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Jalal al-Din Farsi

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Jalal al-Din Farsi
Translator of the Quran • Writer • Political activist
Religious AffiliationShi'a
Birth1933
Place of BirthMashhad, Iran
ProfessorsMuhammad Taqi Shari'ati
Activitiesrepresentative in the Assembly of Experts for Constitution of Iran and the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran ● member of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution of Iran


Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī (Persian: جلال‌الدین فارسی) (b. 1933-34) is an Iranian writer, political figure, and translator of religious works, including the Quran. He fought against the government during the Pahlavi era and, after the victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, played a significant role in drafting the constitution and shaping the political discourse of the revolution. Farsi was the first candidate of the Islamic Republican Party in the presidential election, but he withdrew from the race due to his non-Iranian origin.

He was a student of Muhammad Taqi Shariati and of contemporary figures like Ali Shariati. The main themes of Farsi's works were revolution, Islamic government, and criticism of Marxism and leftist ideas. The book "The Evolutionary Revolution of Islam" is one of his most important works, which had a wide impact on revolutionary intellectual currents. He was also active in the struggle; a member of the National Resistance Movement, a collaborator with Imam Khomeini and Palestinian movements such as Fatah, and was arrested multiple times in and outside the country.

After the Iranian Revolution, in addition to being a representative in the Assembly of Experts for Constitution and the Islamic Consultative Assembly, he became a member of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution by the order of Imam Khomeini. However, after events such as the request for the impeachment of the then-foreign minister in the McFarlane affair, he faced reprimand from Imam Khomeini, withdrew from politics, and focused his activities more on writing.

Status and Significance

Jalal al-Din Farsi, a writer, political activist, and fighter before the revolution, is considered one of the influential figures in the early years after the victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran.[1] He was the first candidate of the Islamic Republican Party in the first presidential election after the revolution.[2]

He was also among the intellectual figures[3] and experts in politics and Islamic thought who played an important role in drafting the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the intellectual foundation of the revolution.[4] According to Ja'fariyan and other researchers, his works, especially the book Inqilab-i takamuli-yi Islam (The Evolutionary Revolution of Islam), had a significant impact on contemporary intellectual currents and revolutionaries.[5] In 1978, Imam Khomeini, in a letter confirming Farsi's views, asked him to write a pamphlet about the deviation of schools of thought for the youth in and outside the country and promised that the cost of its publication would be covered by religious funds.[6]

Farsi also had intellectual and political connections with figures such as Ali Shariati, Mahdi Bazargan, and Mahmud Taleghani.[7] Although he received less attention after the revolution, his role in theorizing Islamic government, revolutionary struggle,[8] and forming the political discourse of the revolution in the early years is significant.[9]

Views

The most important intellectual foundation of Jalal al-Din Farsi rests on the theory of Islamic Government and revolutionary struggle; a system in which two concepts of "revolution" and "Islamic system" are highlighted as the main axes of his political thought.[10] In this framework, the role of revolutionary thought and the Political System of Islam is emphasized, and the formation of an Islamic government is defined as the ultimate goal of the Islamic movement.[11]

Farsi considers the movements of the prophets as a model for struggle[12] and simultaneously emphasizes the necessity of unity in the Muslim world and Proximity of Islamic Schools.[13] He also engaged in critiquing Marxism and leftist ideas[14] and, by presenting an Islamic alternative for fighting Colonialism and tyranny,[15] supported cooperation with regional revolutionary movements such as Fatah.[16]

He has been mentioned as one of the supporters of Muammar Gaddafi, the politician and ruler of Libya while at the same time, in Iran,[17]he had disagreements with some figures and movements such as Musa al-Sadr and Mostafa Chamran.[18]

Biography and Scholarly Life

Jalal al-Din Farsi was born in 1933-34 in Mashhad.[19] He was a contemporary figure like Ali Shariati and Kazem Sami, the Minister of Health in the interim government.[20] Farsi was a student of Muhammad Taqi Shari'ati (founder of the Center for the Propagation of Islamic Truths and father of Dr. Ali Shariati)[21] and attended Master Shariati's lectures at the Center for the Propagation of Islamic Truths.[22]

He was fluent in Arabic and English and had a history of teaching at the Teacher Training College for Religious Education and Kamal and Qods high schools in Tehran.[23] After the revolution in 1993, he became involved in a conflict in the Taleghan region that led to murder. The court, by administering an oath to the accused, ruled the incident as quasi-intentional murder.[24]

Jalal al-Din Farsi on the right with Yasser Arafat

Struggle and Political Activities

Jalal al-Din Farsi entered political activities as a teenager and was present in the Iran Party, the People of Iran Association,[25] and the National Resistance Movement.[26] In Mashhad, under the direction of Muhammad Taqi Shariati, he gave speeches among students and played a role in promoting Islamic and revolutionary ideas.[27]

Between 1960 and the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he traveled several times to Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon and cooperated with various militant groups.[28] In 1978, he was assigned by Imam Khomeini to communicate with the Palestine Liberation Organization.[29]

Farsi's revolutionary activities led to his imprisonment several times in Lebanon and Iraq, but he was released through the mediation of Musa al-Sadr.[30]

Islamic Republic Era

Clipping from Jomhouri Eslami newspaper about Farsi's withdrawal from the presidential candidacy in 1358 Sh

After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he became a member of the central council of the Islamic Republican Party[31] and the Assembly of Experts for Constitution.[32] Farsi ran in the first Iranian presidential election in 1980, but after Ali Tehrani, a cleric and member of the Assembly of Experts for Constitution, claimed he was not of Iranian origin, he withdrew from the race.[33] After some time, he became a member of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution by the order of Imam Khomeini[34] and was then elected as a representative of the people of Tehran in the second Islamic Consultative Assembly.[35]

In 1986, due to requesting the impeachment of Ali Akbar Velayati, the then-foreign minister, in connection with McFarlane's visit to Iran, he was reprimanded by Imam Khomeini along with a group of representatives. After that, he withdrew from political activities and focused on writing books and compiling memoirs.[36]

Cover of the book Inqilāb-i takāmulī-yi Islām, Jalal al-Din Farsi's most important work

Writings and Works

Jalal al-Din Farsi's works are mainly formed around the themes of revolutionary thought, the political system of Islam, and the struggle against deviant schools of thought.[37] He began writing in 1951[38] and later translated Arabic works.[39]

In 1966, he wrote a treatise entitled Charter of the Islamic Movement in collaboration with Mohammad Ali Rajai and Mohammad Javad Bahonar, which was later published in Paris under the title Action Program.[40] Also in Najaf, at the suggestion of Mahmoud Doayi and with the welcome of Imam Khomeini, he compiled Imam's book Wilayat al-Faqih and prepared it for printing, which was published in Beirut at Imam Khomeini's expense.[41]

His most important work is the book Inqilab-i takamuli-yi Islam (the Evolutionary Revolution of Islam), published in 1970, which analyzes the history of early Islam and adapts it to contemporary conditions.[42] Among his other works are the three-volume set Darsha-yi darbara-yi Marksism (Lessons on Marxism),[43] Translation of the Qur'an into Persian, Nahḍatha-yi anbiya' (Movements of the Prophets), translation of al-Ghadir (5 volumes), Payambari wa inqilab (Prophethood and Revolution), Payambari wa jihad (Prophethood and Jihad), Payambari wa hukumat (Prophethood and Government), Zawiya-yi tarik (Dark Corners - Memoirs), and translation of the book Imam 'Ali (a) mash'ali wa dizhi (Imam Ali (a): a Torch and a Fortress).[44]

