need for economic reforms. He said: Views on modern knowledge Akhund believed that it was obligatory for believers to attain necessary level of education and skill to be able to protect national and religious interests. He saw democracy as a means to efficient governance that would bring prosperity and prevent colonial influence. He kept pressing for the need for modern schools to provide education to all children, modern economics, establishment of a national bank and industrialization. He believed that modernity would prevent savagery. After describing the need for modern reforms, he said: He emphasized on the need for establishment of nation-wide school system that would teach modern sciences and operate according to Islamic ethics. Military and defense Modernization of the military was of the utmost importance to him, so that the nation-state built in Iran after revolution could defend itself against adversaries. A similar argument can be found in Ayatullah Sistani's stress on state monopoly over violence. Political activism The city of Najaf has played the role of nerve center in Shia world through centuries. At the dawn of constitutional revolution, it was here that the political ideas were discussed and the religious secularity of Shia jurisprudence took shape. Many periodicals of the time, especially al-Ghura, Durat al-Najaf, and Najaf, published from the city, reflect the nature of the intellectual exchange during the movement. Other publications, such as the Calcutta-based Habl al-Matin also reached the residents of Najaf. Najaf had developed its own taste of modernity, distinct from west. These publications advocated the concepts of personal liberty, nation-state, modern sciences, constitutional monarchy and democracy. But they also viewed western colonial advance as intimidating and understood that the only way to fight back was creating a strong and progressive nation. Akhund Khurasani saw his role as an activist scholar who would interpret the religion according to the needs of the time to persuade the masses to constructive action. He was the main legitimizing force behind modern reforms. He did not shy away from analyzing what the western scholarship had to offer and incorporate it into his doctrine. However, he had his own theoretical foundations for those reforms and his own terminology, based in Shi'i doctrine. He understood how mismanagement, nepotism and corruption had engulfed Iran's economy. He supported a powerless monarch as a symbol of Iran's history but he was also confident in the legacy that he carried of clerical tradition