as the guide. Therefore, he was in a position to offer scholarly criticism and evaluation of governance and social conditions. He protected the parliament by issuing clarifications and religious rulings, when it needed his support against the fanatic anti-constitutionalists. Not only that, he gave instructions to different orators and organized clerics of different ranks to stand behind the cause. The call to political reform In a letter dated August 7, 1902, Akhund Khurasani and the other two Marja's as co-signatories, wrote to the Crown Prince Muhammad Ali Mirza stressing the need for joining the world community in anticipating modern social reform and uprooting corruption. Referring to the Prince's visit to the west, he said that the old monarchical system of government was going to collapse all over the world and reform was need of the hour. The monarchy could only survive if its powers were limited by constitution. He stressed the idea of unification of nation and state, and as a rational Usuli jurist, he was able to think out of the box and understand how other nations had progressed as a result of democratic reforms. In the same letter, he presented the idea of nation-state, i.e. unity of the people and government (). In a letter dated 27 July 1903, he inquired about King's mismanagement of financial sources and lack of funds for financial reforms and military. He also questioned the slow pace of building of the dam in Ahwaz. The constitutional revolution The fourth Qajar King, Naser al-Din Shah was assassinated by Mirza Reza Kermani, a follower of Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī, when he was visiting and praying in the Shah Abdul-Azim Shrine on 1 May 1896. At Mozaffar al-Din Shah's accession Persia faced a financial crisis, with annual governmental expenditures far in excess of revenues as a result of the policies of his father. During his reign, Mozzafar ad-Din attempted some reforms of the central treasury; however, the previous debt incurred by the Qajar court, owed to both England and Russia, significantly undermined this effort. He awarded William Knox D'Arcy, a British subject, the rights to oil in most of the country in 1901. Widespread fears amongst the aristocracy, educated elites, and religious leaders about the concessions and foreign control resulted in some protests in 1906. The three main groups of the coalition seeking a constitution were the merchants, the ulama, and a small group of radical reformers.