Statements at the Meeting with Organizers of the International Congress on Allameh Tabatabai

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his pure family, especially the remaining one of God on the earth.

Welcome, dear brothers and sisters. I am truly and deeply grateful to you for undertaking this great task. One of the best things that needed to be done these days, and which came to your minds, was inspired by God, and you endeavored and accomplished it; that is, honoring this great man, this prominent historical figure of Islamic spirituality.

The late Allameh Tabatabai is one of the rare phenomena of our seminaries over the centuries; he is indeed a unique phenomenon. There are certain qualities in him — I will briefly mention them — that all these qualities are among the outstanding virtues of humanity; all these qualities that constitute the personality of this great man are among the outstanding virtues of a human being. These qualities include, for example, knowledge, piety and God-consciousness, moral virtues, taste and art, sincerity and friendship — loyalty and camaraderie and similar traits — and many other qualities that I did not find necessary to enumerate here. The collection of these qualities constitutes the personality of this great man, and each of these qualities is a virtue among the virtues of humanity.

Regarding the knowledge of this great man, I have noted a few aspects to present for consideration. One aspect is the extensive diversity of knowledge of this great man; that is, he is indeed unparalleled in the diversity of knowledge. Throughout history, we have individuals like Sheikh Tusi, Allameh Hilli, and others who have scientific diversity, but in our time, it is indeed rare; I do not know anyone other than him with such scientific diversity. He is a jurist, a principlist, a philosopher, deeply knowledgeable in theoretical mysticism, an expert in astronomy and mathematics, a distinguished scholar of exegesis and Quranic sciences — in this field, he is indeed unparalleled — a poet, a literati, and in the science of genealogy, he is a skilled and active individual; that is, one of the things that one can observe alongside the philosophy or mysticism of Mr. Tabatabai is the science of genealogy. He has a table that introduces the family of Qazi Tabatabai; it is a historical table that I believe is a first-rate artistic work that has been published and is available to individuals. My late father, who was a friend of Mr. Tabatabai from Najaf, told me this — he himself narrated this to me — he wrote to Mr. Tabatabai asking him to get the genealogy from a certain well-known person in Qom and send it to me; Mr. Tabatabai replied that I know as much as he does or more than he does; one of these two phrases is what I do not remember now. And he organized our genealogy and sent it; that is, this genealogy that we currently have is organized by Mr. Tabatabai. One can observe an astonishing diversity of knowledge in him. For example, I mentioned mathematics and astronomy; you know — it is perhaps well-known — that he drew the map of the current Hojjatiyeh School; he is a complete architect in every sense and a full architect. This scientific diversity is a specific aspect of Mr. Tabatabai's scientific character.

Another aspect is his scientific and intellectual depth. He has great depth in the sciences that we know and are aware of. Firstly, he is foundational in principles. Now, I have not seen a work of his in jurisprudence, but he is completely foundational in principles; that is, his commentary on Kifayah shows this. In philosophy, he is an innovative philosopher; he presents a new philosophical system that is manifested in the principles of philosophy and the method of realism, and then these two books that he recently wrote and published: Bidayah and Nihayah. In exegesis, in my opinion, he is a remarkable exegete; that is, anyone who looks at Tafsir al-Mizan understands that Tafsir al-Mizan is truly a remarkable exegesis, in terms of the abundance and diversity and depth of the content, which I will later refer to. This is also an aspect concerning the scientific and intellectual depth of him.

