Ijtihad Network Being Wise and Faithful Muslim in the Contemporary World
The congress of Shia jurisprudential and theological school would be held in 9th March in Lucknew and the Congress of Allameh Mir Hamid Hussain would be held in Iran.
Today, February 26th, Hujjat al-Islam wal-muslimin[1]Mohammad Taqi Sobhani in a press conference with the presence of journalists stated, “The thought of the Household of the Holy Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) has taken a decisive and effective position from Far East to the Far West End of Islam. But, unfamiliarity with this heritage and different dimensions of Shiite civilization is one of the oppressions that their school of thought had suffered from.”
He added, “India has been one of the grounds for developing the Shiite culture and the academic and cultural role models have been brought up in this land. Moreover, some precious works were developed in this country such as libraries, scientific centers and Husayniyya[2].”
Establishing the Secretariat for the revival of works related to Infallible Imams
Sobhani stated that some studies have been carried out in India on Shiism, yet it is still incomplete. He indicated, “Ten years ago, in a group of researchers in Iran, some objectives were defined in order to study some parts of this glorious Shiite heritage in the subcontinent of India. This decision was made in a secretariat, in the Imamat Foundation and the Secretariat for reviving the works related to Infallible Imams was established”.
The manager of Imamat Cultural Foundation pointed out, “The department of Islamic scholars and the characters of this project was formed at the Bibliography Institute. In the Institute of Ma’arif Al-Ahlul-Bayt (pbuh) the jurisprudential and theological dimensions of these works were also investigated. Today, we can claim that nearly about 100 books written by scholars and the great characters in the Lucknow school in India are currently being studied that some of them have been published and others are prepared to be published”.
He said, “This school, with the history of 200 years, has brought up some prominent characters in the contemporary world of Shiism; characters who are at the level of Shia authority, in terms of jurisprudence and they are reckoned as those who are among the unique characters in the history of Shiism, in terms of theology specially in the study of Imama.”
The lecturer of Seminary asserted, “Considering the number of works, the amount of published works in Lucknow school is in the highest level and a large library has been also established. This school started to work immediately after declining of Safavid era in Iran. The founders of Lucknow school took advantage of Safavid scholars’ experiences and applied the same model in a region of India.”
He added, “Before the appearance of Sayyid Dildar Ali Naqavi, who was the founder of this school, Shiism had a prolonged background, but afterward it was struggling with various kinds of harm, including extreme Sufism, backwardness, and Akhbari approach[3]. Then, after his appearance, a jurisprudential and theological movement initiated in this school and a large school was established in this ground.
The head of the civilization center indicated, “The Late Naghavi (i.e. Ghufran-Ma’ab) benefited from the lessons of the great lecturers in Najaf and founded this center after he came back to India. His family were known as the family of the Ijtihad and we can refer to Mir Hamid Hussain, the owner of Abaqat, as a student of this school.”
He said, “In India we are facing with an unknown region and all of us have the responsibility of fulfilling this culturology.”
Luknow School is also deemed as one of the honors of Iran, because the founders of this school are among the scholars of Shiraz and Neishabor; if nowadays Farsi language is still spoken in India, it is due to the existence of these scientific works published in this ground.
9th March, the date of the Congress
Sobhani indicated that the congress of Shia jurisprudential and theological school would be held in 9th March in Lucknew and the Congress of Allameh Mir Hamid Hussain would be held in Iran. He stated, “More than 100 volume of books that have been revived and published, will be unveiled in India and the rest will be also unveiled next year in Iran’s Congress.”
He pointed out, “Akhbari Criticism in the Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence was written by the Late Ghufran-Ma’ab in two volumes which will be published too. Moreover, the Criticism of Sufism is among this works which has been revived and will be revailed in this Congress. The book titled Al-I’dalat Al-A’lawiya written by the father of the Late Mir Hamid Hussain is one of the books which will be reviled.”
Sobhani said, “This Congress will be opened with a message from
the Grand Ayatollah Safi Golpaygani and Iranian lecturers of this Congress will
be Hujjat al-Islam wal-muslim in Moktari, me and two other researchers that our
lectures will be presented in form of two articles.”
[1]It is a title for some Muslim scholars, mostly used for Shi’ite religious scholars.
[2]Ḥūsayniyya is one of Shi’a religious institutions, which is mostly used for holding mourning sessions for Imam al-Husayn (puh) and the martyrs of Karbala.
[3]The Akhbarisare Twelver Shia Muslims who reject the use of reasoning in deriving verdicts, and believe Quran and Hadith.
