The Present Book
It was to overcome this deficiency that in 1962, Professor Kenneth Morgan of Colgate University, who pursues the laudable goal of presenting Oriental religions to the West from the point of view of the authentic representatives of these religions, approached me with the suggestion that I supervise a series of three volumes dealing with Shi'ism and written from the Shi'ite point of view. Aware of the difficulty of such an undertaking, I accepted because of the realization of the importance which the completion of such a project might have upon the future of Islamic studies and even of comparative religion as a whole. The present work is the first in that series; the others will be a volume dealing with the Shi'ite view of the Qur'an, written also by 'Allamah
1 Tabataba'i and an anthology of the sayings of the Shi' ite Imams.
During the summer of 1963 when Professor Morgan was in Tehran, we visited 'Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i in Darakah, a small village by the mountains near Tehran, where the venerable Shi' ite Authority was spending the summer months away from the heat of Qum where he usually resides. The meeting was dominated by the humble presence of a man who has devoted his whole life to the study of religion in whom humility and the power of intellectual analysis are combined. As we walked back from the house through the winding and narrow roads of the village, which still belongs to a calm and peaceful traditional world not as yet perturbed by the sound and fury of modernism, Professor Morgan proposed that 'Allamah Tabataba'i write the general volume on Shi'ism in the series and also the volume on the Qur'an. Later, I was able to gain the consent of this celebrated Shiite authority that he put aside his monumental Qur'anic commentary, al-Mizan, to devote some of his time to these volumes. Having studied for years with him in the fields of traditional philosophy and
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1 Allamah is an honorific term in Arabic, Persian and other Islamic languages meaning, "very learned."
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theosophy, I knew that of the traditional Shi ite authorities he was the one most qualified to write such a work; a work which would be completely authentic from the Shi ite point of view and at the same time based upon an intellectual foundation. I realized, of course, the innate difficulty of finding a person who would be a reputable religious authority, respected by the Shi'ite community and untainted by the influence of Western modes of thought and at the same time well enough conversant with the Western world and the mentality of the/Western reader to be able to address his arguments to them. Unfortunately, no ideal solution could be found to this problem; for in Persia, as elsewhere in the Muslim world, there are today usually two types of men concerned with religious questions: (1) the traditional authorities, who are, as a rule, completely unaware of the nature of the psychological and mental structure of modern man, or at best have a shallow knowledge of the modern world, and (2) the modernized so-called "intellectuals," whose attachment to Islam is often only sentimental and apologetic and who usually present a version of Islam which would not be acceptable to the traditional authorities or to the Muslim community (ummah). Only during the past few years has a new class of scholars, still extremely small in number, come into being which is both orthodox and traditional in the profound sense of these terms and at the same time knows well the modern world and the language necessary to reach the intelligent Western reader.
In any case, since the aim of Professor Morgan was to have a description of Shi'ism by one of the respected traditional Shi'ite scholars, the ulama, it was necessary to turn to the first class, of which All?mah Tabataba'i is an eminent example. Of course, one could not expect in such a case the deep understanding of the Western audience for whom the work is intended. Even his knowledge of Sunni Islam moves within the orbit of the traditional polemics between Sunnism and Shi'ism, which has been taken for granted until now by him as by so many other of the prominent 'ulama of both sides. There are several types of Muslim, and in particular of Shiite, 'ulama and among them some are not well-versed in theosophy and
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gnosis and limit themselves to the exoteric sciences. 'Allamah Tabatabasi represents that central and intellectually dominating class of Shi'ite ' ulama who have combined interest in jurisprudence and Qur'anic commentary with philosophy, theosophy and Sufism, and who represent a more universal interpretation of the Shi ite point of view. Within the class of the traditional ' ulama, 'Allamah Tabatabd'i possesses the distinction of being a master of both the Shari' ite and esoteric sciences and at the same time he is an outstanding hakim or traditional Islamic philosopher (or more exactly, "theosopher"). Hence he was asked to perform this important task despite all the difficulties inherent in the presentation of the polemical side of Shi'ism to a world that does not believe in the Islamic revelation to start with and for whom the intense love of 'Ali and his Household, held by the Shisites, simply does not exist. Certain explanations, therefore, are demanded that would not occur to a person writing and thinking solely within the Shi ite world view.
