Abdulaziz Sachedina

Abdulaziz Sachedina

Personal Information
Full Name	Abdulaziz Abdulhussein Sachedina
Birth	1942
Studied in	India • Iran • Iraq • Canada
Death	December 3, 2025
Scholarly Information
Professors	Ali Shari'ati
Works	Islamic Messianism • Human Rights and the Encounter of Cultures • The Eternal Significance of the Martyrdom of Imam Husayn (a)
Scholarly Activities	Professor of Islamic Studies • Chair of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
Socio-Political Activities
Socio-Political Activities	Advisor in drafting the Iraqi constitution after the fall of the Baʿth Party in Iraq

Abdulaziz Abdulhussein Sachedina (1942–2025) was a Shi'a Islamic studies scholar, professor of Islamic Studies, and holder of the chair of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He authored the entries related to Mahdawiyya (Mahdism) in several encyclopedias. He also served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense on Middle Eastern affairs and played a role in drafting the Iraqi constitution after the fall of the Ba'th regime.

Sachedina received his PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Toronto, Canada. In 1975, he joined the faculty of the University of Virginia in the United States.

His most important work is Islamic Messianism, a study on Mahdawiyya, which several encyclopedias have cited. The publication of this book—originally his doctoral dissertation—provoked reactions to certain points in the work as well as to the author's methodological approach. Ayatollah Sistani, one of the senior Shi'a authorities in Najaf, regarded this book as influenced by orientalist perspectives rather than grounded in the Qur'an and the Sunna. It has also been reported that Ayatollah Sistani asked Sachedina to refrain from making statements on Islamic subjects.

Biography

Sachedina was of Indian Shi'a descent and was born in 1942 in Tanzania. His forefathers, who had been followers of the Aghakhani tradition, migrated from Oman to Zanzibar, where they adopted Twelver Shi'ism. The graves of some of his ancestors are located in Muscat, Oman. Some writers have identified him as a Khoja Twelver figure; however, he rejected this attribution.

Sachedina received his undergraduate degree in Islamic Studies from Aligarh Muslim University in India. In 1967, he traveled to Iran and pursued a bachelor’s program in Persian Language and Literature at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. During this period, he was a student of Ali Shari'ati and developed a close relationship with him; Shari'ati mentioned Sachedina’s attendance in one of his lectures. Sachedina also undertook seminary studies in Mashhad, Qom, and Najaf.

In 1972, Sachedina moved to Canada and received his PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Toronto. He later became a professor of Islamic Studies and the holder of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) chair at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He held a teaching position at this university from 1975 onward. After completing his studies, he engaged in teaching and research at various universities in the United States, Canada, Iran, and other countries.

According to Arab-Ahmadi, the author of Shi'a Khoja Ithna 'Asharis, Sachedina was proficient in Hindi, Urdu, French, Persian, Arabic, Swahili, English, and Gujarati, and he was also familiar with Turkish and German.

Works

Sachedina conducted research and taught in the fields of Islamic studies, bioethics, contemporary Islam, democracy, human rights in Islam, and related areas. Some of his works include:

• The Just Ruler in Shi'a Islam: The Comprehensive Authority of the Jurist in Imami Jurisprudence. Oxford University Press.
• Foundations of Social Coexistence in Islam; translated by Muhammad-Rida Hashimi. Adyan Publication.
• Human Rights and the Encounter of Cultures: Islamic and Western Perspectives on Religious Freedom.
• English translation of al-Bayan by Ayatollah al-Khu'i
• The Sole Legislator in Twelver Shi'ism: The Extensive Authority of the Jurist in Imami Jurisprudence.
• Methodology of Islamic Studies in the West: Essays by 'Abd al-Aziz Sachedina
• Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism
• Islamic Principles of Medical Ethics
• English translation of The Just Ruler of the World by Ibrahim Amini.
• The World of Islam: Past and Present
• A collection of texts by Professor 'Abd al-Aziz Sachedina in French

Articles

• The Eternal Significance of the Martyrdom of Imam Husayn (a)
• Shi'ism and the Iranians
• The Teleology of Pain
• Wilayat al-Faqih in Shi'a Fiqh
• Ali Shari'ati, the Ideologue of the Iranian Revolution; translated by Hamid Ahmadi
• The Importance of Shari'ati for Muslim Students in the Western World
• Al-Khums: Faith in the Imami Legal System

He contributed entries on Mahdawiyya and Ziyara to several encyclopedias, including Encyclopaedia Iranica.

Islamic Messianism

Sachadina’s book Mahdism in Islam, the publication of which drew severe criticism against him.

The book Islamic Messianism: The Concept of Mahdi in Twelver Shi'ism was Sachedina's doctoral dissertation in Islamic Studies at the University of Toronto, Canada, which he defended in 1976. The work has been cited by Encyclopaedia of Religion, Encyclopaedia of Islam, and The New Encyclopaedia of Islam. The publication of this book elicited varied reactions toward its author, and certain points in it drew criticism. Sachedina, however, attempted to address some of these critiques in an interview.

Ayatollah Sistani stated that the book was influenced by Western orientalist views on Islam and was not based on the Qur'an and the Sunna.

Other Activities

• Consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense on Middle Eastern affairs
• Advisor in drafting the Iraqi constitution after the fall of the Baʿth Party in Iraq
• Visiting professor at the Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

Ayatollah al-Sistani’s Response to Some of Sachedina's Views

In 1988, Sayyid Ali Sistani, a senior Shi'a authority in Najaf, issued a statement in objection to Sachedina’s pluralistic views regarding religions and women’s rights. In a treatise entitled What Happened in Najaf, Sachedina explained the events that led to Ayatollah al-Sistani’s position. According to Sachedina, he met with Ayatollah al-Sistani in Najaf on August 20, 1998.

According to Ayatollah Sistani, Sachedina’s pluralistic views on the Abrahamic religions (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity) could potentially encourage young people to turn to Christianity and Judaism. Sachedina also stated that his controversial interpretations of core Shi'a beliefs—such as Wilaya and the Imamate of Imam Ali (a), as well as the birth of the Twelfth Imam (a)—led Ayatollah Sistani to ask him to refrain from writing or lecturing on Islamic matters.