مهدی فرجی

Using Spragens’s crisis theory, which oversees the understanding of political theories, the present article has explained the question of the development process and the nature of “constitutional theory” in Iran during the Qajar era. The purpose of this research is to apply Spragens’s theory to understand the nature and explain the development process of constitutional theory in Iran. The results obtained from this research, based on the descriptive-explanatory method, show that the constitutionalism theory did not emerge in the last days of the movement; Rather, it has had a historical-evolutionary process. Regarding its nature, it can be said that the theory of constitutionalism was “the theory of the rule of law” and a movement to “establish freedom” and get rid of tyranny. The development process of this theory by using the theoretical approach of Spragens in the four steps of the problem and observation of disorder; causes of disorder; order and fantasy (rebuilding society); And the prescription phase will be explained.

The present article seeks to explain the causes of constitutionalism in Iran based on Crane Brinton's theory of revolution, using a combined approach and method, citing historical evidence, including historiographical sources, memoirs, travelogues, and the press. Brinton's theory of revolution is important because it examines the four great revolutions (France, Russia, Britain, and the United States). The method of the article is historical and theory has been used to explain the developments. Findings indicate that among the preliminary signs that Brinton considers in his theory of revolution, the components of "inefficiency of the government machine", and "change of allegiance of enlightened thinkers" have played a role in the occurrence of Iranian constitutionalism. . The signs of "economic growth," "class strife," and "surprising failure to use force" did not conform to Iranian constitutionalism, and contrary to Brinton's theory, the government and the people were in a difficult economic situation. There was no class conflict in the constitutional movement, and despite the violence in the Grand Mosque and the events leading up to Kobra's migration, due to the dominance of the negotiation process and the Shah's pressure and support for the constitutionalists, it can be said that force was used in the Iranian constitutional movement. And there is no military force to suppress the protesters. The course of events of the movement and its adaptation to Brinton's theory and the four great revolutions show that the Iranian constitutionalism was not a revolution but a movement.

After the formation of critical discourses against the current situation in the Qajar period, most of them attacked the authoritarian regime and called for the transition from tyranny to the rule of law. Eventually, the constitution became the main critic's claim, and the constitutional order was issued. However, at the stage of drafting the constitutional amendment, constitutionalism was considered by shariatians to be contrary to sharia and thus faced a major challenge.The Habl-ol- matin, which had been promoting constitutionalism since many years ago, with secular explanations, after the challenge, changed its position and promoted constitutionality based on the idea of separating sharia from the custom.The basic question of the article is that Habl-ol- matin explained the idea on the basis of what basis and purpose?The findings of the research on the basis of the descriptive-explanatory method show that after the constitution was considered to be contrary to sharia, this publication regulates its secular explanation of constitutionalism on the basis of the jurisprudential permission of the Scholars of Najaf on the necessity of the separation of the sharia from the custom at the time of the absent, and as a way of linking the thinking of the modern state and sharia.

The wars between Iran and Russia in nineteenth century, are an important historical milestone  which made Iranians aware of their backwardness. The most important way to deal with this situation, was to obtain the democratic achievements of the modern western civilization and the transition from authoritarian government to a law abiding and obligated government. Of course, the background of Iranian ,s awareness of the consequences of modern civilization and especially idea of ​​constitutionalism, goes back to earlier times. The Study of Persian logbooks of India, although not published in Iran and apparently had no direct effect on the political awakening of the elites and the masses of Iranian people in the years leading up to constitutionalism, shows that India under British colonization and works of those Iranians who were living there, were important sources for Iranians to know modern civilization including British constitutionalism. And what was the connection between the rule of constitutional system and the progress of the country and the welfare and comfort of the people? The following article try to answer the question that what was the understanding of authors of the three logbooks, Shegarfnamey-E Velayat by Etesam al-Din, Tohfatolalam by Abdul Latif Shushtari and Masir -E Talebi by Mirza Aboutalebkhan, from British constitutionalism and what was the connection between the rule of constitutional system with the progress of the country and the welfare of the people. Thus, the purpose of this article is to show that before the Iran-Russia wars and the Iranians awareness of their backwardness, a kind of attention to the progress and reflection of the idea of ​​constitutionalism and the necessity of its establishment in Islamic countries, especially Iran, in the works of Persian writers in India can be found. The three mentioned logbooks can be considered as the first narrators of the idea of ​​constitutionalism in Persian. An important features of these writings is that they did not see the issue of progress and constitutionalism in the West, including Britain, only in terms of concepts such as their degeneration or backwardness. And so their main content is a sign of the mentality confrontation of some Iranians with the developments of the modern world which focuses more on institutional differences and current procedures, rather than on understanding its intellectual and thought-provoking foundations. Therefore, understanding the contents of these logbooks is important and necessary for the analysis of the process that the Iranians mind and thought has started in the face of the new civilization and the way it has passed. 

