The Relationship between Freedom and Political Security in the Idea of Āyatollāh Nā’ini

The purpose of the present study is to review the relationship between freedom and political security in the ideas of Āyatollāh Nā’ini. The deep-rooted culture of absolutism in Iran has led to the perception of freedom as something that happens after autocracy, yet autocracy has been considered as the harbinger of security. Thus, upon the collapse of autocracy, the outburst of freedom and chaos would occur to destroy the security of autocracy. The experience of Qajar absolutism and then the chaos after the constitutional revolution is an objective manifestation of this culture. In such a chaotic condition, Mohaqqeq Nā’ini, an eminent jurist and Osouli, dealt with reflection upon governance, autocracy, security, freedom, … and attempted to interpret these new concepts based on jurisprudential principles and tenets. He tried to define favorite order of Islam with respect to the circumstances of his era so that concepts of freedom and political security could be defined under that favorite order. Regarding the disorderly condition of the constitutional era as well as Nā’ini’s Osouli approach, this question is raised: what is the relationship between freedom and political security in his idea? Using descriptive-analytic method and Skinner’s hermeneutic paradigm, the present study showed that Nā’ini has derived the conception of politics, freedom, and security from the heart of religion and has defined religion as the source of thinking so he defined Wilāyatiyah government as the favorable and permissible order in religion. He believes that in the light of Wilāyatiyah government and based on religious instructions, there is interaction and even correlation between political security and freedom.