Along with other clerics such as Seyyed Abdollah Behbahani, Sheikh Fazlollah contributed to the uprising which led to the issuance of the constitutionalism decree. He had initially sympathized with the Constitutional Movement’s opposition to tyranny and demand for rule of law. But once he learned that the parliament that came out of it was to enact laws rather than apply the existing laws of Sharia, he turned against it. He argued that during the Occultation of the Muslim Messiah, Mahdi, an absolutist government which enforces Islamic law was the best government, considering it the lesser of the two evils in comparison to a secular parliamentarian government. His vigorous opposition to the movement led to his arrest by the Constitutionalist forces and his execution. The movement was led principally by merchants, intellectuals and some clerics. Nouri initially gave restrained support to the uprising, but he soon became an extreme critic and enemy of the constitutionalists.