Draft:Akbar Rashidi-Nia

Akbar Rashidi-Nia
Name	Akbar Rashidi-Nia
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Akbar Rashidi-Nia is a researcher and scholar in the fields of philosophy, mysticism, and Sufism. He has served as the president of the Research Institute for Approximation Studies since 2020. Hojjat al-Islam wa al-Muslimin Dr. Rashidi-Nia, during his tenure at the Computer Research Center of Islamic Sciences (Noor), has abstracted and indexed several works by Akhund Mulla Sadra, including: Mafatih al-Ghayb, Sharh al-Hidayah al-Athiriyyah, Rasa'il Ajwibat al-Masa'il, Al-Mazahirat al-Ilahiyyah, and Risalah Ittihad al-'Aqil wa al-Ma'qul.

Biography

Akbar Rashidi-Nia was born in 1977 SH in the city of Tabriz. He began his seminary education in Tabriz and entered the Qom Seminary in 1993 SH. He studied intermediate-level courses in jurisprudence and principles of jurisprudence, as well as texts on philosophy and mysticism in Tabriz under Ayatollah Seyyed Abolhassan Mawlana and Mirza Mohsen Koocheh-Baghi, and benefited from the presence of Ayatollah Mirza Ali Gharavi Alyari, who was a paragon of ethics and mysticism. He completed his intermediate studies in Qom under Ayatollah Payani and Ashtardi, and from 1997 SH onwards, attended advanced lectures (Dars-e Kharij) given by Ayatollahs Hossein Vahid Khorasani, Sheikh Javad Tabrizi, Seyyed Musa Shubairi Zanjani, and Mohammad-Taqi Behjat. In addition to jurisprudence and its principles, he studied Islamic doctrines, exegesis, and philosophy under Ayatollahs Abdollah Javadi Amoli, Hassan Hassan-Zadeh Amoli, and Ansari Shirazi. During this period, he taught several books on principles, philosophy, and mysticism, such as Usul al-Fiqh by Muzaffar, Bidayat al-Hikmah, Al-Mazahirat al-Ilahiyyah, Tamhid al-Qawa'id, and Sharh Fusus al-Hikam.

Activities

Since 1999 SH, he has worked as a researcher at the Noor Computer Research Center of Islamic Sciences, where he abstracted and indexed works by Akhund Mulla Sadra, including Mafatih al-Ghayb, Sharh al-Hidayah al-Athiriyyah, Rasa'il Ajwibat al-Masa'il, Al-Mazahirat al-Ilahiyyah, and Risalah Ittihad al-'Aqil wa al-Ma'qul. Furthermore, since 2004 SH, he has served as a scientific collaborator at the Center for the Encyclopedia of Islamic Rational Sciences, conducting research on mystical and philosophical works, and was responsible for abstracting philosophical and mystical texts, including the book Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyyah.

Positions

1. Member of the Board of Trustees of the Computer Research Center of Islamic Sciences (Noor);
2. President of the Research Institute for Approximation Studies from 2020 SH to present;
3. Deputy Content Director of the Computer Research Center of Islamic Sciences (Noor) from 2018 to 2020 SH;
4. Vice President for Research at the Computer Research Center of Islamic Sciences (Noor) and Head of the Research Institute for Information Technology and Islamic Sciences from 2016 SH to present;
5. Scientific collaborator with the rank of instructor and assistant professor at the Center for the Encyclopedia of Islamic Sciences (Noor) from 2006 to 2018 SH;
6. Member of the Research Council of the Computer Research Center of Islamic Sciences (Noor) from 2011 SH to present;
7. Deputy to the Vice President for Research at the Computer Research Center of Islamic Sciences (Noor) from 2014 to 2016 SH;
8. Head of the Rational Sciences Group within the Vice Presidency for Research at the Computer Research Center of Islamic Sciences (Noor) from 2008 to 2014 SH;
9. Manager of the Textual Data Entry Section at the Computer Research Center of Islamic Sciences (Noor) from 2012 to 2014 SH;
10. Researcher in the Rational Sciences Section of the Computer Research Center of Islamic Sciences (Noor) from 1999 to 2008 SH.

