| Abstrakt: |
Abstract: Ayatollah Mirza Muhammad Husayn Gharawi Na’ini was an Iranian Shia-alim born in Nain, Iran, to a respected scholarly family. He completed his training in religious studies in Iran before moving to the provinces of Ottoman Iraq to study under the famous usuli scholars Mirza Muhammad Hasas Shirazi in Samara and Akhund Mullah Muhammad Kazim Khurasani in Najaf. In Ottoman Iraq, Na’ini then wrote his renowned work on Islamic constitutionalism during the regional revolutionary period in 1909. In 1911, Na’ini supported the call for Muslim unity with the Sunnis of the Ottoman Empire as Italy invaded Libya and Russia invaded Iran. By 1914, the Ottomans were involved in WWI, in which, once again, Na’ini would side with the Ottoman war effort, calling for unity against the Allied forces. Upon the collapse of the Ottomans, Na’ini rejected the new Hashemite Kingdom, which was under the tutelage of the British, and called for a boycott of the elections, which would lead to his exile back to his native Iran. This article will chart the life story of Na’ini as an Iranian alim who was very much Ottoman, whose life and experiences were integrated into the Ottoman world and its intellectual culture. It will chart how his life transitioned from straddling two Muslim Imperial empires to the new reality of the nation-state. Finally, it will show how his life was a struggle of “belonging” and “otherization” as the Ottoman world rapidly changed. |
