He went to Najaf after his preliminary and level education and learning theoretical mysticism and philosophy under revision of Mirza Hashem Ashkoori.

Shah Abadi was disciple of Muhammad Kazim Khurasani and Mirza Taqi al-Shirazi for seven years, and he received permission for ijtihad from these two and three other authorities.

In the last months of his stay in Tehran, he besieged the shrine of Abd al-Azim al-Hasani in protest against Reza Shah's actions, and after that, at the request of Abdolkarim Haeri Yazdi, he left for Qom, where he taught Islamic jurisprudence, principles, and mysticism.

Among his most prominent students at this time were Ruhollah Khomeini and Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari, who studied the texts of theoretical mysticism with him for seven years.

[5][6] His efforts in Tehran laid the groundwork for other activities and movements that were continued by religious intellectuals after Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in September 1941.