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Najaf Seminary

The Najaf Seminary (Arabic: حوزة النجف‎), also known as the al-Hawza al-Ilmiyya, is the most important Shia seminaries (hawza) in the city of Najaf, Iraq. The school also operates a campus in Karbala. It is located near the Imam Ali Mosque. It was established in the 11th century by Grand Ayatollah Shaykh al-Tusi.

History

Shaykh Tusi went to Baghdad to continue education. After 12 years, he was forced to leave Baghdad and go to Najaf for sectarian differences. [1] He established the seminary in Najaf in 430 AH (the 11th century AD), [2] which continued as a center of study until the establishment of modern Iraq in 1921. He died in 460 AH (1067 CE). [3] [4] The seminar was one of the biggest and most important hawza of the world for educating and training Shia clerics. [5]

Subjects

The subjects taught at the seminary include: [6]

• Mantiq (Logic)

• Usul al-Fiqh (Principles of Jurisprudence)

• Fiqh (Jurisprudence)

• Tafsir al-Qur'an (Qur'an Exegesis)

• Ulum al-Qur'an (Qur'an Sciences)

• Ilm al-Hadith (The Study of Traditions)

• Ilm ar-Rijal (Science of Narrators)

• Tarikh (History)

• Aqaid / Kalam (Theology)

• Lugha (Language Studies)

• Falsafa (Islamic Philosophy)

• Irfan (Islamic Mysticism)

Trained scholars

Some of the known Shia Grand Ayatollahs were trained in the Najaf seminary. [7] • Ahmad ibn Muhammad Ardabili - he was one of the most famous Shia scholars. He was known as Mohaghegh (researcher) and Moghaddas (saint). [8]

• Moḥammad Mahdī Baḥr al-ʿUlūm - he was known as Baḥr al-Ulum for his considerable knowledge. Bahr al-Ulum was a popular Shia Muslim scholar. He is specifically known as one of the few individuals who attained the climax of spiritual perfection. [9] • Mohammad Bagher Shafti - he was the leader of Isfahan seminary. [10]

• Akhund Khorasani - he was a student of Morteza Ansari. Khorasani was the greatest Marjaʿ after Mirza Shirazi and before Mohammad Fadhil Sharabiani, he was known as an indubitable master of usul al-fiqh. [11] He authored a book focused on commercial law. [12]

• Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei - Ali al-Sistani was his student. [13] He was made the most prominent Grand Ayatollah in 1971 after the death of Muhsin al-Hakim.[13] He was well-known author in Hadith studies and Rijal and Kalam knowledge. [14] [15] • Ibn Idris Hilli - he founded the Hillah seminary. [16]

• Mirza Shirazi - he was the leader of Samarra seminary and Tobacco Protest. [17]

• Hajj Muhammad Ibrahim Kalbasi - he was the leader of Isfahan seminary. [18]

• Abdul-Karim Haeri Yazdi - he was the founder of the Qom Seminary in Iran. [19] Ruhollah Khomeini was his student. He was Marjaʿ. [20]

• Kashif al-Ghita - he was the leader and great Marjaʿ of Shia. [21]

• Muhammad Hasan al-Najafi - he authored Javaher al-kalam Fi sharh-e Sharay-e al-Islam [22]and was a leader of the Najaf seminary. [23]

• Morteza Ansari - he was the leader of Najaf seminary after the death of Muhammad Hasan al-Najafi. [24] He has been called "first effective" Marjaʿ of the Shia [25] or "the first scholar universally recognized as supreme authority in matters of Shii law". [26] [27]

• Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi - his popular students included Imam Khomeini, Hossein Vahid Khorasani, Sayed Ali Khamenei, Sayyid Ali al-Sistani, Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani, and Dr. Seyed Ali Mirlohi Falavarjani. [28] Borujerdi was the sole marja "in the Shia world" from 1945-6 until his death in 1961. [29] Borujerdi was the first Marja who attempted Islamic unity. He sent Sayyid Muhaqqiqi to Hamburg, Germany, Aqa-e-Shari'at to Karachi, Pakistan, Al-Faqihi to Medina and Musa al-Sadr to Lebanon. [30] [31] • Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i - he authored Tafsir al-Mizan [32] and he was one of the most prominent Intellectuals of philosophy and contemporary Shia Islam. [33] [34] He was an expert in philosophy in Islam. His philosophy is focused upon the sociological treatment of human problems. [35] His book, Shi'ite Islam, was translated into English by Hossein Nasr and William Chittick as a project of Colgate University. He was interviewed by Henry Corbin. [36]

• Abd al-Husayn Sharaf al-Din al-Musawi - he was one of the greatest Marja in Lebanon. He attempted to bring Shia and Sunni closer. [37]

