyat dar jahān-i Islam. Kabul: Amiri Publications. [In Persian]
    4. Borji, Y. A. (2006). Vilāyat-i faqīh dar andīshi-yi faqīhān. Tehran: Imam Sadiq University and SAMT. [In Persian]
    5. Hassan, A. H. (2004). Sākhtār-i manṭiqī-yi andīshi-yi siyāsī-yi Islam. (M. Fazaeli, trans.). Qom: Būstān-i Kitāb. [In Persian]
    6. Heidari Behnooyeh, A. (2007). Andīshi-yi siyāsī-yi Āyatullāh Mīrzā Muḥammad Ḥusayn Nāʾīnī. Qom: Būstān-i Kitāb. [In Persian]
    7. Hosseinizadeh, M. A. (2001). Andīshi-yi siyāsī-yi Muḥaqqiq Karakī. Qom: Būstān-i Kitāb. [In Persian]
    8. Jahanbozorgi, A. (1999). Darāmadī bar naẓariyi-yi dawlat dar Islam. Tehran: Kānūn-i Andīshi-yi Javān. [In Persian]
    9. Kadivar, M. (2001). Naẓariyi-hāyi dawlat dar fiqh-i Shīʿa. Tehran: Ney. [In Persian]
    10. Mirahmadi, M. (Ed.) (2010). Darsguftārhāyī dar fiqh-i siyāsī. Qom: Islamic Sciences and Culture Academy. [In Persian]
    11. Modarresi Tabatabaei, S. H. (1983). Zamīn dar fiqh-i Islāmī. Tehran: Office for Islamic Culture Publication. [In Persian]
    12. Nāʾīnī, M. Ḥ. (2014). Tanbīh al-umma wa-tanzīh al-milla. (J. Varaee, ed.). Qom: Būstān-i Kitāb. [In Persian]
    13. Narāqī, A. (1988). Shuʾūn-i faqīh. (S. J. Mousavi, trans.). Tehran: Bethat Foundation. [In Persian]
    14. Shaykh al-Mufīd. (1989). Al-Muqniʿa. Qom: Islamic Publishing Institute affiliated with the Society of Seminary Teachers. [In Arabic]
    15. Shaykh al-Mufīd. (1991). Al-Tadhkira bi-uṣūl al-fiqh. Qom: World Congress for the Millennium of al-Shaykh al-Mufīd. [In Arabic]
    16. Ṭūsī, J. (1996). Al-ʿUdda fī uṣūl al-fiqh. (vol. 2, M. R. Ansari Ghomi, ed.). Qom: Mohammad Taghi Alaghebandan. [In Arabic]
    17. Zargarinejad, G. (1995). Rasāʾil-i Mashrūṭiyat. Tehran: Kavir. [In Persian]
Journal of Islamic Political Studies
Volume 6, Issue 2
July 2024
Pages 90-118

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics