The Role of Shiite Clergy in the Constitutional Movement at the Initial Stage of the First Iranian Revolu-tion of 1905–1911

The article highlights the history of the development of the Constitutional Movement in Iran in 1905-1906, i.e. in the first period of the Iranian Revolution of 1905–1911, and the participa-tion of the Shiite clergy in it. Shiite clergy, dissatisfied with the attempt of the Shah and his entou-rage to weaken their rights in the area of legal proceedings, as well as with the government's policy aimed at “Europeanizing” Iran, took an active part in the protest movement. The article reflects the period of the emergence of secret revolutionary societies in the country, created by representatives of advanced bourgeois intelligentsia of Iran. The leaders of Shiite clergy joined them, and later began to create and lead such societies themselves. The author focuses on the role and influence of Shiite clergy in the revolutionary activities of various secret societies, such as “Enjomene Mahfi”, which included the main leaders of Shiite clergy of Tehran: Ayatollah Sayyid Abdollah Behbehani and Said Mohammed Tabatabai, politician M. Kermani and others. These organizations carried out a great deal of work among the believers: they published political leaflets, appeals to the Iranian people, called on the people to speak out against the Shah's tyranny and European penetration. The revolu-tion showed the potential of Shiite clergy as an active factor in the socio-political history of Iran.