Ayatollah Naʾini’s “Right and Obligation” Approach to Supervising the State

The present study aims at answering the following basic question: “Based on what thought Ayatollah Naʾini believes in the people’s right to supervise the state, while other opinions such as no right to supervision (based on people’s religious competence) or supervision based on natural rights (substantive) in the Western thought are proposed in this atmosphere and have some followers?” The research method is argumentative and philosophical analysis and the study claims that Naʾini has used his own divine anthropological foundations and believes in innate/divine rights on the one side and in existence of a right-obligation relationship on the other hand, believing in a right for people to supervise the state. The results suggest that for Naʾini, the human – due to his being human – enjoys some pre-religious rights, and he considers them as the essentials of the human’s life, survival and perfection, believing that as long as the members of the society do not enjoy them, the society is afflicted with laxity and indolence. Through the conscious presence and supervising the state, people can prevent the emergence of despotism and autocracy as well as oppression and injustice, and can remove obstacles in the way of just system to prepare the ground for flourishment of the individuals’ talents.

Keywords:

Right , obligation , supervising the state , innate rights , Iran , Ayatollah Naʾini