The research method of the present article is descriptive-analytical in order to focus on the texts of these logbooks and understanding the issue and their concern to explain the perspectives of the authors of these works about the evolution of modern world and in particular the narrative of British constitutionalism and survey the comparative study between Islamic and Eastern countries especially Iran with the developments and events of the modern world from the perspective of the authors of these logbooks.In this regard, the method of collecting information, is library method and based on the text of the three mentioned logbooks, with the emphasis on clarifying the desired intellectual principles by the authors of the logbooks, which is specifically based on their descriptive discourses which is done according to the British constitutional rules and regulations.

 Among the three case study logbooks despite some commonalities, Including in view of the achievements of the new world there are also differences, especially with the British Constitutionalism. Etesam Al-Din describes constitutionalism with traditional literature and concepts, and states that the king's authority, separation of powers, and the legal and democratic exercise of power are the main features of the British political system. Also Mirza Aboutaleb pays special attention to the customary nature of the laws and the separation of religion from politics in Britain. (Isfahani, ibid:251). Compared to the other two authors, and despite the fact that Shushtari did not see Britain and its political institutions, including the parliament directly and closely, he pays more attention to the British constitutional achievements and using them for Iran. On the one hand, he attributes the creation of constitutionalism to the eradication of the influence and authority of the Roman Church and British religious independence, as well as the involvement of natural and Western philosophers (Shushtari:254-251). On the other hand, there is a direct relationship between the establishment of constitutionalism and the progress and power of Britain and the welfare of the people and the provision of the rights of the British people (ibid: 259, 277-276, 284). In this way, he criticizes the authoritarian system of Iran and considers the rule of constitutionalism as a condition for Iran's progress and its empowerment (ibid:339). 

Although the understanding of these logbooks from constitutionalism was not based on analysis of the theoretical foundations of modern European political thought and none of them had a clear discourse on the advancement of Muslims or Iranians, but they reflected some aspects of the way which Muslims and Iranians confront with the manifestations of modern European civilization. And for the first time, some modern institutions, as well as the content of some modern concepts, are presented to their audience. It seems that in addition to their traditional affiliations in not presenting a positive and specific account of British constitutionalism, such as being likely to be the headline of the Iranian people and officials, their political attitudes and dependence on the institutions of power in India, including the British has also been so effective that it has even created a kind of empathetic view to the British in a significant part of these works. Also, the authors of three mentioned logbooks were not yet in the reactionary and helpless atmosphere caused by Iran's defeat of Russia and the pressure of the modern civilization, and therefore it is natural that such logbooks should not have been written with the concern of progress and within the framework or under the influence of the discourse of progressivism and modernity and with the knowledge of the foundations of modern European political thought. In their point of view, the West, including the United Kingdom, was not seen as the only model for progressing to be compared with Iran's degeneration and backwardness. Therefore, they can be considered as narrators who, before proposing the idea of ​​degeneration and backwardness of Iran and forming the concern for progress, presented a narrative of the British constitutionalism. This shortcoming does not necessarily diminish the importance of these texts, and the value of the narration of this group of travel writers should not be overlooked. The acquaintance with their point of view, and of course the attention to the logic of subsequent developments, points out that the issue of Iranian backwardness was largely raised over time, especially through the observation of inefficiencies and failures such as Iran's defeat by Russia. And apparently those inside Iran became more central to those who were in areas such as India. In addition, a significant portion of Iranians who later became acquainted with the developments of the modern world gradually found a greater tendency to understand the normative nature of thought contained in the text of modern developments. What was almost absent in the eyes of travel writers in Inida, who were mostly political officials, that they were more concerned with the hard-line and institutional dimensions of change. In addition of some factors like the lack of translation and publication of logbooks at that time in Iran or the locative and temporal distance, perhaps this is the difference in perspective that makes it impossible to speak directly and positively influence of this group of Indian Iranians on Iranian constitutionalism. However, these texts show some marks of the first encounters of the Iranian thought with new developments. Perhaps these works can be considered conceptually and theoretically in the interval between the creation of astonishment, such as those who were later encountered to it such as Mirza Abolhassan Khan Ilchi, and the beginning of reflections on the kind of question that Abbas Mirza asked why this is our situation, and what should be done?

