to think outside the box and consider scholarly inputs from other parts of the world. However, his version of secularism was different from western modernists, it was based on the Shia doctrine of occultation of the twelfth imam. Jurist as a social activist Like his mentor Ayatullah Murtaza Ansari, Akhund believed that a jurist was not different from ordinary people in the matters of politics, as Shia school of thought didn't allow for special political status of jurists. Rather, he believed that scholars could act as "warning voices in society" and criticize the officials who were not doing their responsibilities correctly. He compared the role of scholars with "salt of the earth" in the sense that they prevent "decay of power", should fight against injustice and that they are against "autocratic attitudes". A Marja should act as a social activist, using his rational approach to guide the masses while preserving the pillars of Shia doctrine. The idea of nation-state A nation-state is a political unit where the state and nation are congruent. The idea of nation state emerged in west slowly after treaty of Westphalia, as new technology like printing press, invention of engine and other phenomenon changed the societies. When new technologies entered the Muslim world, Akhund Khurasani as a pragmatic jurist supported the idea of nation-state as unity of people and government (). Long before the revolution started, in 1902 he penned a letter to the crown prince of Iran, Muhammad Ali Mirza, in which he argued that the wave of reform that had spread across the western world and resulted in better governance and improved socio-economic conditions, could help treat ills of Iran. He believed the powers of monarch, like British monarchy, need to be limited and the limits be defined by a constitution written by democratic parliament. He agreed to the position of King as a symbol of Iran's history. However, he opposed absolute powers of the King and deemed it responsible for ineffective management and foreign influence. Secular democracy during Occultation Occultation of Imam in Shia Islam refers to a belief that Mahdi, a cultivated male descendant of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, has already been born and subsequently went into occultation, from which he will one day emerge with Jesus and establish global justice. Akhund Khurasani and his colleagues theorized a model of religious secularity in the absence of Imam, that still prevails in Shia