This early twentieth-century treatise by the esteemed Ayatullah Aqa Sheikh Muhammad Hussein Na'ini is translated along with the 1955 Persian commentary on the treatise by the Iranian Ayatullah Sayyid Mahmud Taleqani. It takes into account two types of governance: the first a legitimate guardianship and the second a necessarily corrupted monopoly. Ayatullah Na'ini addresses the foundations of 'truth', the limitation of power during the occultation of the Imam, the function of constitutional governance, the nature of parliament and parliamentary representation, and the forces of despotism and how to overcome them. The treatise is a discussion of Islamic governance and its relationship to the Shia Ithna 'Ashari doctrine of Imammat, based on two basic principles: preservation of the domestic order and infrastructure, and safeguarding from foreign intervention or, in the lexicon of Islamic scholars, 'preserving the essence of Islam'.
In addition to clarifying the often complex and at times obscure passages in Na'ini's treatise, Taleqani's commentary offers the view of a key leader of the 'Islamic' revolution of 1978-79 on Islam and governance.
