Allamah Sayyid Muhammad
Husayn Tabataba~'i'9 was born in Tabriz in A.H. (lunar) 1321 or A.H. (solar)
1282, (A.D 1903) in a family of descendants of the Holy Prophet which for fourteen
generations has produced outstanding Islamic scholars.21 He received his
earliest education in his native city, mastering the elements of Arabic and the religious
sciences, and at about the age of twenty set out for the great Shiite University of Najaf
to continue more advance4 studies. Most students in the madrasahs follow the
branch of transmitted sciences" (al-'ulum al-naqilyah), especially the
sciences dealing with the Divine Law, fiqh or jurisprudence and usul al-fiqh or the
principles of jurisprudence. Allamah Tabataba'i, however, sought to master both branches
of the traditional sciences; the transmitted and the intellectual he studied Divine Law
and the principles of jurisprudence with two of the great masters of that day, Mirza
Muhammad Husayn Na'ini and Shaykh Muhammad Husayn Isfahani. He became such a master in
this domain that had he kept completely to these fields he would have become one of the
foremost mujtahids or author ties on Divine Law and would have been able to wield
much political and social influence.
But such was not his
destiny he was more attracted to the intellectual sciences, and he studied assiduously the
whole cycle of traditional mathematics with Sayyid Abu-l-Qasim Khwa'nsari and traditional
Islamic philosophy including the standard text of the Shifa' of lbn Sina the Asfar
of Sadr al-Din Shirazi and the Tamhild al-qawa’id of Ibn Turkah with Savvid
Husayn Badkuba'i, himself a student of two of the most famous masters of the school of
Tehran; Sayyid Abu-l-Hasan Jilwah and Aqa 'Ali' Mudarris Zunuzi.22
In addition to formal
learning, or what the traditional Muslin sources "acquired science" ('ilm-i
husuli), Allamah Tabataba’i sought after that "immediate science"
(‘ilmi-I-hudari) or gnosis through which knowledge turns into vision of the supernal
realities. He was fortunate in finding a great master of Islamic gnosis, Mirza Al-Qadi,
who initiated him into the Divine mysteries and guided him in his journey toward spiritual
perfection. Allamah Tabataba’i once told me that before meeting Qadi he had studied
the Fusus al-hikam of Ibn 'Arabi and thought that he knew it well. When he met this
master of real spiritual authority he realised that he knew nothing. He also told me that
when Mirza 'Ali Qadi began to teach the Fusus it was as if all the walls of the
room were speaking of the reality of gnosis and participating in his exposition. Thanks to
this master the years in Najaf became for Allamah Tabataba'i not only a period of
intellectual attainment but also one of asceticism and spiritual practices, which enabled
him to attain that state of spiritual realisation often referred to as becoming divorced
from the darkness of material limitations (tajrid). He spent long periods in
fasting and prayer and underwent a long interval during which he kept absolute silence.
Today his presence carries with it the silence of perfect contemplation and concentration
even when he is speaking.
Allamah Tabataba’i
returned to Tabriz in A.H (solar) 1314 (AD 1934) and spent a few quiet years in that city
teaching a small number of disciples, but he was as yet unknown to the religious circles
of Persia at large. It was the devastating events of the Second World War and the Russian
occupation of Persia that brought 'Allamah Tabataba’i from Tabriz to Qum in A.H.
(solar) 1324 (A.H. 1945) Qum was then, and continues to be, the centre of religious
studies in Persia. In his quiet and unassuming manner Allamah Tabataba’i began to
teach in this holy city, concentrating on Qura'nic commentary and traditional Islamic
philosophy and theosophy, which had not been taught in Qum for many years. His magnetic
personality and spiritual presence soon attracted some of the most intelligent and
competent of the students to him, and gradually he made the teachings of Mulla Sadri, once
again a cornerstone of the traditional curriculum. I still have a vivid memory of some of
the sessions of his public lectures in one of the mosque-madrasahs of Qum where nearly
four hundred students sat at his feet to absorb his wisdom.
The activities of
Allamah Tabataba'i since he came to Qum have also included frequent visits to Tehran.
After the Second World War, when Marxism was fashionable among some of the youth in
Tehran, he was the only religious scholar who took the pains to study the philosophical
basis of Communism and supply a response to dialectical materialism from the traditional
point of view. The fruit of this effort was one of his major works, UsuI-i-falsafah Wa
rawish-i ri'alism (The Principles of Philosophy and the Method: of Realism), in which
he defended realism in its traditional and medieval sense against all dialectical
philosophies. He also trained a number of disciples who belong to the community of
Persians with a modern education.
