ভূমিকা

Read and thy Lord is the Most Magnanimous, who taught with the pen; taught humans that which they knew not. [^1] …and We gave him wisdom [hikmah] and resolving speech [fasl al-khitab] I start with the gift of salutations and peace [salām] from Hasan Hasan-zādeh Āmolī, a humble gleaner of the brilliance of the great.

I was asked to write up a biography of the glory-suffused life of the great exegete, divine philosopher, godly mystic, holy jurist, pride of Islam, exemplary lecturer, Āyatullāh al-‘Uzmā[^2] ‘Allāmah[^3] Hāj[^4] Mīrzā[^5] Sayyid[^6] Muhammad Husayn Tabātabā’ī. Deserving accomplishment of such a serious matter is beyond the ability of my humble person, who neither knows eloquent Farsi nor coherent Arabic. What can a lowly person with a broken pen write of the eloquence of the Glorious?!

This being said, I did not deem it humane to decline, and thus with my poor resources I shall offer a slight notion of what is recorded in the oeuvre of my memories of the many years I spent in the heavenly presence of this holy saint and under the tuition of this godly instructor. Thus, without formal and intricate penmanship I shall leave the stylus to its simple comportment and proceed as the pen wills.

يک دهان خواهم به پهناي فلک تا بگويم وصف آن رشک ملک ور دهان يابم چنين و صد چنين تنگ آيد در بيان آن امين اين قدر هم گر نگويم اي سَنَد شيشه‌ي دل از ضعيفي بشکند I need a mouth as great as the firmament, to illustrate the details of this enviable king. And, if I find such a mouth or even comportment greater, it would fall short in illustrating this virtuous one. O chronicle! If I say not this much, the glass of my heart will break of fragility.

When speaking of great personages such as this, who exceed time and space and are eternal prodigies, we can delineate several features. The briefest of these is outlining the time, place, and method of their livelihood, whereas talking of such mundane matters is far from the dignity of these empyrean souls.