Grand Ayatollah
Marji ( ar, مرجع, transliteration: ''marjiʿ''; plural: ''marājiʿ''), literally meaning "source to follow" or "religious reference", is a title given to the highest level of Twelver Shia authority, a Grand Ayatollah with the authority giv ...
Sheikh
Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...
Mohammad-Hossein Naini Gharavi ( fa, ; May 25, 1860 – August 14, 1936) was
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
Shia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...
marja'
Marji ( ar, مرجع, transliteration: ''marjiʿ''; plural: ''marājiʿ''), literally meaning "source to follow" or "religious reference", is a title given to the highest level of Twelver Shia authority, a Grand Ayatollah with the authority giv ...
.
His father Mirza Abdol Rahim and grandfather Haji Mirza Saeed, both one were Sheikhs of Nain and Mohammad Hussein proved himself the most competent student of
Ayatollah Kazem Khorasani. Ayatollah Naini is considered to be the most famous theoretician of Iran's Constitutional Revolution. He died in 1936 and was buried next to
shrine
A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...
of
Imam Ali
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
in Iraq. Among his works, notable references are his Dubios Habit, Vassilat'un Nijat, and Ressalat la Zarar. 50th death anniversary of Ayatollah Mirza Mohammed Hussein Naini was memorialized by issue of Stamps Tickets, in Iran, in 1987.
Biography
Mirza Muhammad Hossein Naini was born to a respected and religious family of Nain on 25 May 1860 ( 15
Dzulqadah 1276 Lunar Hijrah ). His father Mirza Abdol Rahim and grandfather Haji Mirza Saeed, both one after another were Sheikhs of Nain. Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Naini, who is better known as Mirza Naini, did his primary studies in Nain and then in 1877 when he was 17 years old, moved to
Isfahan
Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...
. Here he lived wit
Haji Shaikh Muhammad Baqir Isfahanifor seven years. The latter belonged to a distinguished clerical family of Isfahan and was himself the most powerful
Mujtahid
''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a le ...
of that city. After completing basic education he moved to
Najaf
Najaf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف) or An-Najaf al-Ashraf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف ٱلْأَشْرَف), also known as Baniqia ( ar, بَانِيقِيَا), is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated popula ...
,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
, to achieve the degree of
Ijtihad
''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a le ...
. He proved himself the most competent student of
Ayatollah Kazem Khorasani Ayatollah Naini is considered to be the most famous theoretician of
Iran's Constitutional Revolution.
Ideas and Action
Defending democracy
One major concern of
Akhund Khurasani and other
Marja's was to familiarize the public with the ideas of a democratic nation-state and modern constitution. Akhund Khurasani asked Iranian scholars to deliver sermons on the subject to clarify doubts seeded by Nuri and his comrades. His close associate and student, who later rose to the rank of Marja, Muhammad Hussain Naini, wrote a book, “''Tanbih al-Ummah wa Tanzih al-Milla”''(), to counter the propaganda of Nuri group. He devoted many pages to distinguish between tyrannical and democratic regimes. In democracies, power is distributed and limited through constitution. He maintained that in the absence of Imam Mahdi, all governments are doomed to be imperfect and unjust, and therefore people had to prefer the bad over the worse. Hence, the constitutional democracy was the best option to help improve the condition of the society as compared to absolutism, and run the worldly affairs with consultation and better planning. he saw the elected members of the parliament as representatives of the people, not deputies of the Imam, hence they didn't need a religious justification for their authority. He said that both the “tyrannical Ulema” and the radical societies who promoted majoritarianism were a threat to both Islam and democracy. The people should avoid the destructive, corrupt and divisive forces and maintain national unity. He devoted large section of his book to definition and condemnation of religious tyranny. He then went on to defend people's freedom of opinion and expression, equality of all citizens in eyes of the nation-state regardless of their religion, separation of the legislative, executive and judicial powers, accountability of the King, people's right to share power.
Pupils
![Ayatollah Mirza Hussain Naini 5](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Ayatollah_Mirza_Hussain_Naini_5.jpg)
Names of the some students benefited from the teaching of Mirza Naini, includes the following
scholars
A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher ...
and
clerics of their time:
:*1. Sheikh Mohammad Ali Kazemi Khorassani
:*2.
Seyyed Mohsen Tabatabai Hakim.
:*3.
Grand Ayotollah Khoei.
:*4.
Seyyed Mohammad Hossein Tabatabai
:*5.
Grand Ayatollah Taqi Bahjat
:*6.
Sayyed Hadi Milani
:*7. Sayyed Jamal Al din Golpayegani
:*8. Sheikh Muhammad Ali Kazemini
:*9. Sheikh Mousa Khansari
:*10.
Syed Ali Naqi Naqvi
Grand Ayatollah Syed Ali Naqi Naqvi (born 26 December 1905 – 18 May 1988) (26 Rajab 1323 AH – 1 Shawal 1408 AH), also known as Naqqan Sahib, was a Twelver Shia Marja, thinker, poet, writer, jurist and Qur'anic interpreter. He is famous ...
