Na?ini, Mohammad Hosayn (1860–1936)

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NA˒INI, MOHAMMAD HOSAYN (1860–1936)

Mohammad Hosayn Na˒ini was a leading Shi˓ite scholar, theoretician of constitutionalism, and a precursor of Islamic modernism in Iran. Born into a family of scholars, Na˒ini first studied with Mohammad Baqer Esfahani and Mohammad Taqi (Aqa Najafi). Then he went to Iraq where he studied with Mohammad Hasan Shirazi and Mohammad Kazim Khorasani. In Iraq, Na˒ini became actively involved in the anti-British independence movement after World War I. He was arrested and expelled from Karbala and returned to Tehran in 1923. He joined the anti-Qajar forces, supported Reza Khan's accession to the throne, and maintained cordial relationship with him until his death in Najaf in 1936.

Na˒ini wrote the most important treatise in support of constitutional government from a Shi˓ite viewpoint; in it he presented an Islamic justification for a secular and Western model constitutional government. In Tanbih al-umma wa tanzih al-milla dar Asas Usul-i Mashrutiyyat (An admonishment to the [community of] believers and an exposition to the nation concerning the principles of constitutional government), Na˒ini attempted to reconcile the need for an efficient government in Iran that would respect certain tenets of a democratic system of government with the need to recognize the legitimacy of the rule of the Hidden Imam, and defend the precepts of Shi˓ite Islam. It is said that when Na˒ini became disillusioned with the constitutional revolution, he withdrew his book and threw it into the Tigris River.