[Thread] on the life and times of Allamah Sayed Mohammad Hussain Tabatabaei (1904-1981).

Since it’s the month of Ramadhan and we’re reciting Quran, it’s appropriate to discuss the life of the author of one of the greatest commentaries on the Quran, Al Mizan fi Tafsir Al Quran.

Allamah, originally from Tabriz, Iran, moved to Najaf for hawza studies. In Najaf, he studied usul al fiqh under Ayatollah Shaykh Mohammad Hussain Isfahani who was known to mix usul with philosophy. There, he met his classmates Ayatollahs Sayed Khu’i and Sayed Hadi Milani.

However, Allamah’s most important teacher in Najaf had to be the celebrated Sayed Ali al Qadi (d. 1947), a pious and righteous teacher of mysticism and irfan. From day one, Sayed Al Qadi welcomed Allamah to Najaf and guided him through his studies.

Allamah later returned to his hometown of Tabriz and stayed there for over 10 years, making a living as a farmer on his family lands. Of course there’s no shame in farming, but this is what happens when people do not know the value of a scholar.

After 10 years in Tabriz, Allamah finally moved to Qom. At the time, only fiqh and usul were taught at the hawza of Qom. No one taught philosophy nor tafsir. He saw it an obligation upon himself to teach hawza students these two disciplines, and so he did.

Allamah taught several books on philosophy: Mula Hadi Sabzawari’s Mandhoma, Mula Sadra’s Asfar, and Ibn Sina’s Al Shifa’. He himself wrote two philosophy textbooks for hawza students: Bidayat Al Hikma and Nihayat Al Hikma. The 1st was for beginners; the 2nd for advanced students.

However, there was opposition to teaching philosophy and irfan in Qom, but more so in Mashhad. Ayatollah Burujurdi was pressured by the hawza of Mashhad, led by Mirza Mahdi Isfahani, to stop all philosophy and irfan lessons in Qom. Burujurdi has no choice but to give in.

The most popular philosophy lessons in Qom were taught by Allamah Tabatabaei, Ayatollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Montazeri. All three adhered to the request of Ayatollah Burujurdi and stopped their philosophy lessons. But Allamah was extremely upset and disappointed.

Later on, Burujurdi gave the green light to Allamah to go back to teaching philosophy but asked him to do so discreetly. Allamah chose an elite group of students and held private lessons at his home. Ayatollah Khomeini, on the other hand, never went back to teaching philosophy.

Ayatollah Mortadha Muttahari has to be at the top of Allamah’s list of students. Second comes Ayatollah Montazeri. Other students include Ayatollahs Sobhani, Nasir Makarim Shirazi, Jawadi Amuli, Ibrahim Amini, Shobeiri Zanjani, Hassanzadeh Amuli, Noori Hamadani and others.

Allamah Tabatabaei’s greatest achievement has to be his twenty volume Al Mizan fi Tafsir Al Quran, a complete commentary on the Quran in Arabic. It took him 20 years to complete, finishing on average one volume per year.

The beauty of Al Mizan is in its depth and complexity. A very hard read, Al Mizan was not written for the average reader but for scholars and intellectuals. Allamah leaves you fulfilled intellectually, not keeping you in need to refer to another tafsir.

In the early years of my hawza studies, Ayatollah Nasir Makarim Shirazi’s Al Amthal was by preferred choice of tafsir. But as I ascended through my studies, I became more fond of Al Mizan. In my humble opinion, no other Shi’i scholar of tafsir has written anything equal to it.

In Al Mizan, you will find narrations of Ahlulbayt, history, sociology, law, philosophy, theology, Arabic grammar and linguistics. It is worth noting that it has been translated to several languages, including English by the late Sayed Saeed Akhtar Rizvi.

Allamah’s main approach to tafsir can be summarized in the following: interpreting the Quran through the Quran. He believed that the Quran explained itself. Of course he also relied on the narrations of Ahlulbayt that explain the Quran but through analysis and critical thinking.

Other books by Allamah Tabatabaei include Shiism in Islam and The Quran in Islam, both written at the request of Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr to be academic textbooks for university students. He also wrote a commentary on three volumes of Allamah Majlisi’s Bihar Al Anwar.

His Usul Falsafa was also a powerful book in refuting Marxist thought. It was a result of 10-13 years of Thursday night sessions with some of his closest students, including Ayatollahs Muttahari, Montazeri, Sobhani, Amini, Amuli and others.

Unfortunately, Allamah lived a life of poverty. He worked in Tabriz for 10 years as a farmer. In Qom, he moved from house to house because he couldn’t afford to purchase one and had to rent most of his life, usually renting run down homes.

Towards the end of his great life, Allamah suffered from memory loss. He even forgot the names of his relatives and students. Ayatollah Ibrahim Amini says “I visited him once and he didn’t recognize me. Surprisingly, he asked me where Shaykh Jafar was. I told him he’s in Qom”.

Allamah Tabatabaei’s soul departed in Qom in 1981, yet his legacy will remain through his outstanding books and students who continue his legacy by teaching and writing on tafsir and philosophy.

This thread is a brief summary of what I learned about the life of Allamah Tabatabaei by reading the memoirs of his students: Ayatollah Montazeri, Ayatollah Ibrahim Amini, and Ayatollah Shobeiri Zanjani.