Mīrzā Muḥammad Taqī Shīrāzī’s Theory and Practice in Confronting Political Orders in Iraqi Society

Mīrzā Muḥammad Taqī Shīrāzī, who during the Ottoman rule had adopted an approach of cooperation with the unjust Sunni ruler and did not issue a fatwa for confrontation, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and the British mandate over Iraq, declared a fatwa for jihad against the infidels in the Islamic lands and for the independence of Iraq. Furthermore, while emphasizing the preservation of order and the elimination of chaos in society, he issued a fatwa for armed struggle against the oppression of the British occupiers. This study aims to elucidate the structure of Islamic governance in the political theory and practice of Mīrzā Shīrāzī following the victory of the 1920 revolution in Iraq and the absence of governance in the city of Karbala. In doing so, he emphasized elements such as the Islamic nature of the government, rejection of the sovereignty of non-Muslim rulers, Iraq's independence, and the people's consent. He placed the administration of the city in the hands of two councils, one scholarly and the other executive. On the one hand, he entrusted the tasks of policy-making, decision-making, and adjudication of disputes to a group of scholars from the region. On the other hand, responsibilities such as maintaining security, collecting taxes, and appointing city officials were assigned to seventeen qualified individuals. Considering his broad religious, social, and political authority, he also assumed the responsibility of supervising these two councils to ensure the Islamic nature of governance and to resolve potential conflicts arising from differences in opinion between the two councils, thereby preventing dual governance. This research seeks to answer the main question: What is Mīrzā Muḥammad Taqī Shīrāzī’s jurisprudential view on governance during the occultation of the last Shiite Imam, particularly concerning his contemporary circumstances? Using descriptive and analytical methods, the study demonstrates that the second Mīrzā Shīrāzī, while addressing various political orders in the occultation era based on different contexts, stipulated that the desired governance system includes, among other conditions, the existence of both scholarly and executive councils under Islamic rule. As a case study, he presented an indigenous interpretation of political order for the city of Karbala.