Since his coming to Qum,
Allamah Tabataba’i has been indefatigable in his efforts to convey the wisdom and
intellectual message of Islam on three different levels: to a large number of traditional
students in Qum, who are now scattered throughout Persia and other Shiite lands; to a more
select group of students whom he has taught gnosis and Sufism in more intimate circles and
who have usually met on Thursday evenings at his home or other private places; and also to
a group of Persians with a modern education and occasionally non-Persians with whom he has
met in Tehran. During the past ten or twelve years there have been regular sessions In
Tehran attended by a select group of Persians and in the fall season by Henry Corbin.
Sessions in which the most profound and pressing spiritual an intellectual problems have
been discussed; and in which I have usually had the role of translator and interpreter.
During these years we have studied with the classical texts or divine wisdom and
gnosis but also a whole cycle of what might be called comparative gnosis, in which. in
each session the sacred texts of one of the major religions, containing mystical and
gnostic teachings, such as the Tao Te-Ching; the Upanishads and the Gospel
of John, were discussed and compared with Sufism and Islamic gnostic doctrines in
general.
Allamah Tabataba’i
has therefore exercised a profound influence in both the traditional and modern
circles in Persia. He has tried to create a new intellectual elite among the modern
educated classes who wish to be acquainted with Islamic intellectuality as well as with
the modern world Many among his traditional students who belong to the class of ulama have
tried to follow his example in this important endeavour Some of his students, such as
Sayyid Jalal al-Din Ashtiyan'i of Mashhad University and Murtada Mutahhari of Tehran
University, are themselves scholars of considerable reputation Allamah Tabataba’i
often speaks of others among his students who possess great spiritual qualities but do not
manifest themselves outwardly
In addition to a heavy
program of teaching and guidance, 'Allamah Tabataba’i has occupied himself with
writing many books and articles which attest to his remarkable intellectual powers and
breadth of learning within the world of the traditional Islamic sciences.23
Today at his home in Qum
the venerable authority devotes nearly all of his time to his Qura'nic commentary and the
direction of some of his best students. He stands as a symbol of what is most permanent in
the long tradition of Islamic scholarship and science, and his presence carries a
fragrance which can only come from one who has tasted the fruit of Divine Knowledge. He
exemplifies in his person the nobility, humility and quest after truth which have
characterised the finest Muslim scholars over the ages. His knowledge and its exposition
are a testimony to what real Islamic learning is’ how profound and how metaphysical,
and how different from so many of the shallow expositions of some of the Orientalists or
the distorted caricatures of so many Muslim modernists. Of course he does not have the
awareness of the modern mentality and the nature of the modern world that might be
desired, but that could hardly be expected in one whose life experience has been confined
to the traditional circles in Persia and Iraq.
* * *
A word must be added
about the system of transliteration of Arabic and Persian words and the manner in which
reference is made to Islamic sources. In the question of transliteration I have
followed the standard system used in most works on Islam (see the table on p- vii), but in
making reference to Islamic books I have sought to remain completely faithful to the
original manuscript The author, like most other Persian writers, refers to the very
well-known Arabic works in the Persian-speaking world in their Persian form and to the
less well-known in the original Arabic. For example, the history of al-Tabari is referred
to by the author as Tarikh-i Tabari, using the idafah construction in
Persian, which gives the same meaning as the word "of" in English. This may
appear somewhat disconcerting to one who knows Arabic but -no Persian, but it conveys a
feeling for the spiritual and religious climate of Persia where the two languages are used
side by side. In any case such references by the author have been transliterated according
to the original. I have only sought to make them uniform and to give enough indication in
the bibliography to make clear which author and which work is in question.
In the bibliography
also, only the works referred to by Allamah Tabataba’i as his sources have been
included, and not any secondary or even other primary ones, which I could have added
myself Also the entry in the bibliography is according to the name of the book and not the
author, which has always been the method used in Islamic circles.
For technical reasons
diacritical marks on Arabic words which have become common in English, and italics in the
case of all Arabic words appearing in the text, have been employed only in the index and
at the first appearance of the word.
In the end I should like to thank
Professor Kenneth Morgan, whose keen interest and commendable patience in this project has
made its achievement possible, and Mr. William Chittick, who has helped me greatly in
preparing the manuscript for publication.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Tehran
Rabi aI-awwal, 1390
Urdibihisht, .1350
May, 1911
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