The encounter of Shiʿi scholars with modernization during the Qajar era constitutes one of the most critical intellectual and sociopolitical issues in modern Iranian history, bearing extensive consequences for the country's political, cultural, and identity transformations. This study, based on the analysis of primary historical documents and sources, investigates the typologies adopted by religious scholars in responding to modernity, along with the underlying causes and ramifications of each approach. The findings indicate that the clerical engagement with modernization was not a static or monolithic reaction; rather, it can be classified into three primary models:
(1) Rejectionist Model, characterized by a comprehensive negation of modernity, especially its ideological and value-based components, rooted in a profound sense of civilizational alterity;
(2) Selective Adaptation Model, which conditionally accepted certain scientific, technological, and institutional elements of modernity under specific religious and identity-based considerations;
(3) Transformative Indigenization Model, which sought to reinterpret and integrate modern phenomena within the framework of Islamic principles and epistemology.
The diversity of these approaches was shaped by historical contingencies, intellectual frameworks, and sociocultural contexts, grounded in the hermeneutical dynamics of Shiʿi jurisprudence (ijtihād). A scholarly elucidation of these models not only clarifies the intellectual-cultural landscape of the clerical response to modernity but also contributes to a deeper understanding of the role of religion and ijtihād in the modernization of Iranian society, paving the way for further comparative research in related domains.