Mirzā Sayyed Mohammad Tabātabā'i was born in Karbala,
Iraq. The family moved to Hamedan when he was two years old, and to Tehran, when he was eight. He received education in the sciences, (Arabic) literature, Islamic jurisprudence and doctrines from his father, and
philosophy from Mirzā Abol-Hasan Jelveh. For a period of time he was also a pupil of Sahaikh Hadi Najmābādi. In 1881 he left Iran for the purpose of
Hajj, however as a result of his late arrival, he undertook an
Umrah Hajj, after which he settled in
Samarra, Iraq, where he became a pupil of Ayatollah
Mirzā Mohammad Hasan Hosseini Shirāzi and completed his studies with him. Following the death of his father, he took his entire family to Samarra and for some ten years advised Ayatollah Shirāzi on political matters. On the recommendation of Ayatollah Shirāzi, he finally returned to Tehran. Due to his independent mind, in Tehran he kept away from state officials and individuals in positions of power. In his public speeches, he emphasized on the merits of freedom and incessantly stirred up the sense of loving freedom amongst his audiences. In this, he went so far as to suggesting
republicanism as a viable alternative to
monarchism. His latter views polarised his audiences, driving some away, and attracting some more closely instead. His ascetic lifestyle, however, very effectively protected him against personal attacks by his detractors. His emphasis permanently revolved around a national government, respect for the rule of law, equality before law, and the indiscriminate application of justice in the society. Following this event, a large number of people from
Bazaar, together with some clergy, took sanctuary (known as
Bast ) in ''
Shah's Mosque (Masjed-e Shah
– Imam Khomeini Mosque'' since 1979) in Tehran. They were forcibly removed from this place by the agents of the then Chief Minister of
Mozaffar ad-Din Shah, Ain ad-Dowleh. Following this, on the suggestion of Sayyed Mohammad Tabātabā'i a large number of
Ulema of Tehran retired to Shah-Abdol-Azim shrine and formulated a set of demands to be presented to Mozaffar ad-Din Shah. The single most important demand to be made at this juncture from Shah turned out to be the demand for establishing an ''Edālat'khāneh'' (عدالتخانه - House of Justice), of which the specifics were left unspecified. According to Keddie, After the
Iranian Revolution of 1979, the status of Sheikh Fazlollah Noori as a revolutionary has been fully restored. During this time Iranians began to increase their demands, demanding not only the dismissal of Shah's Chief Minister, Ain od-Dowleh, but also establishment of a national consultative assembly, what came to be known as, and become,
Majles. The name of
Mashrouteh (مشروطه), signifying a new political system, was floated around this time. At the end of July 1906, Mozaffar al-Din Shah dismissed his unpopular Chief Minister Ain od-Dowleh, and in early August 1906 he accepted the proposed institution of
Majles. The first
Majles came into being in October 1906, immediately after the Deputies of Tehran were elected. With the sudden rise in the price of sugar in 1905 (see above), Sayyed Mohammad Tabātabā'i proposed that instead of serving tea at religious gatherings, such as at
Rozeh-Khāni's, the poor be given cash. In making this suggestion, he was also aiming at improving the state of public health, as he believed that not in all large gatherings the tea was being served in hygienically clean utensils, thus spreading transferable diseases amongst the population. == School and modern teaching methods ==