Ali Akbar Rashad (born 1955) is an Iranian philosopher and Islamic scholar who pioneered the Ibtina Theory, a theory for explaining the process and mechanism of "religious knowledge" formation. He is currently a professor at the Islamic Research Institute for Culture and Thought as well as a member of the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council (SCRC). He is also the founder and chair of Imam Reza Islamic seminary. The has presented articles and delivered speeches at conferences and scientific and philosophical conventions and conferences in different countries including

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Bosnia,

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, Sudan, Syria,

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, and

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

among others.

Education

Ali Akbar Rashad is a graduate of Tehran and Qom Islamic seminaries; he completed his introductory and first grade of

Islamic seminary Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

education, in Tehran between 1967 and 1970. Then, he went to Qom to further his education in 1970, and was admitted to Grand Ayatollah Golpayegani's Islamic Seminary school, which was considered the first scheduled educational center conducted on the new seminary methodology. He completed the second grade in this seminary school. He also took Ayatollah Shabzendehdar Shirazi's exegesis and Islamic doctrine lessons, and religions (

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh in the 19th century, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the ...

and the secretary of

Wahhabism Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, and ...

, ) lessons presented by Abd-ol-Gha'em Shooshtari during the very same period.His official website in Persian: http://rashad.iict.ac.ir

Academic activities

Rashad has been teaching higher levels of principles of jurisprudence,

philosophy of religion Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known texts concerning ph ...

, philosophy and

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ...

in the "Islamic seminary of Tehran" as well as the philosophy of religion and discourse and logic of Understanding Religion at

university of Tehran The University of Tehran (Tehran University or UT, fa, دانشگاه تهران) is the most prominent university located in Tehran, Iran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as its research and teaching pro ...

and

university of Mashhad Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (FUM, fa, دانشگاه فردوسی مشهد, ''Danushgah-e Ferdusi-ye Mashhad'') is a public university in Mashhad, the capital city of the Iranian province of Razavi Khorasan. FUM is named after Abul-Qâsem F ...

for the past thirty years. In the past ten years, IICT has compiled, or has been compiling, four different encyclopedias under professor Rashad’s supervision: # The Encyclopedia of Imam Ali (published in 13 volumes) #The Encyclopedia of Qur'an (six out of twenty five volumes completed) #The Encyclopedia of the Holy Prophet’s Conduct (fifteen volumes; in press). # The Encyclopedia of Fatimah Culture (six volumes).

Translated works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rashad, Ali Akbar 20th-century Iranian philosophers Islamic philosophers Philosophers of religion Iranian ayatollahs 21st-century Muslim scholars of Islam 20th-century Islamic religious leaders 21st-century Iranian philosophers 21st-century Islamic religious leaders Research Institute for Islamic Culture and Thought faculty Iran's Book of the Year Awards recipients 1955 births Living people