Works

Books

• Critical edition and verification of the book Sharḥ Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam by ʿAfīf al-Dīn al-Tilimsānī; this work is the first commentary on Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam. Previously, it remained unknown due to the absence of any manuscript copies in Iranian libraries. Following the identification of its manuscripts in Turkey and their critical collation based on four ancient copies, the book was published for the first time in Iran and Lebanon.
• Critical edition and verification of the book Majālis al-ʿĀrifīn; this book comprises twenty-two newly discovered sessions delivered by three great mystics of the fifth and sixth centuries AH, namely Abū Saʿīd Abū al-Khayr, Khwāja Yūsuf Hamadānī, and an unidentified mystic. These sessions address gnostic, ethical, and mystical issues. Beyond serving as a reliable source for a better understanding of the personalities of Abū Saʿīd Abū al-Khayr and Khwāja Yūsuf Hamadānī, the book holds significant importance for Persian literature.
• Critical edition and verification of the book Fatḥ Miftāḥ al-Ghayb by Muḥammad ibn Quṭb al-Dīn al-Aznawī; this work ranks among the most important textbooks on theoretical mysticism from the ninth century AH onward. It was accessible to prominent instructors of mysticism, such as Āqā Mīrzā Hāshim Ashkūrī, who recorded portions of it as marginal notes (taʿlīqah) on the book Miṣbāḥ al-Uns. This work has now been critically edited and verified for the first time.
• Critical edition and verification of the book Tabyīn al-Maqāmāt wa Taʿyīn al-Darajāt by ʿAlāʾ al-Dawlah al-Simnānī; ʿAlāʾ al-Dawlah authored this book in opposition to the doctrine of waḥdat al-wujūd (Unity of Being) and the conclusion that the stages of spiritual wayfaring culminate in tawḥīd (as stated in Khwāja ʿAbdullāh Anṣārī's Manāzil al-Sāʾirīn). The book discusses one hundred spiritual stations, beginning with "Zajr" (Rebuke) and concluding with "ʿUbūdiyyah" (Servitude). In this work, ʿAlāʾ al-Dawlah al-Simnānī presents an innovative and novel structure for practical mysticism and the stations of spiritual wayfaring.

  

• Critical edition and verification of A Newly Discovered Manuscript of the Ancient Shiʿi Hadith Heritage (al-Khuṭbah al-Qāṣiʿah); this sermon, published here in its entirety for the first time, is one of the lengthy sermons delivered by Amīr al-Muʾminīn (peace be upon him) during the final days of his noble life. Early Shiʿi scholars, including Shaykh Kulayni, Shaykh Ṣadūq, and Sayyid Raḍī, had access to this text and cited portions of it in al-Kāfī, al-Tawḥīd, and Nahj al-Balāghah. Furthermore, Shaykh Ṭabarsī and Ibn Shahr Ashub described its contents in their books Iʿlām al-Wará and al-Manāqib. The last reported account of this sermon's content dates back to Sayyid ibn Ṭāwūs in the seventh century AH. Sayyid possessed an ancient copy of the sermon, transcribed in 208 AH, and besides describing the sermon, he quoted sections of it in his book al-Yaqīn. Unfortunately, after Sayyid ibn Ṭāwūs, no narration of this book—other than what these eminent scholars transmitted—has been reported in hadith sources and collections. The manuscript serving as the basis for our work was copied in the seventh century by Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī. In terms of content, this sermon encompasses sublime gnostic knowledge along with theological and ethical discussions. It presents significant matters concerning Imamate and Mahdism, which are rare in their kind.
• Critical edition and verification of the book Arbaʿīn Maqāmāt, attributed to Abū Saʿīd Abū al-Khayr; this book is a concise treatise outlining the forty spiritual stations of the wayfarers.
• Critical edition and verification of the book Manāsik al-Ḥajj by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī; in this work, the juridical opinions of the four Sunni schools of law regarding Hajj rituals are concisely compiled. In addition to the rulings on Hajj—which Jāmī wrote for his disciples—the book also refers to the etiquettes and inner mysteries of the pilgrimage.

