The Formation of the Political Thought of Seyyed Asadollah Kharaqani

Abstract

The concept of an Islamic system in the modern era, as understood by Shiite thinkers after the Constitutional Revolution, represented a synthesis of diverse elements such as Islamism, Iranian identity, and the re-evaluation of Shiite beliefs and doctrines in various forms, including traditionalist, conservative, reformist, and radical approaches. Kharaqani was among those Shiite clerics who advocated reform and, in the domain of political thought, offered a novel interpretation of Islamic governance and the concept of ulū al-amr. The present study, through the examination of sources and employing a historical–analytical approach, seeks to answer the research question of which factors influenced the formation of Kharaqani’s political thought and what position the concept of ulū al-amr held within it. In this regard, it can be argued that Kharaqani was influenced by the currents and transformations of the Constitutional Revolution period and, through his contributions to Shiite political jurisprudence, proposed a new interpretation that ultimately manifested in his conception of the guardianship of the jurist (velayat-e faqih). From his perspective, during the Occultation—referred to by him as the “third age of ignorance”—the matter of governance should take an elective form and be entrusted to a class knowledgeable in religious sciences. This political interpretation of ulū al-amr during the Occultation, alongside Kharaqani’s critique of religious superstitions, distinguished him within the sphere of modern Shiite political thought.