When I came to class...

When I came to class, everything the teacher had to say was already clear to me; I never had to ask for an explanation or for an error to be corrected.” After completing the Sutuh level of the hawzah curriculum in 1925, ‘Allamah Taba’taba’i went with his brother to Najaf, a centre of Shi’a learning traditionally designated as Darul ‘Ilm (the abode of knowledge). It was here that he spent many years studying the Kharij level of jurisprudence with such authorities as Mirza Husayn Na’ini (d.

1355 ce/1936 ah), Ayatullah Abul Hasan Isfahani (d. 1365 ah/1946 ce), Ayatullah Hajj Mirza ‘Ali Irvani and Ayatullah Mirza ‘Ali Asgher. He attained the rank of Ijtehad while in Najaf, but never sought to become Marja’ al-Taqlid. It was Qur’anic exegesis along with philosophy that came to preoccupy him for most of his career. More influential on ‘Allamah Taba’taba’i than any of his other teachers in Najaf was his cousin, Hajj Mirza ‘Ali Qadhi Taba’taba’i (d. 1363 ah/1947 ce).

It was he who, more than anyone else helped to mould his spiritual personality. Sayyid Qadhi’s influence on him was profound. Under his guidance, he began to engage in gnostic practices, night vigils and various supererogatory acts of devotion. In 1354 ah/1935 ce, ‘Allamah Taba’taba’i returned from Najaf to Tabriz, again accompanied by his brother.

The return to Tabriz occasioned something of a lull in his scholarly activities for a roughly a decade during which he devoted himself to farming the family lands. Despite the degree of erudition he had attained, he was almost entirely unknown in the city. In 1946 ce, he left for Qum, where he remained for the rest of his life.

The city of Qum had enjoyed prominence as a centre of learning since the early days of Shi’ism in Iran, and it was here that the scene of the most fruitful portion of the ‘Allamah’s career as a teacher and an author can be seen. To all outward appearances, the very epitome of the ascetic and retiring scholar, ‘Allamah Taba’taba’i was by no means negligent or unaware of the political sphere.

Nonetheless he played little if any discernible role in the intense and prolonged struggle led by Imam Khomeini and his associates that culminated in the Islamic revolution of 1978-79 and the foundation of the Islamic Republic of Iran. By the time the revolution began, he was too physically frail to have participated even marginally.