Books in Progress

1. Ḥikāyāt al-Ṣūfiyyah: Critical edition and verification of three extant excerpts from Ibn Bākūyah al-Shīrāzī's book Ḥikāyāt al-Ṣūfiyyah, along with the compilation of its scattered sections found in historical and mystical sources;
2. Mawsūʿat ʿUlūm al-ʿAqliyyah li-Ḥaḍrat Imām Khomeynī in two volumes, published by the Institute for the Compilation and Publication of the Works of Imam Khomeini;
3. Critical edition and verification of al-Shawāhid wa al-Amthāl (Amālī ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Qushayrī) by Abū Naṣr al-Qushayrī;
4. Critical edition and verification of the collected works of Sayf al-Dīn Bākharzī (Majālis wa Maktūbāt).

Published Articles

1. "A Reflection on Orientalists' Objections to the Divine Revelation of the Quran", Qabasat Scientific-Research Quarterly, No. 29, Autumn 2003, pp. 189–200;
2. "An Examination of Musuwat Mustalahat al-Tasawwuf al-Islami" (Review), Ma'arif-e Aqli Scientific-Promotional Quarterly, Preliminary Issue No. 3, Winter 2005, pp. 199–214;
3. "The Book Sharh al-Usul al-Khamsa by Qadi Abd al-Jabbar or Qavam al-Din Mankdim", Ma'arif-e Aqli Scientific-Promotional Quarterly, No. 11, Autumn 2008, pp. 183–196;
4. "Mystical Stations", Ma'arif-e Aqli Scientific-Promotional Quarterly, No. 24, Autumn 2012, pp. 53–86;
5. "Shortcomings and Requirements of the Noor al-Hekmah 3 Software" (Review), Rahavard-e Nur Magazine, No. 7, Summer 2004, pp. 41–46;
6. "A Reflection on the Name and Fame of Abu al-Qasim Kargani", in Mazdak-nameh, edited by Jamshid Kianfar and Parvin Estakhri, Volume Six, Tehran, 2014, pp. 241–250;
7. "Abu al-Qasim Kargani and His Role and Connection with the Naqshbandi Order", in the Proceedings of the Grand Conference Commemorating Abu al-Qasim Kargani, Tehran, Haqiqat Publications, 2015, pp. 171–179;
8. "We Lack a Proper Definition for the Editing of Ancient Texts", Mirath Book Review Quarterly, No. 8, Winter 2015;
9. "The Commentary on Fusus al-Hikam by Amir Sayyid Ali Hamadani and His Other Works Based on Manuscript No. 2794 of Shahid Ali Pasha", Fikr va Nazar Scientific-Research Quarterly, No. 30, Autumn 2016;
10. "Baba Tahir Uryan is Identical to Tahir the Plasterer (Not the Builder)" (Review), Jahan-e Ketab Magazine, No. 333–334, Spring 2017;
11. "The Spiritual Chain of Khwaja Yusuf Hamadani and the Naqshbandi Order", Pazhuhesh-haye Adab-e Erfani (Gohar-e Guya) Scientific-Research Quarterly, No. 22, Spring 2018;
12. "Bibliography of Practical Mysticism", International Congress on the Role of Shi'ism in the Emergence and Development of Islamic Sciences;
13. "Bibliography of Theoretical Mysticism", International Congress on the Role of Shi'ism in the Emergence and Development of Islamic Sciences.

See Also

• Turkey
• Hajj rituals
• Nahj al-Balagha (book)
• East Azerbaijan Province
• Research Institute for Approximation Studies
• World Assembly for Approximation among Islamic Schools of Thought
• Computer Research Center of Islamic Sciences (Noor)

References

• Head of the Research Institute for Approximation Studies, Hojjat al-Islam wa al-Muslimin Akbar Rashidinia, Website of the Research Institute for Approximation Studies, Date of publication: n.d., Date accessed: 22 December 2024.