Ayatollah Sheik Fazlullah Nouri

(1843-1 August

1909)

Sheik Fazlullah was born in 1843. Finishing primary years of education, He left Iran for Najaf and later in 1299 immigrated to Samara to enjoy Mirza Shirazi’s excellence. Finally in 1883 he dispatched forIran and took resident in Tehran. Sheik Fazlullah was among the first Islamic scholars who found out colonial countries plots for removing and replacing Islam with an unreligious government by means of a constitutional rule. What led to his disagreement was refusing of the Sharia’. He believed that Muslims need and Islamic parliament based on Koran and Mohammad’s (PBUH) experience.

Old building of Majlis-1336

Sheik Fazlullah was influential on scholars leaving Tehran for Qom. They didn’t terminate their refuge-taking to Hazrat Ma’soumeh shrine till Shah and government had to sign constitutional rule decree. But when sheik observed a plot is planned for removing Islam and substitution of an alien culture for it, raised against this new way of state-craft. In 25 June 1907 (3 Tir 1286), he took refuge to Shah Abdol Azim Shrine. About 500 people followed him and there e issuedSharia’-based constitution. On 30 December 1908 (9 Day 1287), a man named Karim Davatgar, attempted on Sheik’s life but wasn’t successful. After Tehran capture, Constitutionists raged Tehran from every corner and dethroned the time dictator, Mohammad Ali Shah. Then they laid a siege to Sheik’s house.

The historians report the events inside Sheik’s house as follows:

A representative form Russian Embassy went to his house and invited Sheik to Embassy. Sheik replied: “Muslim is not allowed to tale refuge to disbelievers.”

Then the Russian man acclaimed that now he refused to go to Embassy, at least place their banner upon his house. Sheik Answered: “Islam won’t seek protection from disbelieving”.

Eventually on 30 July 1909 (8 Mordad 1288), this honored scholar was arrested and taken to prison. English authorities in Iran have executed him to life sentence before that but he was kept in prison for three days demagogically. Then Sheik Ibrahim Zanjani, a traitor clergy and some English agents, made an inquiry from him for an hour. Here sheik Fazlullah told Zanjani: “You are too inferior for sentencing me. There’s nothing between a scholar and an ignorant too talk”.

Sheik Ibrahim Zanjani

An hour before sunset on 1 August 1909 (13 Rajab 1327 Hijri Qamari), he was taken toward the scaffold. He stood there and made a speech. Then took off his turban and told: “They took this turban off my head, they will took it off everybody’s”.

Jalal Al-Ahmad in his book“Serving and Betrayal of Intellectuals” writes: “That was when the brand of dependency to west was applied on us. I modify that honored man’s corpse over the scaffold like a banner of west predominance over Iran after 200 years of conflict.”