Based on Reza Shah's goals and attitudes, fundamental changes were made in the traditional elements and culture. The Shah's attempt was to rethink and create a new interfaith belief in society. The Pahlavi government began to create a new culture to strengthen the modern national government. In order to achieve its goal and program, the government has used existing and new tools to implement the government's goals. Among the various tools and organizations, the organization "Raising Thoughts" was of great theoretical and executive importance and credibility.Therefore, in addition to high credibility in macro-politics, the Pahlavi government's attention to the organization was pursued unusually. Accordingly, in the present article, an attempt has been made to examine and analyze cultural policies based on a particular theory, and to analyze and explain the cultural tools and elements in the direction of the modern absolute state, to achieve its goals. The findings of the paper, using the method of historical analysis based on historical documents, sources and evidence, show that cultural policy and organization in the Pahlavi government had a great impact on cultural unification and harmonization of minds in order to legitimize.

From the time of Nasser al-Din Shah onwards, we have witnessed the emergence of the discourse of nationalism and the definition of national identity based on the components of "perennialism" in Iran. One hundred years of experience show that such a definition of national identity has been detrimental to the realization of national unity and the protection of the rights of Iranians. On the other hand, today there is no single definition of national identity among thinkers and elites and serious discussions are underway in this regard. At the same time, the preservation of Iran requires a nationalism based on the sovereignty of the nation, the satisfaction and security of the rights and interests of all members of the nation. Accordingly, it is necessary to re-read and critique the definition of national identity based on the components of "perennialism". In the meantime, despite the fact that Habal al-Matin has promoted the relationship between the state and the nation in the modern sense, it defines national identity based on the components of "perennialism". The question of the present article is that according to the "modernist paradigm of nationalism", what is the critique of the national identity defined by this publication? Findings show that the definition of Iranian identity and national identity is based on the ethnic-cultural definition of the nation and has no relation with the modern nation.

In the first and second World Wars, foreign forces ignored the fact that Iran proclaimed being impartial, and occupied it. Meanwhile, the reaction of the religious scholars and clerics as the religious leaders of the society was much important and influential. In the World War I, they proclaimed Jihad and inducted many forces for confronting the occupying troops. They even took part in those struggles personally. In the World War II, however, they did show no reaction towards occupation of the country. The present study seeks to investigate the reasons for different reactions of the religious scholars and clerics towards the occupation of the country in the first and second World Wars. To do so, we have used a comparative method of study. The findings of the study show that factors such as weakening of the scholars’ position through Reza Shah’s anti-religious policies, proclamation of giving up resistance by the central government in the Second World War, fruitlessness of any resistance against occupying powers considering what was experienced in the First World War, low level of damages in the Second World War, and the scholars’ attempt for reviving the status of Islam and clerics after Reza Shah’s resigning were all effective in different reaction by the religious scholars.

Revolutionary institutions and committees were among the first and foremost measures in the history of the Islamic Revolution of Iran to establish the security and tolerance of the revolutionary society. The institutions and committees of the revolution were massively formed and organized by the movement. People spontaneously organized committees with clerics or trustees locally in mosques and various urban and rural neighborhoods. The main aim of the committee in the last days of the collapse of the Pahlavi dynasty was to secure and restore order and to fight the Pahlavi regime and the counter-revolution on the other. The basic question of the paper is what were the most important security-law-enforcement measures of the revolutionaries in the last days of the Pahlavi regime and what were the mechanisms and order of the revolutionary society? It seems that the establishment of revolutionary institutions and the Revolutionary Committee was one of the most important security-law-enforcement measures. The collapse of the Pahlavi dynasty was not due to the lack of readiness and disruption of policing and gendarmerie, and institutions and committees were needed. However, the subject of this article is of research importance. This article is a qualitative and historical study based on the sources and documents of contemporary history. The findings of the study

Due to the military and economic threats of modern civilization, the Qajar rulers were forced, at some stages, to adapt new sciences and techniques to modify and refurbish parts of their state administration. In addition, due to the acquaintance of Iranians with new changes and modern thoughts of this period, critical thoughts and progressive discourses were formed in society. Printed in Kolkata during the ending decades of Qajar era, Habl al-Matin was one of the most important newspapers which used to emphasize the adaptation of modern sciences in its progressive discourse. Based on a descriptive-analytical method and through a paradigm of critical theory, it has been tried, in present study, to criticize the approach of this newspaper to progress and modern sciences to find answers to these fundamental questions of what were the shortcomings and problems of Habl al-Matin to explore the relation between progress and modern sciences and what was its "of-modern-sciences- derived" solution to get development? Findings show that Habl al-Matin did not have a comprehensive understanding of new civilization and the ways it developed on the basis of dialectical relation of political, economic, social and cultural changes and processes, and it tried, through a positivist approach, to explain the advancement of Europe and all other societies using modern sciences, and it propagated the adoption of these sciences as a strategy for the Iran's progress, regardless of the necessity of making changes and creating capacity for bringing the country's different structures together and forming appropriate processes.

