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Hussein-Ali Montazeri
Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri ( ; 24 September 1922 – 19 December 2009) was an Iranian Shia Islamic theologian, Islamic democracy advocate, writer, and human rights activist. He was one of the leaders of the Iranian Revolution and one of the highest-ranking authorities in Shīʿite Islam. He was once the designated successor to the revolution's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini; they had a falling-out in 1989 over government policies that Montazeri claimed infringed on people's freedom and denied them their rights, especially after the 1988 mass execution of political prisoners. Montazeri spent his later years in Qom and remained politically influential in Iran but was placed in house arrest in 1997 for questioning "the unaccountable rule exercised by the supreme leader", Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Ruhollah Khomeini. He was known as the most knowledgeable senior Islamic scholar in Iran, a ''grand marja'' (religious authority) of Shia Islam, and was said to be one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Ayatollah
Marja (; plural ''marājiʿ''; ) is a title given to the highest level of Twelver Shia religious cleric, with the authority given by a hawzah (a seminary where Shi'a Muslim scholars are educated) to make legal decisions within the confines of Sharia, Islamic law for followers and clerics below him in rank. The highest ranking ''marjiʿ'' is known as the ''marja al-mutlaq'' or ''marja al-taqlid al-mutlaq''. A marji' is usually also a grand ayatollah. Sources differ as to when the institution of the marja˓ emerged, with Murtadha al-Ansari (died 1864) and Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni (died 940 or 941) both being called the first marja'. As of 2023, there are approximately List of current maraji, over 50 living maraji, almost all residing in Iran or Iraq. Title Currently, maraji' are accorded the title ''grand ayatollah'' ( ''ʾĀyatullāh al-ʿUẓmā''). Previously, the titles of Allamah (such as Allameh Tabatabaei, Allameh Majlesi, Allameh Hilli) and Imam (such as Imam Khomei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shia Islam
Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (Imamah (Shia doctrine), imam). However, his right is understood to have been usurped by a number of Companions of the Prophet, Muhammad's companions at the meeting of Saqifa where they appointed Abu Bakr () as caliph instead. As such, Sunni Muslims believe Abu Bakr, Umar (), Uthman () and Ali to be 'Rashidun, rightly-guided caliphs' whereas Shia Muslims only regard Ali as the legitimate successor. Shia Muslims assert imamate continued through Ali's sons Hasan ibn Ali, Hasan and Husayn ibn Ali, Husayn, after whom different Shia branches have their own imams. They revere the , the family of Muhammad, maintaining that they possess divine knowledge. Shia holy sites include the Imam Ali Shrine, shrine of Ali in Naj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mohsen Kadivar
Mohsen Kadivar (; born 8 June 1959) is a mujtahid, Islamic theologian, philosopher, writer, leading intellectual reformist, and research professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University. A political Iranian dissident, Kadivar has been a vocal critic of the doctrine of clerical rule, also known as Velayat-e Faqih (''Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist''), and a strong advocate of democratic and liberal reforms in Iran as well as constructional reform in understanding of shari'a and Shi'a theology. Kadivar has served time in prison in Iran for his political activism and beliefs. Education and career Born in Fasa (Fars province) to a politically active family, Mohsen Kadivar completed his primary and secondary education in Shiraz before being admitted into electronics engineering at Shiraz University in 1977. He became politically active as a student and was arrested by the Shah's police in May 1978 for his political activities. In 1980 he switched his focus to religious education and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emadeddin Baghi
Emadeddin Baghi (born 25 April 1962) is an Iranian journalist, human rights activist, prisoners' rights advocate, investigative journalist, theologian and writer. He is the founder and head of the Committee for the Defense of Prisoners' Rights and the Society of Right to Life Guardians in Iran, and the author of twenty books, six of which have been banned in Iran. Baghi was imprisoned in connection with his writings on the Chain Murders of Iran, which occurred in Autumn 1998, and imprisoned again in late 2007 for another year on charges of "acting against national security." According to his family and lawyers, Baghi has been summoned to court 23 times since his release in 2003. He has also had his passport confiscated, his newspaper closed, and suspended prison sentences passed against his wife and daughter. Baghi was rearrested on 28 December 2009 on charges related to an interview with Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri. Baghi was released and then again rearrested on 5 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abdolkarim Soroush
Abdolkarim Soroush ( ), born Hossein Haj Faraj Dabbagh (born 16 December 1945; ), is an Iranian Islamic and Rumi scholar, and a former professor of philosophy at the University of Tehran. He is among the most influential figures in the religious intellectual movement of Iran. Soroush is currently a visiting scholar at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. He was also affiliated with other institutions including Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, the Leiden-based International Institute as a visiting professor for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) and the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin. He was named as one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2005 by ''Time'' magazine, and as one of the most influential intellectuals in the world by '' Prospect'' magazine in 2008. Soroush's ideas, founded on relativism, prompted both supporters and critics to compare his role in reforming Islam to that of Martin Luther in reforming Christianity. Biography A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Feyziyeh School
