He was among the founding members, along with Abdolhossein Teymourtash, of the reformist party Hezb-e Eslaah-talab, which was formed during the fourth national Majlis of Iran.

He has been called "brave and incorruptible" and "perhaps the most fervent mullah supporter of true constitutional government.

In 1910, he was chosen by Najaf's cleric community and sent to Tehran to supervise the laws passed by the Majlis, to make sure they did not violate the rules of sharia.

[3] In 1916, during World War I, he migrated to Iraq, Syria, and Turkey together with a handful of other politicians, and served as the Minister of Justice in a cabinet formed in exile by Nezam os-Saltaneh.

[4] In the early 1920s he also played a role in preventing Reza Khan (the prime minister at the time) from abolishing the monarchy (the Qajar dynasty) and declaring a republic, and less successfully opposed Reza Khan's deposing of the Qajar dynasty in 1925.