The sources disagree on his birthplace. Some mention that he was born in
Ardestan around 1870, while others mention that he was born in a village named Sarābe-Kachou () near Ardestan in the early 1870s, and that he moved to
Shahreza when he was six.
Activities Having studied
Islamic sciences in
Isfahan and
Najaf, Modarres became a religious teacher in an Isfahan's
madrasa. The name Modarres, which means "teacher", is because of his job there. In 1910, he was chosen by Najaf's cleric community and sent to
Tehran to supervise the laws passed by the Majlis, to make sure they did not violate the rules of
sharia. Later, in 1914, he was elected as a Majlis representative of Tehran. In 1916, during
World War I, he migrated to
Iraq,
Syria, and
Turkey together with a handful of other politicians, and served as the Minister of Justice in a cabinet formed in exile by Nezam os-Saltaneh. After returning to Iran, he was elected in the Majlis elections a few more times. Modarres fought against the presence of British forces in Persia, vigorously opposing the
proposed 1919 agreement that would have transformed Iran into a British protectorate. In the early 1920s, he played a role in preventing
Reza Khan (the prime minister at the time) from abolishing the monarchy (the
Qajar dynasty) and declaring a republic, and less successfully opposed Reza Khan's deposing of the Qajar dynasty in 1925. Sayyed Modaress was openly critical of Reza Shah's rule and was placed under imprisonment in retaliation for his criticisms. A few years after a November 1926 assassination attempt against him, Modarres was expelled to
Khaf and later to
Kashmar. ==Death==