The Scholar's Approach to the Legitimacy of the Monarchy Institution Case Study; Fath-Ali Shah Qajar's Era

Early Qajar period, especially Fath-Ali Shah’s era, is highly important in the history of Shi’ism. On one hand, a relative peace had returned to the country and the ground was paved for the interaction between the scholars and the government due to the re-integration of Iran and creation of a central government; and on the other hand, the established rule needed various supports for safeguarding the borders and confrontation with the foreign and domestic powers, of which religion and the protection by the Shi’a scholars could be among the best choices.
The present article studies the opinions of four Shi’a master jurists (mujtaḥids) – Mīrza-yi Qummī, Shaykh Ja‘far Kāshif al-Ghiṭā’, Mullā Ahmad Narāqī and Sayyid Ja‘far Kashfī – on the legitimacy of monarchy institution. When studying the legal texts, treatises, and even the literary books of this period that have been written by the Shi’a scholars, there appeared to be a kind of contradiction and inconsistency in the opinions of the Shi’a scholars in their approach toward the monarchy institution of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar’s era, which resulted in the main question of this article as to the quality of the approach of the four Shi’a scholars toward the monarch institution in Fath-Ali Shah Qajar’s era. It is in response to this main question that by applying the framework of the theory of Islamic monarchy institution and with the provision of a trilateral pattern of ideal Shi’a government, jurist’s scope of authority, and the reality of the existing policy, we come the conclusion that such scholars as Mīrza-yi Qummī, Ahmad Narāqī, Kashfī, and Kāshif al-Qiṭā’ undertook to legitimize the monarchy institution, albeit in special circumstances, with unanimity on the jurist’s authority, the ideal Shi’a government, and with a look at the existing political realities governing the country as well as preservation of the independence of the religious field.