'Abd al-Husayn Amini: Difference between revisions

'Abd al-Husayn Amini, the son of Mirza Ahmad Amini was born in Tabriz in 1320/1902. <ref>Sayyid Mustafa Husayni Dashti, Ma'arif and Ma'arif, vol. 2, p 550. </ref> His father was a religious leader in Tabriz. His grandfather Mullah Najaf 'Ali, was known as Amīn al-Sharʿ (the Protector of the Shariah), hence his family name was called "Amini".  

'Abd al-Husayn Amini started his education in the schools of Tabriz and after memorizing the Qur'an and finishing the elementary level, started his studies of fiqh and usul and took part in the classes of scholars like Sayyid Muhammad Mawlana, the author of Misbah al-salikin, and Sayyid Mortada Khusrushahi and Shaykh Husayn, the author of Hidayat al-Anam. <ref>Sayyid Mustafa Husayni Dashti, Ma'arif and Ma'arif, vol. 2, p 550 </ref>

Amini migrated at the age of 22 from Tabriz to Najaf and took part in the classes of prominent scholars, such as Sayyid Muhammad Firuzabadi (d. 1345/1928) and Sayyid Abuturab Khwansari (d. 1346/1927). <ref>Sayyid 'Ali Rida Sayyid Kibari, Allama Amini, Ghawwas-i Ghadir, p. 43-44. </ref>

Amini got the permission for ijtihad from some marja's like Sayyid Abu l-Hasan Isfahani, Muhammad Husayn Na'ini, Muhammad Husayn Gharawi Isfahani <ref>'Ali Rida Sayyid Kibari, Allama Amini, Ghawwas-i Ghadir, p. 43-44. </ref> and Shaykh 'Abd al-Karim Ha'iri Yazdi. <ref>'Ali Rida Sayyid Kibari, Allama Amini, Ghawwas-i Ghadir, p. 43-44. </ref>  Regarding the death date of these marja's (between the years 1355/1936 to 1364/1945), one can see that 'Allama Amini has gotten the permission for ijtihad and hadith transmission, prior to the age of 35. Having gained this permission (for ijtihad and hadith transmission) he returned to Tabriz, but after a short while he went back to Najaf again. <ref>'Ali Rida Sayyid Kibari, Allama Amini, Ghawwas-i Ghadir, p. 43-44. </ref>

'Allama Amini's magnum opus is the book 'Al-Ghadir fi l-kitab wa l-sunnat wa l-adab (The Ghadir in the Book, the Sunnah, and Literature), a book on verifying Imam 'Ali's immediate Imamate and Caliphate (after the Prophet (s), based on the Event of Ghadir and analyzing the chains of transmition and indication of the Al-Ghadir Sermon. <ref>The Encyclopedia of Shi'a Islam, vol. 12, p. 39. </ref> 'Abd al-Husayn Amini has spent forty years of his life writing this eleven-volumes book, and in order to find the documents of the Event of Ghadir, went all the way into the libraries in Iraq, Iran, India, Syria and Turkey in order to conduct his research. <ref>The Encyclopedia of Shi'a Islam, vol. 12, p. 39, 40. </ref> According to Sayyid Ja'far Shahidi, quoting Amini himself, he has read up to 10, 000 books as to be able to write the book al-Ghadir. <ref>Sayyid Ja'far Shahidi, The Development of the Shi'a Faith and Amini as the Reviver of the Faith. </ref> The first to the ninth volumes of the book al-Ghadir have been published in Najaf in the year 1364/1927. The whole compilation of eleven volumes have been published in 1372/1953 CE in Tehran. <ref>Sayyid Mustafa Husayni Dashti, Ma'arif and Ma'arif, vol. 2, p 551. </ref> This anthology includes twenty volumes, of which only eleven have been published. <ref>Mahdi Lutfi, Allama Amini, The Sip Drinker of Ghadir, p. 62. </ref>

The public library of Amir al-Mu'menin in Najaf was inaugurated on the 18th of Dhihajja 1379 AH/ 1959 CE by 'Allama Amini, and at the presence of some the leading figures of the Shi'a Seminary of Najaf, including Agha Buzurg Tehrani. This library included 500,000 books in different languages and around 70,000 manuscripts. <ref>Mahdi Lutfi, Allama Amini, The Sip Drinker of Ghadir, p. 63. </ref> 'Allama Amini, the founder of it, has donated all the books of his personal library – which were around five to six thousand books – to the Amir al-Mu'menin Library. Also his son, Muhammad Hadi, has given away 1,000 of his personal books to this library.<ref>Mahdi Lutfi, Allama Amini, The Sip Drinker of Ghadir, p. 63. </ref> While collecting due hadiths and documents required to write his book on the Ghadir Incident, 'Allama Amini visited many libraries in the Muslim world. The largest library of Najaf at his time had just 4ooo books and this very shortcoming made him to establish a large library in this city.<ref>Mahdi Lutfi, Allama Amini, The Sip Drinker of Ghadir, p. 63. </ref> In the year 1373 AH/ 1954 CE, at the age of 53 he began collecting the needed book.  