Another scientific aspect of this great man is his role in nurturing students. The student-nurturing of the late Mr. Tabatabai is something extraordinary. This is one of the arts of every scholar; among scholars, there are those who nurture students and have many students; the late Mr. Tabatabai is one of these individuals. Among the philosophers of the recent period of philosophy in Iran — which the center of philosophy in the country has actually been Tehran — from the time of the late Mulla Abdollah Zanouzi and his son, Mr. Ali Hakim, then the late Mirza Jala, Mirza Asadollah Qomshaei, these are the prominent figures of wisdom and mysticism who were mainly concentrated in Tehran and some in other places, like the late Haji Sabzevari in Sabzevar, one or two in Qom, one or two in Isfahan, one or two in Mashhad — these are the prominent philosophers — none of them have as many prominent philosopher students as the late Mr. Tabatabai. Yes, for example, Haji Sabzevari has many students who came to study with him; the late Akhund Khorasani is also his student, but Akhund Khorasani is not a philosopher; he is a jurist who has read a bit of philosophy. The nurturing of philosopher students like Martyr Motahhari, like Martyr Beheshti, like the late Mr. Mesbah, and others, and like some of the great figures who are today, the nurturing of such individuals by the number of those who benefited from the lessons of the late Mr. Tabatabai, I do not find in anyone else; the issue of student-nurturing. Up to the later philosophers of our time who were in Tehran, such as the late Amirza Ahmad Ashtiani, before him the late Amirza Mahdi Ashtiani, or the late Mr. Amoli; well, these were philosophers, but the nurturing of students from these individuals is not as common as Mr. Tabatabai; he revived philosophy and indeed created philosophers.

Now, it is interesting that many of his students are often among the key players in the Islamic Revolution. In this Assembly of Experts that wrote the Constitution, many of those individuals are students of the late Mr. Tabatabai; whether in the Assembly of Experts or before the Assembly of Experts in that group that wrote the Constitution, in which the late Mr. Motahhari was also among them, these are students of the late Mr. Tabatabai. And a number of the well-known martyrs of the Islamic Revolution are students of Mr. Tabatabai; Martyr Motahhari is his student, Martyr Beheshti is his student, Martyr Quddusi is his student, Martyr Sheikh Ali Heydari Nahavandi is his student; these prominent martyrs are students of Mr. Tabatabai. Some are still alive, thanks be to God, and are the source of many contributions.

Another quality of his regarding knowledge is that his works were published during his lifetime, and the blessings of his works were seen during his lifetime. The late Mr. Tabatabai was not as prominent as Al-Mizan was or, for example, his philosophical books were; that is, he was not at all a person of ostentation, but his books were indeed prominent everywhere; his Al-Mizan, his principles of philosophy, his Bidayah and Nihayah, his Shi'ah in Islam, his Quran in Islam, various theological treatises, etc., were published during his lifetime. Therefore, the scientific aspect of the late Mr. Tabatabai has unique characteristics that we have mentioned.

Regarding the qualities of piety and God-consciousness and devotion and reverence for the Ahl al-Bayt and such qualities — which have been said and heard a lot and you all know, I do not want to repeat — he was extraordinary and truly a remarkable and outstanding human being in this regard; he was truly pious and God-conscious. However, two qualities of the outstanding features of the late Mr. Tabatabai greatly attract my attention; one quality is his unparalleled intellectual jihad in the midst of the onslaught of imported and foreign ideas, in the midst of a real onslaught. Perhaps those who did not experience those times do not realize what the situation was like in the youth environment of the country and the intellectual environment of the country; there was a real onslaught; whether the imported ideological and doctrinal thoughts like Marxism, or the creation of doubts; the doubts that were not about presenting a school, but rather creating doubts; this is the very work that the late Mr. Motahhari was committed to confronting, as his books often address the doubts raised at that time. In the midst of these events, the late Mr. Tabatabai was able to establish a solid intellectual base with an offensive arrangement; that is, those who became acquainted with his thoughts did not have a defensive position against Marxism and various thoughts, but rather an offensive position, one example of which is the books of Mr. Motahhari that you observe. This intellectual base was established by Mr. Tabatabai; both with the principles of philosophy and with his interpretative statements, which this interpretation is a sea of political and social knowledge; apart from the epistemological issues and philosophical foundations and such aspects of interpretation that elucidate the verses — which this book is indeed unparalleled in these areas — this book Al-Mizan is filled with political and social issues that at that time were not at all raised, but today when one looks at these issues, one sees that these are still our contemporary issues; these were made available to individuals. This offensive intellectual base was established by the late Mr. Tabatabai; this is the work that I believe we should learn from Mr. Tabatabai: forming intellectual bases that fill the gaps and have an offensive aspect, not a passive and defensive position. This is one quality that is very appealing to me.

