[7] Nouri was a financially successful court official responsible for collected religious funds, for conducting marriages and contracts, including the wills of wealthy men.

[8] Under the monarch Mozaffar al-Din Shah, who accepted demands for democratic reforms and agreed to surrender political powers to the parliament, he sided with the Iranian Constitutional Revolution.

However, Noori turned against the revolution after Mozaffar al-Din's death and his successor (Muhammad Ali Shah Qajar) moved to close the parliament and return to the country to monarchical absolutism.

[9] He joined the Shah in a vigorous propaganda campaign against modern parliamentary system, insisting that the role of the elected parliament (majles) was as a forum for consultation, whereas the laws should come only from Sharia.

After receiving his early education in Kojour and Tehran, Sheikh Fazlollah moved to Iraq shrine cities where he studied under a prominent Shia scholar, Mirza Hasan Shirazi.

At Mozaffar al-Din Shah's accession Persia faced a financial crisis, with annual governmental expenditures far in excess of revenues as a result of the policies of his father.

During his reign, Mozzafar ad-Din attempted some reforms of the central treasury; however, the previous debt incurred by the Qajar court, owed to both England and Russia, significantly undermined this effort.

These resulted in the Shah accepting a suggestion to create a Majles (National Consultative Assembly) in October 1906, by which the monarch's power was curtailed as he granted a constitution and parliament to the people.

The members of newly formed parliament stayed constantly in touch with Akhund Khurasani and whenever legislative bills were discussed, he was telegraphed the details for a juristic opinion.

[15] In a letter dated June 3, 1907, the parliament told Akhund Khurasani about a group of anti-constitutionalists who were trying to undermine legitimacy of democracy in the name of religious law.

He led a large group of followers and began a round-the-clock sit-in in the Shah Abdul Azim shrine on June 21, 1907, which lasted till September 16, 1907.

He had caused a major scandal in 1905 by endorsing the sale of a cemetery to the Russians for the construction of their bank -- the inadvertent exhuming of bodies had triggered street protests.

[28] In Zanjan, Mulla Qurban Ali Zanjani mobilized a force of six hundred thugs who looted shops of pro-democracy merchants and took hold of the city for several days and killed the representative Sa'd al-Saltanih.

[31] Akhund Khurasani was consulted on the matter and in a letter dated December 30, 1907, the three Marja's said: [32] Persian: چون نوری مخل آسائش و مفسد است، تصرفش در امور حرام است.

"However, Nouri continued his activities and a few weeks later Akhund Khurasani and his fellow Marja's argued for his expulsion from Tehran:[34] Persian: رفع اغتشاشات حادثه و تبعید نوری را عاجلاً اعلام.

[39] He wrote: He who wins his own soul, protects his religion, is against following his desires and is obedient to the command of his Master; that is the person whom the people should take as their model.

[38]He firmly opposed the idea of a supervisory committee of Tehran's clerics censoring the conduct of the parliament, and said that: this delicate subject shall be submitted to the atabat, .

[29] According to Akhund, "a rightful religion imposes conditions on the actions and behavior of human beings", which stem from either holy text or logical reasoning, and these constraints are essentially meant to prevent despotism.

English: "According to Shia doctrine, only the infallible Imam has the right to govern, to run the affairs of the people, to solve the problems of the Muslim society and to make important decisions.

Since this is a time of occultation, there can be two types of non-islamic regimes: the first is a just democracy in which the affairs of the people are in the hands of faithful and educated men, and the second is a government of tyranny in which a dictator has absolute powers.

From human experience and careful reflection it has become clear that democracy reduces the tyranny of state and it is obligatory to give precedence to the lesser evil.

Akhund prefers collective wisdom (Persian: عقل جمعی) over individual opinions, and limits the role of jurist to provide religious guidance in personal affairs of a believer.

[53] His close associate and student, who later rose to the rank of Marja, Muhammad Hussain Naini, wrote a book, "Tanbih al-Ummah wa Tanzih al-Milla", (Persian: تنبیه‌ الامه و تنزیه‌ المله), to counter the propaganda of Nuri group.

[54] [57] Another student of Akhund Khurasani who too raised to the rank of Marja, Shaykh Isma'il Mahallati, wrote a treatise "al-Liali al-Marbuta fi Wajub al-Mashruta"(Persian: اللئالی المربوطه‌ فی وجوب المشروطه‌).

[63] However, he was not fully supportive of Fazlullah Nouri and Muhammad Ali Shah, therefore, when parliament asked him to review the final draft of constitution, he suggested some changes and signed the document.

[66] Ayatullah Yazdi said that as long as modern constitution did not force people to do what was forbidden by Sharia and refrain from religious duties, there was no reason to oppose democratic rule and the government had the right to prosecute wrong doers.

[6][1] Thiqat-ul-Islam Mirza Ali Aqa Tabrizi showed unwavering support for modern knowledge and technology, and saw it necessary means to avoid colonial takeover of Iran.

He has been influential in various phases of the process and if constitutionality is the first real ground for the serious confrontation between religion and modernism, in those days, Sheikh sided for the defense of religion and paid a great expense for it..."[74] The Islamic Revolution Document Centre quotes author Jalal Al-e-Ahmad as calling Nouri an "honourable man", and comparing his hanged corpse to "the flag of domination of occidentosis raised above the country after 200 years of struggle".

[75][73] According to Afshin Molavi, "Sheikh Fazlollah Nouri's heirs - Iran's ruling conservative clerics - have taken up his cause in the early 21st century" in the fight against democratic reform movement.

[5] His grandson, Noureddin Kianouri, was an architect and high-ranking official in the Iranian communist party; he was arrested in 1983, tortured, and forced to deliver a televised confession.