Fundamentals of Constitutionalism and the Status of the ‎Sovereign According to Sheikh Ismail Mahallati

Explaining and examining the principles of constitutionalism in Iran is one of the most basic topics in public law, political science and jurisprudence. The [1905] Constitutional Revolution was a seminal legal, political and social event. Contemporary Iranian thinkers have focused on various dimensions and angles of the revolution and presented different readings of it. One of these readings is that of Sheikh Ismail Mahallati, a constitutionalist jurists and the author of the treatise "Al-Laali al-Marbutah fi Wujub al-Mashrutah". This paper, using a descriptive-analytical method, seeks to describe the principles of constitutionalism and duties of the sovereign from the perspective of Mahallati. This paper’s findings suggest that Mahallati, using the Book [the Qur'an] and Sunnah [the sayings of the Prophet], believed that the principle of shura (consultation) is a Qur'anic principle and considered reason and the la-zarar (no-harm) principle as the justificational basis of constitutionalism. In addition, in his view, the sovereign is limited to executive affairs and cannot interfere in determining its instances, because from  Mahallati’s perspective, the exercise of sovereignty is a matter of representation during the absence [of the twelve Imam in the doctrine of Twelver Shi’ism].