Notes

  1. ↑ Jaffer - XKP, Mulla Asghar Ali M. FIQH and FUQAHA (PDF). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (November 4, 2015). ISBN 978-1519106759. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-26.
  2. ↑ "Part 2: The Fuqaha". World Federation of Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheri Muslim Communities.
  3. ↑ "Hawza - Advanced Islamic Studies". Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project. Archived from the original on 8 March 2011.
  4. ↑ Sreeram Chaulia. "Shiites and Democracy". Mideast Monitor. Archived from the original on 26 June 2008.
  5. ↑ "A rare look inside the 'heart of society' for Iraq's Shi'ites".
  6. ↑ "Hawza - Advanced Islamic Studies". Archived from the original on 2011-03-08.
  7. ↑ Khoshkhu, Rasoul Imani. "A Glimpse at the Major Shi'a Seminaries part 1". Ahlul Bayt World Assembly.
  8. ↑ Ghobadzadeh, Naser (2015). Religious Secularity: A Theological Challenge to the Islamic State (Religion and Global Politics). Oxford University Press; 1 edition (December 1, 2014). ISBN 978-0199391172.
  9. ↑ Litvak, Meir (2 May 2002). Shi'i Scholars of Nineteenth-Century Iraq: The 'Ulama' of Najaf and Karbala'. Cambridge University Press (May 2, 2002). ISBN 978-0521892964.
  10. ↑ Khoshkhu, Rasoul Imani. "A Glimpse at the Major Shi'a Seminaries part 1". Ahlul Bayt World Assembly.
  11. ↑ Hairi, A.; Murata, S. (1984). "AḴŪND ḴORĀSĀNĪ". Encyclopædia Irannica.
  12. ↑ Mottahedeh, Roy (18 October 2014). The Mantle of the Prophet. Oneworld (August 15, 2000). ISBN 978-1851682348.
  13. ↑ Who's who in Iraq: Ayatollah Sistani, 26 August, 2004
  14. ↑ Who's who in Iraq: Ayatollah Sistani, 26 August, 2004
  15. ↑ Allawi, Ali A. (2007). The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace. Yale University Press; Reprint edition (March 18, 2008). p. 207. ISBN 978-0300136142. al-Khoei is lead rijal.
  16. ↑ Khoshkhu, Rasoul Imani. "A Glimpse at the Major Shi'a Seminaries part 1". Ahlul Bayt World Assembly.
  17. ↑ Mottahedeh, Roy (18 October 2014). The Mantle of the Prophet. Oneworld (August 15, 2000). ISBN 978-1851682348.
  18. ↑ Khoshkhu, Rasoul Imani. "A Glimpse at the Major Shi'a Seminaries part 1". Ahlul Bayt World Assembly.
  19. ↑ "Haeri Yazdi، Ayatollah Abdulkarim".
  20. ↑ Mottahedeh, The Mantle of the Prophet, (1985, 2000), p.229
  21. ↑ Khoshkhu, Rasoul Imani. "A Glimpse at the Major Shi'a Seminaries part 1". Ahlul Bayt World Assembly.
  22. ↑ Sachedina, Abdulaziz Abdulhussein (8 October 1998). The Just Ruler in Shi'ite Islam: The Comprehensive Authority of the Jurist in Imamite Jurisprudence. Oxford University Press; Revised edition (October 8, 1998). ISBN 978-0195119152.
  23. ↑ Arjomand, Saïd Amir (January 1988). Authority and Political Culture in Shi'ism (SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies). SUNY Press; Annotated edition (July 8, 1988). ISBN 978-0887066399.
  24. ↑ Khoshkhu, Rasoul Imani. "A Glimpse at the Major Shi'a Seminaries part 1". Ahlul Bayt World Assembly.
  25. ↑ Mottahedeh, Roy (18 October 2014). The Mantle of the Prophet. Oneworld (August 15, 2000). p. 210. ISBN 978-1851682348.
  26. ↑ Esposito, John L. (21 October 2004). The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (Oxford Quick Reference). Oxford University Press; 1 edition (October 21, 2004). p. 21. ISBN 978-0195125597.
  27. ↑ Khoshkhu, Rasoul Imani. "A Glimpse at the Major Shi'a Seminaries part 1". Ahlul Bayt World Assembly.
  28. ↑ The course of Imam Khomeini's struggles narrated by SAVAK [Seir e mobarezat e imam khomeini be revayat e savak] (in Persian). 1. p. 45. and http://english.khamenei.ir/news/2130/bio
  29. ↑ Mottahedeh, The Mantle of the Prophet, (1985, 2000), p.231
  30. ↑ "Ayatollah Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi".
  31. ↑ Chehabi, Abisaab, Houchang , Rula Jurdi (2006). Distant Relations: Iran and Lebanon in the Last 500 Years. I.B.Tauris (April 2, 2006). ISBN 978-1860645617.
  32. ↑ Biography of Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaei by Amid Algar, University of California, Berkeley, Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.
  33. ↑ Legenhausen, Dr. Muhammad. "'Allamah Tabataba'i And Contemporary Philosophical Theology". ALHODA PUBLISHERS.
  34. ↑ Husayni Tihrani, Sayyid Muhammad Husayn (2011). Shining Sun. Islamic College for Advanced Studie; UK ed. edition (May 1, 2011). ISBN 978-1904063407.
  35. ↑ Legenhausen, Dr. Muhammad. "'Allamah Tabataba'i And Contemporary Philosophical Theology". ALHODA PUBLISHERS.
  36. ↑ Randall, Yafia Katherine (31 March 2016). Sufism and Jewish-Muslim Relations: The Derekh Avraham Order in Israel. Routledge; 1 edition (April 7, 2016). ISBN 978-1138914032.
  37. ↑ Rizvi, Arsalan. "Sayyid Sharafuddin al-Musawi".
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