Abd Allah Jawadi Amuli
 | |
| Personal Information | |
|---|---|
| Religious Affiliation | Shi'a Islam |
| Birth | 1352/1933 |
| Place of Birth | Amol |
| Residence | Qom |
| Studied in | Amol • Tehran • Qom |
| Scholarly Information | |
| Professors | Muhammad Taqi Amuli • Abu l-Hasan Sha'rani • Ayatollah Burujirdi • Imam Khomeini • Allama Tabataba'i |
| Works | Tasnim • Rahiq makhtum • Mafatih al-hayat • tawdih al-masa'il |
| Socio-Political Activities | |
| Socio-Political Activities | Membership in the Higher Judicial Council, Assembly of Experts for Constitution, Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom and Assembly of Experts of Leadership • Imam of Friday Prayers in Qom • delivering Imam Khomeini's message to Mikhail Gorbachev |
| Official Website | http://javadi.esra.ir/ |
Abd Allāh Jawādī Āmulī (Persian: عبدالله جوادی آملی) (b. 1352/1933) is a Shiite philosopher, jurist, exegete of the Qur'an, a professor of the Islamic Seminary of Qom, and a Shiite marja'. He was a student of Imam Khomeini and Allama Tabataba'i and has taught Islamic philosophy, mysticism, jurisprudence, and Quranic exegesis at Islamic seminaries of Qom and Tehran for about sixty years. He has written many books, including his exegesis of the Qur'an, Tasnim, and his exposition of al-Asfar al-arba'a, Rahiq makhtum.
After the Islamic Revolution, Jawadi Amuli undertook many official positions, such as membership in the Higher Judicial Council, Assembly of Experts for Constitution, Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom, and Assembly of Experts of Leadership. In the 1990s and 2000s, he was also an Imam of Friday Prayers in Qom. In 1989, he went to the former Soviet Union to deliver Imam Khomeini's message to Gorbachev, the then-leader of the Soviet Union.
In philosophy, Jawadi Amuli is a follower of the school of the Transcendent Wisdom. He believes in religious sciences, both for humanities and empirical sciences. Some of his rare fatwas include the permissibility of a female jurist being followed by female followers, the permissibility of sex reassignment surgeries, and the purity of the People of the Book.
Educations
Jawadi Amuli was born in 1933 in Amol. His father was a well-known clergy in the city. He began his religious studies in the Islamic Seminary of Amol in 1946. He studied Arabic literature, logic, principles of jurisprudence, jurisprudence, the exegesis of the Qur'an, and hadiths at an intermediary level within five years.
In 1950, he moved to Tehran, where he studied in the Seminary of Marvi for five years. There, he attended the lectures of Muhammad Taqi Amuli, Abu l-Hasan Sha'rani, Mahdi Ilahi Qumsha'i, and Muhammad Husayn Tuni. In addition to jurisprudence and principles of jurisprudence, he studied philosophy and mysticism, and at the same time, began to teach certain seminary courses. In 1955, he moved to the Islamic Seminary of Qom, where he attended advanced seminary lectures by scholars such as Ayatollah Burujirdi, Sayyid Muhammad Muhaqqiq Damad, Mirza Hashim Amuli, Imam Khomeini, and Allama Tabataba'i.
Teaching
Jawadi Amuli began teaching seminary courses in the early 1950s when he lived in Tehran. He has now taught different seminary courses, such as jurisprudence, philosophy, mysticism, and the exegesis of the Qur'an, for about sixty years. He has so far taught al-Asfar al-arba'a by Mulla Sadra for three rounds.
His lectures on the exegesis of the Qur'an began in 1976. His lectures on the exegesis and advanced level of jurisprudence are held in A'zam Mosque of Qom.
Marja'iyya
Ayatollah Jawadi Amuli has offices as a marja' in cities such as Qom, Tehran, Ray, Tabriz, Urmia, Zanjan, Amol, and Shiraz. His books of istifta's[1] and his Manual of practical laws (tawdih al-masa'il) have also been published.
Views
According to some students of Jawadi Amuli, his views are centred on Transcendent Wisdom. Thus, he believes in the compatibility of the reason, mysticism, and the Qur'an. In his view, the reason is not contrary to religion. Instead, it is a light with which one can have a better understanding of religious beliefs, moral doctrines, and jurisprudential and legal rulings of the religion.
Religious Sciences
Jawadi Amuli believes in the possibility of religious sciences. In his view, reason is not restricted to theoretical reason. It includes the "empirical reason" as well. Thus, the reason is involved in both natural empirical and human sciences. According to Jawadi Amuli, science is not in and of itself contrary to religion. Empirical sciences provide accounts of the natural world, and since God creates the natural world, such sciences give an account of God's act. Thus, the sciences should be regarded as religious.
