4. THE SUPPLEMENTARY FUNDAMENTAL LAWS OF OCTOBER 7, 1907.
The original Fundamental Law, containing 51 Articles, was promulgated on Dhu’l-Qa‘da 14, A.H. 1324 (= Dec. 30, 1906) by the late Muẓaffaru’d-Din Sháh. The following supplementary laws were ratified by his successor, the now deposed Sháh, Muḥammad ‘Ali, on Sha‘bán 29, A.H. 1325 (= Oct. 7, 1907).
In the Name of God the Merciful, the Forgiving.
The Articles added to complete the Fundamental Laws of the Persian Constitution ratified by the late Sháhinsháh of blessed memory, Muẓaffaru’d-Din Sháh Qájár (may God illuminate his resting-place!) are as follows.
General Dispositions.
Art. 1. The official religion of Persia is Islám, according to the orthodox Já‘fari doctrine of the Ithna ‘Ashariyya (Church of the Twelve Imáms), which faith[1] the Sháh of Persia must profess and promote.
Art. 2. At no time must any legal enactment of the Sacred National Consultative Assembly, established by the favour and assistance of His Holiness the Imám of the Age (may God hasten his glad Advent!)[2], the favour of His Majesty the Sháhinsháh of Islám (may God immortalize his reign!), the care of the Proofs of Islám[3] (may
- ↑ The Shi‘ite form of Islám includes the “Church of the Twelve” (Ithná ‘ashariyya) and the ‘‘Church of the Seven” (Sab‘iyya). Both agree as to the sequence of their Imáms down to the sixth, Ja‘far as-Sádiq (from whom the epithet “Ja‘fari” is derived), but diverge from this point. Both are regarded as heterodox by the Sunnis, but the ‘‘Church of the Twelve” is orthodox in Persia.
- ↑ I.e. the Twelfth Imám, or Imám Mahdí, who is believed to have disappeared in the year A.H. 260 (= A.D. 873–4) and who is expected to return at the end of time, “to fill the earth with justice after it has been filled with iniquity.”
- ↑ I.e. the ‘ulamá, or doctors of theology, especially the mujtahids.
