Muhammad Taqi Qummi

Muḥammad Taqī Qummī (Arabic: محمدتقی قمی) (b. 1910 - d. 1990) was a Shiite scholar who advocated Islamic unity. Qummi believed that the only way to form a unified Islamic Umma was to culturally unify Muslims, and this can only be materialized through dialogues among scholars of different Islamic denominations. For this goal, he founded "Dar al-Taqrib bayn al-Madhahib al-Islamiyya" (The House of Proximity of Islamic Denominations). One of his most important achievements was the recognition of Shiite jurisprudence by al-Azhar University in Egypt. He died of a car accident in Paris at the age of eighty.

Biography

Muhammad Taqi Qummi was born in 1910 in Qom in a religious family. He learned preliminary courses in Tehran. After high school, he went to the higher school of literature and simultaneously studied Islamic disciplines as well. He learned Arabic, French, and English in this period. For purposes of promoting the proximity of Islamic denominations and the cultural unity of Muslims, he went to Egypt at the age of twenty seven. He died of a car accident in 1990 in Paris at the age of eighty.

Foundation of Dar al-Taqrib

In 1941, Muhammad Taqi Qummi and a group of Shiite and Sunni scholars, such as Abd al-Majid Salim, Shaykh Mahmud Shaltut, and some other scholars of al-Azhar University, founded "Dar al-Taqrib bayn al-Madhahib al-Islamiyya" in Egypt after getting Ayatollah Burujirdi's support.

When Qummi heard that an Iranian pilgrim in Mecca was executed by the Saudi government as a result of pessimism on part of Wahhabis towards the Shi'as, he entertained the idea of establishing an assembly for proximity of Islamic denominations, in which scholars of different Islamic sects could hold dialogues with each other. Thus, he went to Egypt in 1938 and met with the head of al-Azhar University, Shaykh Muhammad Mustafa Maraghi, and received his initial agreement with the project of Islamic proximity. With the help of Maraghi, he met other Egyptian scholars who advocated the idea of Islamic unity.

Finally in 1941, together with a number of Shiite and Sunni scholars, he founded "Dar al-Taqrib bayn al-Madhahib al-Islamiyya", and published a journal under Risalat al-Islam (Islam's Mission) in 1949 in order to propagate the ideas of Islamic unity and proximity. In 1945, he returned to Iran because of the World War I. In Qom, he met Ayatollah Burujirdi, who had just moved to Qom to accept the Shiite marja'iyya at the request of scholars in Qom. He explained his ideas to him and got his financial and spiritual supports for the project.

Ayatollah Burujirdi's Support of Qummi and Dar al-Taqrib

Muhammad Taqi Qummi next to the Ayatollah Muhammad Hadi Milani

Ayatollah Burujirdi was highly heedful of Dar al-Taqrib such that he emphasized the importance of the project in his deathbed. At the request of Muhammad Taqi Qummi and in order to remove obstacles from the establishment of Dar al-Taqrib in Egypt, Ayatollah Burujirdi prevented the publication of volume 8 of Bihar al-anwar which included hadiths about Imamate, and "al-fitan (seditions) wa al-mihan" (sufferings). Moreover, Ayatollah Burujirdi collected Sunni chains of transmissions of Hadith al-Ghadir and published it in Qummi's journal, Risalat al-Islam. The essay was significant in the fatwa according to which it was permitted to act upon the Shiite jurisprudence.

The Recognition of Imami Shiite Denomination

As a result of Muhammad Taqi Qummi's efforts for Islamic unity, in 1958, Shaykh Mahmud Shaltut, the head of al-Azhar University at the time and a co-founder of "Dar al-Taqrib", issued a fatwa according to which it was permissible to act upon the Imami Shiite jurisprudence. The fatwa had been propounded years ago by Abd al-Majid Salim, a prominent figure in Dar al-Taqrib, but its announcement was postponed for ten years because of oppositions from some scholars at al-Azhar, until it was officially announced by Shaykh Mahmud Shaltut.

Muhammad Taqi Qummi's Thoughts

In the journal, Risalat al-Islam, Muhammad Taqi Qummi provides an account of his views:

• There is no way to form a unified Islamic Umma except by a cultural unity of Muslims, and this cannot be obtained except through cultural dialogues, communications, and proximity.

• The cultural unity of Muslims consists in their familiarity with each other's denominations, although they can ultimately act upon their own beliefs.

• The goal of the cultural unity of Muslims is their consensus over essential principles of the religion and their consideration of other issues out of a truth-seeking spirit in such a way that they can come up with common views, and if disagreements remain, then each side considers the other side as being excused and rewarded by God, instead of excommunicating them.

• Muslims are never harmed by intellectual disagreements except when the disagreements lead to the abandonment of their brotherhood.

• Disagreements among Muslims is not over major issues; it is, instead, over minor issues. That is to say, they have a consensus over the general principle that one must act upon whatever comes from the Prophet (s). However, they sometimes disagree over whether or not a specific doctrine comes from the Prophet (s).

Qummi's Position concerning the Islamic Revolution of Iran

Muhammad Taqi Qummi congratulated Imam Khomeini over the victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran. However, early after the victory of the revolution, one of the revolutionaries humiliated Qummi because of his relationships with the rulers of Islamic countries, including the former Shah of Iran. After that, Qummi left Iran to Paris, where he met the oppositions of the Islamic Revolution. Some people came to think that he opposed the Islamic Revolution of Iran. However, Qummi gave a call to one of his friends in Iran and believed this to be a conspiracy, emphasizing that the goal of the Islamic Revolution was his own goal.

Qummi's Position concerning the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought

When Ayatollah Khamenei became the supreme leader of Iran and the establishment of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought was proposed, Muhammad Taqi Qummi was contacted. He welcomed the proposal and was supposed to go to Egypt again in 1990. However, he died of a car accident on the street of Paris.

Death or Murder?

Muhammad Taqi Qummi died of a car accident on August 28, 1990 in Paris at the age of eighty. Some people believe that the car accident was intentional and he was in fact murdered by opponents because he intended to revive Dar al-Taqrib and reinforce the unity of Shi'as and Sunnis.