He thus concludes that true science cannot be anti-religious or atheistic.
Political Thoughts
Jawadi Amuli believes in the theory of Wilayat al-Faqih (guardianship of the Muslim jurist). In his book, Wilayat-i faqih, wilayat-i fiqahat wa idalat (Guardianship of the Muslim jurist, the guardianship of jurisprudence and justice), Jawadi Amuli provides three kinds of arguments to substantiate the guardianship of the Islamic jurist, "Purely rational arguments, a combination of rational and transmitted (hadith-based) arguments, and purely transmitted arguments." His combined argument is as follows, "On the one hand, Islam has legislated social and political rulings such as hajj, jihad, hudud, and ta'zirat (discretionary punishments), as well as financial laws such as anfal and khums, which cannot be implemented during the period of Occultation of the Infallibles except by a qualified jurist. On the other hand, the reason has it that God should not leave the Muslim community without a leader or a guardian during the period of occultation. Thus, in this period, qualified jurists should undertake the Muslim community's leadership as successors of the Infallibles.
Rare Fatwas
Contrary to most manuals of fatwas, Jawadi Amuli's contains the jurisprudential rulings of issues such as religious sects, elections, illumination in Qur'an, copyright and publishing, assignment of loan, repayment of one's debts when the inflation rate rises, sex reassignment, mourning, relief in incidents, and the rulings of the People of the Book.
His rare fatwas include the permissibility of following the most knowledgeable female mujtahid, the permissibility of sex reassignment surgeries, the validity of copyright in publication, translation, and software production.
Social and Political Activities
Although Jawadi Amuli has mainly focused on his scholarly career, he also participated in social and political activities both before and after the Islamic Revolution of Iran. Before the Revolution, he was a propagator of Imam Khomeini's thoughts, as a result of which he was banned from public speeches and was arrested several times.
His post-Revolution activities include his membership in the Higher Judicial Council, the preparation of judicial bills, membership in the Assembly of Experts for two terms, and membership in the Society of Teachers of the Islamic Seminary of Qom.
In 1997 after Ayatollah Muntaziri's controversial speech, Jawadi Amuli joined students of the seminary who were protesting the speech in A'zam Mosque of Qom. Also, in 2000, when a caricature was printed in which Misbah Yazdi was insulted, Jawadi Amuli attended the seminary students' sit-in and criticized the cultural policies of the government of the time.
In the 1990s and 2000s, Jawadi Amuli was an Imam of Friday Prayers in Qom. In 2009, he resigned from this position.
Visits to the Soviet Union and USA
In 1989, Jawadi Amuli was assigned to deliver and read Imam Khomeini's message to Mikhail Gorbachev, the then-leader of the Soviet Union. In this mission, he was accompanied by Muhammad Jawad Larijani and Marziyya Hadidachi (Dabbagh). After the visit, he wrote an exposition for Imam Khomeini's message under "Awa-yi tawhid" (the voice of monotheism); He sent it to some European countries' religious officials. In 2000, he went to New York to read the message of the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, in the Millennium Summit of religions.
Esra Foundation and the Imam al-Hasan al-Askari (a) Institute
Esra International Foundation of Revelatory Sciences, a scholarly centre in Qom, is administered under the supervision of Jawadi Amuli. The centre aims to explain and expand Islamic sciences based on his views and train researchers about Islamic sciences. The higher seminary education of Imam al-Hasan al-Askari (a), founded in Amol in 2008-9, is also supervised by Jawadi Amuli.
Works
Jawadi Amuli has written books concerning different areas such as jurisprudence, the exegesis of the Qur'an, philosophy, and hadiths. His book concerning the Quranic exegesis, which is based on his lectures on exegesis, is named Tasnim, sixty-two volumes of of it have been published until June 2022.
His other book, Rahiq makhtum, is based on the third round of his lectures on al-Asfar al-arba'a, the twentieth volume of which has been published in April 2018.
His other books include Mafatih al-hayat, Zan dar ayina-yi jamal wa jalal (woman in the mirror of beauty and glory), Shari'at dar ayina-yi ma'rifat (Shar'ia in the mirror of knowledge),Adab-i fana-yi muqarraban (an exposition of al-Ziyara al-Jami'a al-Kabira), and tawdih al-masa'il.
Notes
- ↑ An istifta' is a juristic question that is not included in the manual of fatwas
References
- The material for this article is mainly taken from عبدالله جوادی آملی in Farsi WikiShia.
Further Reading
Some articles from Jawadi Amuli translated into English: