A comparative reading of Iranian intellectuals' encounter with Western modernity (seeing the opinions of Seyyed Jamaluddin Asadabadi and Mirza Malkam Khan Nazim-doleh)

After the bitter experience of Iran's defeat in the Russian wars and the acquaintance of the educated class with the civilizational advances of the West, a class of Iranian intellectuals gradually emerged who worked to eliminate backwardness and progressiveness until the establishment of the constitution and the fall of the Qajar dynasty.In introducing the most prominent figures of the first generation of this movement, we can mention Seyyed Jamaluddin Asadabadi and Mirza Malkam Khan Nazim al-Dawlah as two religious and western intellectuals.In the current research, we have investigated the opinions of these two thinkers with a comparative method to answer the question of what are the similarities and differences in the approach of these two personalities in facing Western modernity; With the aim of gaining a better understanding of the basis of today's differences between the intellectual current and the Western world.This research is based on his written and library works in Spriggan's crisis-oriented theoretical framework.In expressing the results of the research, it can also be said: both want political-religious reforms and see the crisis in the backwardness of the understanding of the contemporary world; However, with a selective, critical and transnational perspective, Asadabadi is trying to pursue the goal of Islamic unity and prosperity by awakening the Islamic Ummah. But Malkam Khan is looking for a pure imitation of the principles of Western modernity in order to make the despotic Iranian nation progressive.