Ahmad Naraqi (1771–1828)
Born 1771 CE, died 1828 CE.
Molla Ahmad Naraqi (Persian: ملا احمد نراقی; 1185–1245 A.H./1771–1829 C.E.) also known as known as “Fauzel Narauqee”, was a Shi'i cleric ("mullah"), who has been called "the first Shi‘i jurisprudent to argue for wilayat al-faqıh al-siyasıyah, or "the divine mandate of the jurisprudent to rule" during the occultation of the Imam. The concept of wilayat al-faqıh or Velayat-e Faqıh (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist) came to the attention of the world when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini led the Islamic Iranian Revolution in 1978–79 and established the Islamic Republic of Iran using wilayat al-faqıh as its governing principal. Naraqi's work called for the system in his technical fiqh work entitled Awa’id al-ayyam predating the call by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini for this system in his lectures and book Islamic Government by more than a century. Unlike Khomeini, Molla Naraqi never tried to establish or called for the establishment of a state based on wilayat al-faqıh al-siyasıyah.
Text from the Wikipedia article Molla_Ahmad_Naraqi, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.