Notes

  1. ↑ Anṣārī, "Khumaynī, bakhsh-i farzandān-i dhukūr-i Imām", p. 759; Jaʿfariyān, "Hashtād sāligī-yi Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", Khabar Online.
  2. ↑ "Chālish bā andīsha-yi Furqān dar zindān: Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", p. 135; "Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī; kāndīdāyī ki bi intikhābāt narasīd", Markaz-i Asnād-i Inqilāb-i Islāmī.
  3. ↑ Parvīnzād & Āzādī, "Guft-u-gū: marāḥil-i inqilāb-i Islāmī", p. 6; Parvīnzād, "Kitāb-shināsī-yi Ustād Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", p. 14.
  4. ↑ Jaʿfariyān, "Hashtād sāligī-yi Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", Khabar Online; Khurramshāhī, "Darbāra-yi tarjuma-yi Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī az Qurʾān-i Majīd", p. 12.
  5. ↑ Parvīnzād, "Kitāb-shināsī-yi Ustād Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", p. 14; Jaʿfariyān, "Hashtād sāligī-yi Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", Khabar Online.
  6. ↑ See: Imām Khumaynī, Ṣaḥīfa-yi Imām, vol. 3, p. 397.
  7. ↑ Fārsī, Zavāyā-yi tārīk, p. 74, 117, 141, 152.
  8. ↑ "Tārīkh-i mubārizāt-i muʿāṣir", p. 176.
  9. ↑ Jaʿfariyān, "Hashtād sāligī-yi Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", Khabar Online.
  10. ↑ Jaʿfariyān, "Hashtād sāligī-yi Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", Khabar Online; "Tārīkh-i mubārizāt-i muʿāṣir", pp. 180–181.
  11. ↑ "Tārīkh-i mubārizāt-i muʿāṣir", pp. 180–181, 187; Parvīnzād & Āzādī, "Guft-u-gū: marāḥil-i inqilāb-i Islāmī", p. 13; Jaʿfariyān, "Hashtād sāligī-yi Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", Khabar Online.
  12. ↑ "Tārīkh-i mubārizāt-i muʿāṣir", p. 188; ʿAẓīmī, "Guftugū bā Ustād Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", p. 48; Parvīnzād & Āzādī, "Guft-u-gū: marāḥil-i inqilāb-i Islāmī", p. 9.
  13. ↑ "Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī: Imām Mūsā Ṣadr bāyad kushta mī-shud", Tārīkh-i Īrānī.
  14. ↑ Parvīnzād & Āzādī, "Guft-u-gū: marāḥil-i inqilāb-i Islāmī", p. 11.
  15. ↑ "Tārīkh-i mubārizāt-i muʿāṣir", pp. 182–183.
  16. ↑ ʿAẓīmī, "Guftugū bā Ustād Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", p. 53.
  17. ↑ "Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī: Imām Mūsā Ṣadr bāyad kushta mī-shud", Tārīkh-i Īrānī.
  18. ↑ Qavāmī, "Fārsī, Jalāl", p. 526; Jaʿfariyān, "Hashtād sāligī-yi Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", Khabar Online.
  19. ↑ ʿAẓīmī, "Guftugū bā Ustād Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", p. 44.
  20. ↑ Fārsī, Zavāyā-yi tārīk, p. 11.
  21. ↑ Parvīnzād & Āzādī, "Guft-u-gū: marāḥil-i inqilāb-i Islāmī", pp. 6–7; Fārsī, Zavāyā-yi tārīk, p. 11; "Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī; kāndīdāyī ki bi intikhābāt narasīd", Markaz-i Asnād-i Inqilāb-i Islāmī.
  22. ↑ Fārsī, Zavāyā-yi tārīk, p. 11; Parvīnzād & Āzādī, "Guft-u-gū: marāḥil-i inqilāb-i Islāmī", p. 7.
  23. ↑ Qavāmī, "Fārsī, Jalāl", p. 526.
  24. ↑ Shāriʿī, "Raftār-i nāmzadhā-yi nakhustīn dawra-yi riyāsat jumhūrī dar Īrān", p. 172; "Vaqtī nāmzad-i intikhābāt-i riyāsat-jumhūrī murtakib-i qatl shud", Asr Iran.
  25. ↑ Fārsī, Zavāyā-yi tārīk, p. 11.
  26. ↑ "Tārīkh-i mubārizāt-i muʿāṣir", p. 176.
  27. ↑ Fārsī, Zavāyā-yi tārīk, pp. 17–19.
  28. ↑ Parvīnzād & Āzādī, "Guft-u-gū: marāḥil-i inqilāb-i Islāmī", p. 6; Fārsī, Zavāyā-yi tārīk, pp. 43–44.
  29. ↑ Parvīnzād & Āzādī, "Guft-u-gū: marāḥil-i inqilāb-i Islāmī", p. 7; ʿAẓīmī, "Guftugū bā Ustād Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", p. 44.
  30. ↑ Qavāmī, "Fārsī, Jalāl", p. 527.
  31. ↑ "Tārīkh-i mubārizāt-i muʿāṣir", p. 176.
  32. ↑ "Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī; kāndīdāyī ki bi intikhābāt narasīd", Markaz-i Asnād-i Inqilāb-i Islāmī.
  33. ↑ Shāriʿī, "Raftār-i nāmzadhā-yi nakhustīn dawra-yi riyāsat jumhūrī dar Īrān", pp. 170–172.
  34. ↑ Qavāmī, "Fārsī, Jalāl", p. 529.
  35. ↑ ʿAẓīmī, "Guftugū bā Ustād Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", p. 44.
  36. ↑ Qavāmī, "Fārsī, Jalāl", p. 529.
  37. ↑ Parvīnzād, "Kitāb-shināsī-yi Ustād Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", p. 14; ʿAẓīmī, "Guftugū bā Ustād Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", p. 44.
  38. ↑ Parvīnzād & Āzādī, "Guft-u-gū: marāḥil-i inqilāb-i Islāmī", p. 9.
  39. ↑ "Tārīkh-i mubārizāt-i muʿāṣir", p. 185.
  40. ↑ Fārsī, Zavāyā-yi tārīk, pp. 138–140; Qavāmī, "Fārsī, Jalāl", p. 526.
  41. ↑ Fārsī, Zavāyā-yi tārīk, pp. 140–141.
  42. ↑ Parvīnzād, "Kitāb-shināsī-yi Ustād Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", p. 14; ʿAẓīmī, "Guftugū bā Ustād Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", pp. 44, 49; Parvīnzād & Āzādī, "Guft-u-gū: marāḥil-i inqilāb-i Islāmī", p. 10.
  43. ↑ Parvīnzād & Āzādī, "Guft-u-gū: marāḥil-i inqilāb-i Islāmī", p. 10; ʿAẓīmī, "Guftugū bā Ustād Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", pp. 44–45.
  44. ↑ Parvīnzād, "Kitāb-shināsī-yi Ustād Jalāl al-Dīn Fārsī", pp. 14–19.

References

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