Devoted to the Truth: Allama Amini The Author of al-Ghadir

By Mohammad Raza Fakhr-Rohani

Allāma Amini is most famous for his research project al-Ghadir which offers an in-depth analysis of the appointment of Imam Ali at Ghadir Khumm and the series of events that followed.
Born in Tabriz in 1902, Allama ‘Abd al-Husayn Amini developed a passion for knowledge from a young age under the tutelage of his father. At aged 1

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sun Behind The Cloud Publications Ltd
• Release date: Jul 31, 2019
• ISBN: 9781908110596

Book preview

PART ONE

THE BEGINNING OF SCHOLARSHIP

He who gives a great deal of thought to what he learns masters his knowledge, and comes to understand that which he could not understand before

- IMAM ‘ALĪ

Family Tree

His Forefathers

Much is known about Allāma Amīnī’s family going back to his paternal grandfather, Sheikh Najaf-Qulī, but beyond that there is less information. Najaf-Qulī was born in 1257 AH/ 1841 in Sardahā, a village located to the south of Sarāb, which was a small town. In 1304 AH/ 1886, Najaf-Qulī migrated from his village eastward to Tabriz, in northwestern Iran. He was the son of Sheikh ‘Abd Allāh, a man known for the letters he wrote using the pen name (takhalluṣ) ‘Sarmast’, meaning ‘one profoundly enchanted’. Sheikh ‘Abd Allāh was the son of Hajj Muḥammad, son of Allāh-Yār, son of Muḥammad.

Najaf-Qulī was commonly known by the honorific title ‘Amīn al-Shar‘’, meaning ‘trustee of the (Islamic) path and law’. He was keen to seek knowledge and would often associate with the learned people of Tabriz. A religiously devout figure, Najaf-Qulī was also a skilful calligrapher, as well as a competent poet. Some specimens of his calligraphy feature his prayers and supplications. His own pen name was ‘Wāthiq’, an Arabic word which means ‘the one who is dependent on Allah’. The gemstone of his ring bore the inscription al-wāthiq bi Allāh al-Ghanīyy, ‘abduhū Najaf-Qulī, that is, ‘the Dependant of Allah the Sufficient, his servant Najaf-Qulī’.

Sheikh Najaf-Qulī used to study in Najaf for some time and kept good relations with the leading Shia authorities of Najaf, who knew him well. When he passed away in 1340 AH / 1921, his body was taken from Tabriz to Najaf so that he could be buried in the Wādī al-Salām Cemetery, a vast graveyard not far from Imam ‘Alī’s shrine.

Najaf-Qulī had four sons, Sheikh Aḥmad, Hajj Muḥammad,¹ Sheikh Ḥasan ‘Alī ‘Fakhr’,² and Hajj ‘Abd al-Raḥīm.³ Of these sons, it was Sheikh Aḥmad who later became the father of Allāma Amīnī.

Sheikh Aḥmad was born in Sardahā (1287 AH/ 1870), and was tutored by his father in Persian and Arabic. When the family moved to Tabriz, he continued his education under the great scholars of Tabriz such as Mirza Asad Allāh b. Muḥsin Tabrīzī.⁴ Sheikh Aḥmad obtained Licenses for Transmission (ijāzas) from some leading mujtahids such as Sheikh ‘Alī Shīrāzī Gharawī⁵ and Sheikh ‘Alī Īrawānī Gharawī⁶. It was these last two scholars who, alongside Tabriz’s great mujtahid Ayatollah Sayyid Abū al-Ḥasan Angajī Tabrīzī⁷, endorsed Sheikh Aḥmad’s status as a mujtahid in his own right. This meant that Sheikh Aḥmad was qualified to derive religious laws, through his own independent reasoning, from the fundamental sources of Islam and, above all, from the Holy Qur’an. Having studied under a number of leading mujtahids in Tabriz and having already made a name for himself as a Shia cleric, Sheikh Aḥmad went on to earn ijāzas from several leading scholars in Najaf.⁸

Sheikh Aḥmad was a close friend of the late Ayatollah Sheikh ‘Alī Khīyābānī⁹ the author of Waqāyi‘ al-ayyām. He also maintained fruitful relationships with Ayatollah Gharawī Iṣfahānī, and other scholarly figures of Najaf and Karbala.

The Licenses for Transmission (ijāzas) Sheikh Aḥmad received throughout his life fell broadly into two groups. In the first, there were several licences relating to the socio-economic issues of the time, such as the ways in which charitable donations were distributed for the benefit of the poor. The second group of licences entitled him to relate, explain, translate, and teach lessons on Shia hadiths narrated from the Prophet and select members of his descendants. He was granted permission to relate hadiths from many important scholars¹⁰.

When Sheikh Aḥmad was studying, printed books were hardly available in Iran and Iraq. With many important works still in manuscript form, the most common way of acquiring a work was through having them transcribed, either by hiring a copyist, or transcribing the text oneself. While copyists were adept at writing quickly, they did not always manage to avoid errors, whether through lack of care or lack of understanding of the text. As such, Sheikh Aḥmad preferred to copy out the texts he required himself and, throughout his lifetime, he transcribed several books and treatises.

A number of noteworthy works feature amongst the books Sheikh Aḥmad transcribed, including the Kitāb ṣifāt al-shī‘ah of Abū Ja‘far Muḥammad b. ‘Alī b. Bābawayh al-Qummī Sheikh al-Ṣadūq.¹¹ Sharḥ qaṣīdah al-ashbāḥ by Sheikh Abū ‘Abd Allāh al-Mufajja‘¹² was a commentary on a 119-couplet poem by the Iraqi poet, Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. ‘Abd Allāh al-Baṣrī, in praise of the devotees of the first infallible, Imam ‘Alī. In 1354 AH/ 1935. Sheikh Aḥmad transcribed the ode and presented a copy of it to the great Iraqi author and scholar, Sheikh Muḥammad Ṭāhir al-Samāwī¹³. Sheikh al-Samāwī made a copy of the ode and returned it to Sheikh Aḥmad’s son, Allāma Amīnī. Āqā Buzurg tells us of a letter of appreciation found in the papers of Allāma Amīnī which was written in 1354 AH/ 1935 in Najaf by Sheikh al-Samāwī addressed to Sheikh Aḥmad in