Rationality claims merit not the relation
Among the modern Usuliyan Shia scholars Mirza Naini is regarded as one of the founders of modern principles of jurisprudence. Intellectual development in term of social progress of science can be observed between Mirza Naini and his reverenced Master
Ayatollah Kazem Khorasani, which establishes the fact that difference of opinion is not the cause of hostilities the very basis of battle is ignorance. His master represents Sadrian Islamic thought. Defending principles of "Sadrian philosophy", with his full support to Sadrian view in the interpretation of causality and its relation to freedom. On the other side, his intelligent pupil (Mirza Naini) was one of the strong critics of Sadrian view. In a new way and method, he criticized the Sadrian philosophical thought and presented a new viewpoint on the relation between causality and human freedom.
Naini as a politician
Ayatollah Naini was active both in Iran's
Constitutional Revolution and in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
i
Politics
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
. As a politician his principal view with regard to form of government is very clear.
He suggested the form of government by an infallible ruler fully responsible to the will of God, which might be able to safeguard the interests of people. Such type of ruling is not possible in the era of major occultation of
Imam Mahdi
The Mahdi ( ar, ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, al-Mahdī, lit=the Guided) is a messianic figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the end of times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a descendant of Muhammad wh ...
. Therefore, efforts should be made to arrange the ruling of just and honest men with duty to control the government, directly responsible to the will of God through Imam Mahdi. He further argued that in such a situation it is the known fact that access to leaders with such respected characteristics’ becomes unquestionable and people usually have no say over such matters, it is thus obligatory to observe the following two principles:
:1. To implement law
:2. To appoint wise men as "supervisors"
Obviously these were the possible steps for removal of huge gap between the existing situation and the desired goals of forming progressive government for the betterment of people.
Works
Mirza Naini being an expert on Usul al Fiqh was the first human being in the history of Iran to construe the idea of religious dictatorship. Naini stressed the concept of Aql (dialectic reasoning) and believed that
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
was compatible with progress. He also argued that the most intolerable form of
autocracy
Autocracy is a system of government in which absolute power over a state is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject neither to external legal restraints nor to regularized mechanisms of popular control (except perh ...
is the tyranny imposed by a religious state. He had written a book Tanbih al-Ummah wa Tanzih Al-Milla (the awakening of the community and refinement of the nations) which was translated into
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
by Salih Kashi al Gheta and published in 1909 by the Institute of Strategic Studies in
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
. His book mainly relates to theory of constitutional revolution with his deliberations on the major topics of “Ignorance and Despotism”. In his book, he discussed interalia, the view that freedom of the pen and speech both are God given freedom necessary for liberation from despotism (taghut). Elaborating his view and in replying to opponents of
Constitutionalism
Constitutionalism is "a compound of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law".
Political organizations are constitutional ...
he pointed out that
Islamic Law
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
has two distinct categories: the primary laws are based on the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
and other known Islamic principles, were unchangeable. The secondary laws, in contrast, were subject to change, depending on temporal and spatial circumstances, making them the proper sphere for legislation.
Exile
At
the beginning of
World War-I, the Shiite Scholars and clerics of Iraq were not the supporter of allied powers, however, they entered the scene and declared holy war against the
Central power
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in W ...
. Consequently, Mirza Naini was exiled with
Abul Hassan Isfahani to Iran. They were welcome and received by
Abdul-Karim Ha'eri Yazdi
Grand Ayatollah Hajj Sheikh Abdolkarim Haeri Yazdi ( fa, عبدالکریم حائری یزدی; ar, عبد الكريم الحائري اليزدي ; 1859 – 30 January 1937) was a Twelver Shia Muslim scholar and marja. He was the founder of a ...
, the then head of Feizieh religious school. However, after a short stay Naini was allowed for his return to Iraq with advice not to be involved in politics.
Death
Ayatollah Mirza Hussain Naini died in 1936 at the age of 76. He is buried in
Najaf
Najaf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف) or An-Najaf al-Ashraf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف ٱلْأَشْرَف), also known as Baniqia ( ar, بَانِيقِيَا), is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated popula ...
.
See also
*
Iranian Constitutional Revolution
The Persian Constitutional Revolution ( fa, مشروطیت, Mashrūtiyyat, or ''Enghelāb-e Mashrūteh''), also known as the Constitutional Revolution of Iran, took place between 1905 and 1911. The revolution led to the establishment of a par ...
*
Intellectual movements in Iran
*
Mohammad-Kazem Khorasani
Ayatullah Sheikh Muhammad Kazim Khurasani ( fa, ; 1839 – 12 December 1911), commonly known as Akhund Khurasani ( fa, ) was a Shia jurist and political activist.
He is known for using his position as a Marja as legitimizing force behind the ...
Bibliography
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*
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References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirza Naini
1860 births
1936 deaths
19th-century Iranian politicians
Iranian Shia clerics
People of the Persian Constitutional Revolution
Burials at Imam Ali Mosque
Pupils of Muhammad Kadhim Khorasani
20th-century Iranian politicians