Hassan al-Banna was the founder, leader and leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Muslim world in the center of Egypt. Rashid al-Ghannouchi is the founder of the Islamic Movement of Tunisia, and is inspired by the idea of the Al-Bin and the Brotherhood. The idea of "Bana" and "Ghannouchi" has had a profound reflection on the geographical range of the Muslim world and contemporary Muslim thought; From this perspective, the thought of these two Muslim thinkers is worthy of attention and research. In the following paper, the political thought of these two thinkers has been examined with a new look. The importance of studying the views and opinions of Al-Baha and Al-Ghannouchi in the critical situations of the Islamic world is the kind of confrontation with the challenges and their response. Accordingly, the main objective and the main issue of the present article is to examine the historical evolution of the reform and modernization of the state based on the thinking of Al-Banna and Al-Ghannouchi. The basic question of the article is that what are the fundamentals and principles of political thought of these two Muslim theologians? And how can the reformal approach and systemization / state be considered in the intellectual system of these two? The authors believe that Hassan al-Banna and Rashid al-Ghannouchi, in their country, sought to reform the state and revive the government on the basis of Islam. The relative success of the Islamist movement at that time was due to the thought and political views of these two thinkers on political issues and state-building. This paper uses the descriptive-explanatory method to explore and explain the positions of these two political thinkers in the field of reforming and modernizing the state.

After the heavy consequences of the battles between Iran and Russia، revisions and reforms of the body of Qajar government were started. Along with that، open-minded ideas formed among them after Iranian became familiar with new western civilizations and compared Iran with developed European countries. First، a group of Iranian scholars dwelling in India informed people of the civilizations in their works after getting to know British sources. The objective in this article is the critical and open-minded ideas of Mirza Ismail Dordi Isfahani، one of the Iranian scholars living in India. The article aims at analyzing the discourse of Mirza Ismail to clarify what his understanding of the concepts “law”، “rights”، “limitations”، and “freedoms” is and what kind of relation the concepts have to him. The findings of this article reveal that Mirza Ismail considered the political and official condition of Iran after he had become familiar with the new western civilizations and concluded that Iran could develop under the reign of law. According to his hyposesis، the powers of the ruler are limited and people`s rights are determined on the basis of law. He believes that freedoms based on law and cultural and national regulations are not harmful but beneficial since they lead to unity and development of governments and societies.

The sadabad pact was a regional treaty among four countries,Afghanistan, iran, tyrkey and araq. this contract was tied in unsafe and unstable condition by initiative of iran before the second world war in Tehran in 1937 / 1316. That mentioned pact constrained obligors to observance lack frontier aggression principals, no interference in internal affairs, peaceful settlement of quarrels. Recognition, formation quality of sadabad pact, explanation of ends and effective factors in this tie is most important question for this article. this article is trying to analyze the impression or disimpression of Britain in formation of this pact.

This research aims to review the territorial disputes between Iran and Turkey in the Reza Shah Period (1925-1941) and to study how these disputes were settled. Methodology / Approach : This study has benefited from the descriptive - analytical method, based on archival and library resources, with a historical approach. The findings of this study i ndicate that the Republic of Turkey and Reza Shah's Government settled all of their territorial disputes according to their peaceful foreign policies by c oncluding three treaties: " Vedadieh and Ta’minieh”(1926), “Ahdnameye Marzi (frontier treaty)” (1932) and “Eslahe Khate Marzi (treaty of modification of the border lines)” (1316/ 1937).

The present study aims at describing the historical geography of «Farghaneh» which had been one of the states of the Great Khorasan (the ancient Khorasan and Transoxiana) since the early centuries after the emergence of Islam. Descriptions will also be presented regarding the natural resources، cities، and scholars of the Farghaneh state. Also muslim Arabs'' success in conquering it along with its gubernatorial، administrative، and political conditions from Islamic era up to the modern times will be described. Since the social and cultural issues of Farghaneh have not been addressed adequately in geographical and historical sources، a small portion of the article covers those issues. The research findings suggest that the Farghaneh state had been neighboring Turkish lands and Turkish speaking people. Also، Farghaneh has been part of Persia in ancient times. In addition، It has been governed by Rashedin، Abbasid، and Omavid Caliphate and Iranian، Turk and Mogul governors in Islamic era.