Six years of collaboration with 'Allamah Tabataba'i and many journeys to Qum and even Mashhad, which he often visits in the Summer, helped me to prepare the work gradually for translation into English—a task which requires a translation of meaning from one world to another, to a world that begins without the general background of knowledge and faith which the usual audience of 'Allamah Tabataba'i possesses. In editing the text so that it would make possible a thorough and profound understanding of the structure of Islam, I have sought to take into full consideration the differences existing between traditional and modern scholarship, and also the particular demand, of the audience to which this work is addressed.
1 But putting aside the demands made by these two conditions, I have tried to remain as faithful to the original as possible so as to enable the non-Muslim reader to study not only the message
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1 For my own views on the relationships between Sunnism and Shi'ism, see Ideals and Realities of Islam, Ch. VI.
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but also the form and intellectual style of traditional Muslim authority.
The reader must therefore always remember that the arguments presented in this book are not addressed by 'Allamah Tabataba'i to a mind that begins with doubt but to one that is grounded in certainty and is, moreover, immersed in the world of faith and religious dedication. The depth of the doubt and nihilism of certain types of modern man would be inconceivable to him. His arguments, therefore, may at times be difficult to grasp or un convincing to some Western readers; they are only so, however, because he is addressing an audience whose demand for causality and whose conception of the levels of reality is not identical with that of the Western reader. Also there may be explanations in which too much as taken for granted or repetitions which appear to insult the intelligence of the perspicacious Western reader in whom the analytical powers of the mind are usually more developed than among most Orientals.
1 In these cases, the characteristic manner of his presentation and the only world known to him, that of contemporary Islam in its traditional aspect, must be kept in mind. If the arguments of St. Anselm and St. Thomas for the proof of the existence of God do not appeal to most modern men, it is not because modern men are more intelligent than the medieval theologians, but because the medieval masters were addressing men of different mentalities with different needs for the explanation of causality. Likewise, 'All?mah Tabataba'i offers arguments addressed to the audience he knows, the traditional Muslim intelligentsia. If all of his arguments do not appeal to the Western reader, this should not be taken as proof of the contention that his conclusions are invalid.
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1 On this important question of the difference between the Oriental and Western dialectic, see F. Schuon, "La dialectique orientale et son enracinement dans la foi," Logique et Transcendence Paris, 1970, pp. 129-196.
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To summarize, this book may be said to be the first general introduction to Shi ism in modern times written by an outstanding contemporary Shi'ite authority. While meant for the larger world outside of Shi ism, its arguments and methods of presentation are those of traditional Shi ism, which he represents and of which he is a pillar. All?mah Tabataba'i has tried to present the traditional Shiite point of view as it is and as it has been believed in and practiced by generations of Shi'ites. He has sought to be faithful to Shi'ite views without regard for the possible reactions of the outside world and without brushing aside the particular features of Shi'ism that have been controversial.
To transcend the polemical level, two religious schools would either have to put aside their differences in the face of a common danger, or the level of discourse would have to be shifted from the level of historical and theological fact, and dogmas to purely metaphysical positions. 'Allamah Tabataba'i has not taken either path but has remained content with describing Shi'ism as it is. He has sought to do full justice to the Shi'ite perspective in the light of the official position that he holds in the Shi' ite religious world as he is a master of both the exoteric (z?hir) and the esoteric (batin) sciences. For those who know the Islamic world well, it is easy to discern the outward difficulties that such an authority faces in expounding the total view of things and especially in exposing the esoteric doctrines, which alone can claim true universality. He is seen in this book as the expositor and defender of Shi'ism in both its exoteric and esoteric aspects, to the extent that his position in the Shi'ite world has allowed him to speak openly of the esoteric teachings. But all that is uttered carries with it the voice of authority, which tradition alone provides. Behind the words of 'All?mah Tabataba'i stand fourteen centuries of Shi'ite Islam and the continuity and transmission of a sacred and religious knowledge made possible by the continuity of the Islamic tradition itself.