The second quality of his, which I also consider to be a very prominent and important quality, is that he did not merely settle for intellectual birth in the realm of the knowledge of monotheism and the lofty concepts that he had reached in thought; he realized those truths and knowledge in his noble self and noble heart, and acted upon what he knew. In the true sense, the late Mr. Tabatabai is the embodiment of this noble verse: "To Him ascend the good words, and the righteous deed raises it." The "good words" in his existence were truly realized. These moral qualities that are known about him, his extraordinary humility, his selflessness, all stem from that meaning. His forbearance, his humility stem from the realization of those high meanings and truths in his own self. He trained himself, he was able to elevate himself from these high human and epistemological ranks; thus, he was among the people, but he was with God. Truly, one felt in encountering him that he did not consider any personality for himself. He was forbearing, his demeanor was soft. Even with those who argued with him and opposed him, he dealt with forbearance and patience and forgave them. He was extremely humble, and sometimes his humility was astonishing. I would like to share a memory with you. The late Allameh Semnani was a well-known cleric residing in Semnan, a respected man; he came to Qom, and scholars would go to visit him, and there was much coming and going at his home. One day, I was sitting in my room, and one of our friends who was devoted to Mr. Tabatabai and loved him entered my room excitedly and said, "No one can match our friend in good character and loyalty"; I asked what the matter was, and he said we were at the house of Allameh Semnani, Mr. Khomeini was also there, Mr. Tabatabai was also there, and some other scholars were present; Allameh Semnani turned to Mr. Khomeini and said, "Sir! We observed your Tafsir al-Mizan, it was very good, it was truly excellent, we enjoyed it very much," and he began to praise Tafsir al-Mizan, thinking that he was Mr. Tabatabai. Mr. Khomeini was not a person to be flustered in such matters; he sat silently and said nothing. Mr. Tabatabai was sitting on this side, turned to Allameh Semnani, and said, "Sir! I am Tabatabai, he is my teacher Mr. Khomeini." He said, "No one can match our friend in good character and loyalty"; that is, he was particularly impressed by this.

The late Mr. Tabatabai, with all these spiritual, scientific, and behavioral qualities that almost everyone knows about him, was a delightful and charming human being in terms of personal and friendly interaction; he had a sweet session, a sweet tongue, he was a good conversationalist, and a good storyteller. In friendly sessions, he was a person who did not have that silence that one would see in public sessions and discussions and lessons; he was warm, engaging, sweet, and a good conversationalist; a matter that he narrated was accompanied by color and detail. He was such a personality; a comprehensive personality, with taste, fond of poetry, fond of literature, and possessing the qualities that a prominent and noble human being can have.

In my opinion, these two qualities that I mentioned, one is the issue of filling the gaps, and the other is the realization of the knowledge that one knows — "And the hearts of the knowers are frightened from You"; knowing mysticism is different from "And the hearts of the knowers are frightened from You"; these are two separate matters — we must pursue; all of us must pursue these two qualities; anyone who moves in this path must pursue them.

We hope that God Almighty elevates his ranks and makes us among those who appreciate him. And thanks be to God, the divine blessings regarding him are such; today Mr. Tabatabai is much more recognized than during his lifetime. During his lifetime, he was perhaps not even one-tenth as recognized as he is now; now, thanks be to God, he is recognized at the national level, in scientific circles, and to a large extent in the world, and God willing, Mr. Tabatabai will be recognized even more.