• 'Abd al-Husayn Amini believed that ijtihad (religious spiritual authority) is beyond one's authority and for that a "delegation of fatwa (religious verdict)" consisting of authoritative, courageous and well-informed scholars should be established. He did not regard as sufficient for the marja' of the Shi'a world – who should be universal – to just write a risala (a manual of Islamic law), and criticized those who accepted the position of the Shi'a marja'iyya without having the qualification, and regarded it as a crime which would ruin all Shi'a values. <ref>Hakimi, The Myth of Ghadir, p. 289</ref>

• He believed that one should distinguish between the titles of being a mujtahid, the author of a risala, and being the "marja'/ leader of the Shi'a world" and that among the prerequisites for the qualification of a marja', beside the famous prerequisites (of maturity, intelligence…) there should be other conditions. <ref>Hakimi, The Myth of Ghadir, p. 290</ref> Amini believed, knowing the fact that there were hundreds of intellectual, philosophical, educational, economic and military movements in the world, one could not sacrifice the scientific, legislative, social and political heritage of 'Ali (a) and his decedents by giving it to the hands of those who have just spent some years of studying fiqh and usula at of the Shi'a Seminary, and that this important task could not be left to the hands of some coward, close-hearted, narrow-sighted, frozen and closed minded, unenthusiastic people. <ref>Hakimi, The Myth of Ghadir, p. 294</ref>

Amini was against publishing books that did not have authentic historical sources, and nor were based on ijtihad and firm reasoning. Regarding some of the religious books published at his time, he said: "The Farsi books that have been published during these years on the life of Shi'a Imams should all be thrown into the water (thrown away)". <ref>Hakimi, The Myth of Ghadir, p. 297</ref>

Although Amini was very much interested in the mourning ceremonies for Imam al-Husayn (a) and mourning convocations for other Imams and that in such religious convocations and gatherings felt very much saddened and begrieved (upon the remembrance of the suffering of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) and other Imams) , yet was not content with them and was very critical of many of them – due to the banality of some of them and the fact that most of the speakers had no knowledge of the hadith and the religious knowledge, were not pious enough, and that were unaware of the life of the Shi'a Imams and the history of the incidents in their lives and the reason behind their conflicts with the oppressing powers of their times and about the Shi'a revolutionary culture. He suffered from and was troubled by them all. And was deeply discontented by the undocumented and undue statements of the preachers and the base and banal words of the dirge-reciters. 'Allama Amini once said: "I was taking part in one of the major convocations in Tehran. In the middle of the sermon – although it was very improper to do so – I stood up and left the gathering, because I would regard it as haram (religiously forbidden) sitting there and listening to those words". <ref>Hakimi, The Myth of Ghadir, p. 298. 299</ref>

'Abd al-Husayn Amini believed that visiting the shrines of the Imams and their descendants, contrary to what Shi'as nowadays understand, should have a more educational productivity. Thus, one of his first tasks was to publish one of the most authentic texts on the Shi'a ziyara rituals called Kamil al-Ziyarat. Another publication by him was the book Adab al-Zair, describing the due rituals for visiting the Holy Shrine of Imam al-Husayn (a) shrine. <ref>Hakimi, The Myth of Ghadir, p. 304</ref>

• Rectifying the religious convocations and monitoring what they would teach people. <ref>In The Memory of 'Allama Amini, p. 31. </ref>

• Muhammad 'Abd al-Ghani Hasan Misri, one of the Sunni scholars, has composed a poem about him. In this poem he stresses the fact that although Amini's tone was caustic during the discussion, but he was very gentle in behavior. He also asks God for high rewards and merits for 'Abd al-Husayn Amini, a merit as high as the greatness of Amini's defense of the Ghadir.<ref>In The Memory of 'Allama Amini, p. 31. </ref>