Creation and Legislation

<p>Numerous books and articles have been written about the life works and ideas of Mirza Agha Khan Kermani (1853 or 1854 - 1896 CE) one of the most capable Iran-centered writers a founding figure in the discourse of the Constitutional Revolution and one of the most influential critics of religion and government in the nineteenth century.</p><p>His book <strong>Takwīn wa Tashrīʿ (Creation and Legislation)</strong> is now being published for the first time.</p><p>Āqā Khān-e Kirmānī wrote this book during a period when he was closely associated with the Bābī-Azalī community and in several parts of the book he refers to Shaykh Aḥmad Aḥsāʾī the Shaykhī school from which Bābism and Bahāʾism later emerged as well as to the People of the Bayān (ahl-i bayān). Since Āqā Khān-e Kirmānī in his book <em>Hašt Behešt</em> (Eight Paradises) refers to <em>Takwīn wa Tašrīʿ</em> (Creation and Legislation) and since an (incomplete) copy of <em>Hašt Behešt</em> was sent to Professor Browne in 1891 it may be inferred that <em>Takwīn wa Tašrīʿ</em> was written in that same year or earlier.</p><p>Āqā Khān-e Kirmānī used the concept of <em>takwīn</em> both in the sense of creation-meaning the origination of existence-and in the sense of Darwinian evolution.</p><p>M. Rezaei Tazik was born in July 1983 in Mashhad. He graduated with degrees in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies from the Universities of Lucerne and Berne in Switzerland. His master's and doctoral studies focused on the history of intellectual thought in Iran particularly the criticism of religion by Iranians. His doctoral dissertation examined religion and the criticism of religion in the works of Ahmad Kasravi. Additionally Tazik has co-translated some of the works of FathAli Akhundzadeh and Mirza Agha Khan Kermani into German.</p>