Haj Aqa Nourollah
Haj Aqa Nourollah was a political leader in the Persian Constitutional Revolution.
Biography
Haj Aqa Nourollah was the son of Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammad Baqer Najafi–the author of Hedayat Al-Mosttahsredin. Haj Aqa Nourollah's grandmother was the late Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammaed Jafar Kashef Al-qeta’s daughter who was one of the descendants of Malek-e Ashtar Nakhai, the commander of Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib.He was born in 1859. After finishing his education in Islamic science, he became a mujtahid. He believed that the main problem of Iran during the Qajar era was the Russian and English interventions in Iranian affairs as well as the shah's and oppressors’ tyranny. Nouroullah along with his brother, the late Ayatollah Shekikh Mohammad Taqi Najafi was entitled to Aqa Najafi. He struggled in Isfahan for half a century over the “tobacco boycott movement” until Reza Shah Pahlavi's reign.
Activities
Among his important measures were fighting against foreign goods; using domestic products; the idea of establishing Qeraatkhaneh; Islamic hospitals; establishing Yatimkhaneh ; establishing newspaper Safa Khaneh Community and many other social and cultural activities. He was recognized as the head of the clergy of Iran; moreover Marja’-e taghlid introduced him to the parliament as one of the five clergy who supervised the religious laws.He called for jihad against Russia and England during World War I and protested against the colonial treaty in 1915 and 1919.