Feyziyeh School () is an old school in Qom, Iran that was founded in the Safavid era. The school has been listed as one of Iran's national monuments as of 29 January 2008. The school is famous in part as the focal point for clerical opposition to Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi's White Revolution, and the site of the 1963 Ashura speech by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini denouncing the Shah, which led to his arrest. Background The Feyziyeh school was founded in Qom during the Safavid era. An epigraph on the south veranda dates its construction to the reign of Shah Tahmasp I, Shah Tahmasp. A school by the name of ''Astana'' existed at the site, from the 6th to the 11th century. Reconstruction was carried out under the Safavids and the school was renamed Feyziyeh. The school was rebuilt and extended during the reign of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar in 1799. The school has 40 rooms on the first floor, 4 long veranda, 12 stalls and a square pool. History Opposition to the White Revolution In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qom Seminary
The Qom Seminary (') is the largest and one of the foremost Shia Islam, Shia hawzas (Islamic seminaries), located in the city of Qom, Iran. It is the largest seminary in Iran, established in 1922 by Grand Ayatollah Abdul-Karim Haeri Yazdi in Qom to train Usuli scholars. The Hawza is composed of several structured institutions and systems developed to govern itself. Its curriculum includes Arabic grammar, rhetoric, Quranic studies, Qur'anic sciences, Aqidah, theology, and traditional sciences. Along with Kufa and Baghdad, the Qom hadith school is among the three earliest centers of hadith transmission in Shia intellectual history. The seminary's history dates back to the founding of Shia Qom, when the Ash'ari family—a Shia clan—migrated from Kufa to Qom and contributed to the development of the city. Once they gained control over Qom, the propagation of Shiism and teaching of hadith and the Qur'an began. This continued with the arrival of agents and descendants of the Imams of Sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islamic Democracy
There exist a number of perspectives on the relationship between the religion of Islam and democracy (the form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state and democracy) among Islamic political theorists and other thinkers, the general Muslim public, and Western authors. Many Muslim scholars have argued that traditional Islamic notions such as ''shura'' (consultation), ''maslaha'' (public interest), and '' ʿadl'' (justice) justify representative government institutions which are similar to Western democracy, but reflect Islamic rather than Western liberal values. Still others have advanced liberal democratic models of Islamic politics based on pluralism and freedom of thought. Some Muslim thinkers have advocated secularist views of Islam. A number of different attitudes regarding democracy are also represented among the general Muslim public, with polls indicating that majorities in the Muslim world desire a religious democracy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guardianship Of The Islamic Jurist
The Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (, also ''Velayat-e Faghih''; ) is a concept in Twelver Shia Islamic law which holds that until the reappearance of the "infallible Imam" (sometime before Judgement Day), the religious and social affairs of the Muslim world should be administered by righteous Shi'i jurists ('' Faqīh''). The nature of these affairs is disputed. Wilāyat al-Faqīh is associated in particular with Ruhollah Khomeini and the Islamic Republic of Iran. In a series of lectures in 1970, Khomeini advanced the idea of guardianship in its "absolute" form as rule of the state and society. This version of guardianship now forms the basis of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which calls for a Guardian Jurist (''Vali-ye Faqih'', ), to serve as the Supreme Leader of that country. Currently, this role is held by Ayatollah Khamenei. Under the "absolute authority of the jurist" (''Velayat-e Motlaqaye Faqih''), the jurist/faqih has control over all pu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hadith
Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ( companions in Sunni Islam, Ahl al-Bayt in Shiite Islam). Each hadith is associated with a chain of narrators ()—a lineage of people who reportedly heard and repeated the hadith from which the source of the hadith can be traced. The authentication of hadith became a significant discipline, focusing on the ''isnad'' (chain of narrators) and '' matn'' (main text of the report). This process aimed to address contradictions and questionable statements within certain narrations. Beginning one or two centuries after Muhammad's death, Islamic scholars, known as muhaddiths, compiled hadith into distinct collections that survive in the historical works of writers from the second and third centuries of the Muslim era ( 700−1000 CE). For ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islamic Ethics
Islamic ethics () is the "philosophical reflection upon moral conduct" with a view to defining "good character" and attaining the "pleasure of God" (''raza-e Ilahi''). It is distinguished from " Islamic morality", which pertains to "specific norms or codes of behavior". It took shape as a field of study or an "Islamic science" (''ʿIlm al-Akhlaq''), gradually from the 7th century and was finally established by the 11th century. Although it was considered less important than sharia and ''fiqh'' "in the eyes of the ulama" (Islamic scholars) "moral philosophy" was an important subject for Muslim intellectuals. Campo, ''Encyclopedia of Islam'', "Ethics and morality" 2009: p.217 Many scholars consider it shaped as a successful amalgamation of the Qur'anic teachings, the teachings of Muhammad, the precedents of Islamic jurists (see Sharia and Fiqh), the pre-Islamic Arabian tradition, and non-Arabic elements (including Persian and Greek ideas) embedded in or integrated with a generally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islamic Philosophy
Islamic philosophy is philosophy that emerges from the Islamic tradition. Two terms traditionally used in the Islamic world are sometimes translated as philosophy—''falsafa'' (), which refers to philosophy as well as logic, mathematics, and physics; and ''kalam'' (), which refers to a Rationalism, rationalist form of Schools of Islamic theology#ʿIlm_al-Kalām, Scholastic Islamic theology which includes the schools of Maturidiyah, Ashari, Ashaira and Mu'tazila. Early Islamic philosophy began with al-Kindi in the 2nd century of the Islamic calendar (early 9th century CE) and ended with Averroes, Ibn Rushd (Averroes) in the 6th century AH (late 12th century CE), broadly coinciding with the period known as the Islamic Golden Age, Golden Age of Islam. The death of Averroes effectively marked the end of a specific discipline of Islamic philosophy usually called the Islamic peripatetic school, and philosophical activity declined significantly in the west of the Islamic world, includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
