A Critical Review of the Literature and Research Works on Akhund Khorasani's Political Thoughts

In our investigation of the life and political thoughts of Akhund Khorasani we can refer to three sources: 1. Akhund's works on politics; 2. The accounts written about Akhund by his contemporaries; 3. The analysis and research works on Akhund's life and political thoughts. There are two main opinions about the analysis and research works on Akhund's political thoughts. Some writers who consider people's consent as the basis of government legitimacy, rely on some documents and reports and present analysis of Akhund's political positions during the constitution movement and seek to associate his thoughts with those of the western democracy and dissociate them from the political thoughts of other shia jurists. Contrarily, a different and yet objective opinion is offered which indicates that Akhund, like other jurists, agrees that no one in the time of the major occultation has a legal right to govern except jurists, and that Akhund, in the eye of the proponents of constitutionalism, represents a political model based on the fixed political idea about the general guardianship of jurists longitudinally.