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The Author
'Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Uusayn Tabatabd'i
1 was born in Tabriz in AH (lunar) 1321 or AH (solar) 1282, (AD 1903)
2 in a family of descendants of the Holy Prophet which for fourteen generations has produced outstanding Islamic scholars.
3 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 advanced studies. Most students in the madrasahs follow .the branch of "transmitted sciences" (al- Ultim al-Nagliyyall) especially the sciences dealing with the Divine Law, fig]] or jurisprudence, and usi71 al-fig]] or the principles of jurisprudence. 'Allamah Tabatabd'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 tlusayn Na 'ini and Shaykh Muhammad ljusayn Isfahan" 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 authorities in Divine Law, and would have been able to wield much political and social influence.
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1 An account in Persian of 'Allamah Tabataba'i by one of his outstanding students, Sayyid Jalal al-Din Ashtiyani, can be found in Ma'e-irif vol. V, 1347 (A. H. solar), pp. 48-50.
2 Since the beginning of the reign of Reza Shah, the Persians have been using even more than before the solar hegira calendar in addition to the lunar, the former for civil and daily purposes and the latter for religious functions. In the present work, all Islamic dates are lunar unless otherwise specified.
3 The title "Sayyid" in 'Allamah TabdtabaTs name is itself an indication of his being a descendant of the Prophet. In Persia, the term `Sayyid' (or seyyed) is used exclusively in thus sense while in the Arab world, it is usually used as the equivalent of "gentleman" or " Mr."
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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-Q?sim Kh?nsari and traditional Islamic philosophy, including the standard texts of the Shifa' of Ibn Sind, the Asfar of Sadr al-Din Shirazi and the Tamhid al-Qawa'id of Ibn Turkah, with Sayyid 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.
1
In addition to formal learning, or what the traditional Muslim sources call 'acquired science' ( Allamah Tabataba'i sought after that "immediate science" ( 'Jim Huduri) or gnosis through which knowledge turns into vision of the supernal realities. He was fortunate in finding a great master of Islamic gnosis, Mirza 'Ali 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 realization 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.
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1 On these figures, see S. H. Nasr, 'The School of Ispahan, "Sadr al-Din Shirazi" and "Sabziwari" in M. M. Sharif (ed), A Hosiery of Muslim Philosophy, vol. II, Wiesbaden, 1966.
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'All?mah Tabataba'i returned to Tabriz in AH (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 of 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 AH (solar) 1324 (AD 1945). Qum was then, and continues to be, the center of religious studies in Persia. In his quiet and unassuming manner, 'Allamah Tabataba'i began to teach in this holy city, concentrating on Qur'anic 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 Sadra 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 when nearly four hundred students sat at his feet to absorb his wisdom.
The activities of All?mah 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, Usul 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 Shi'ite lands; to a more select
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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 presume, and in the fall season by Henry Corbin, sessions in which the most profound and pressing spiritual and 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 'Allamah Tabataba'i not only the classical texts of 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 Too 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 endeavor. Some of his students, such as Sayyid Jalal al-Din Ashtiyani 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
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powers and breadth of learning within the world of the traditional Islamic sciences.
1
Today at his home in Qum, the venerable authority devotes nearly all of his time to his Qur'anic 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 characterized 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 arms 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, 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 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 not Persian, but it conveys a feeling for the
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1 See the bibliography for a complete list of the writings of 'Allamah Tabataba'i.
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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 Chi tticks, who has helped me greatly in preparing the manuscript for publication.
Sayyid Husayn Nasr Tehran
Rabi al-Awwal, 1390
Urdibihisht, 1350
May, 1971.
