Muhammad Hasan al-Muzaffar

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Muhammad Hasan al-Muzaffar
Personal Information
Full NameMuhammad Hasan al-Muzaffar
Religious AffiliationShia Islam
Well-Known RelativesMuhammad Rida Muzaffar
BirthSafar 12, 1301/December 13, 1883
Place of BirthNajaf
ResidenceNajaf
Studied inNajaf
DeathRabiʿ I 23rd, 1375/November 9, 1955
Burial PlaceNajaf
Scholarly Information
ProfessorsMuhammad Kazim Khurasani, Al-Sayyid Muhammad Kazim al-Yazdi, Shaykh al-Sharī'a Isfahani


Muḥammad Ḥasan Muẓaffar (b. 1301/1883 – d. 1375/1955) was a Shiite jurist, theologian and poet of the fourteenth/twentieth century in Najaf. He was known as a marjaʿ whose fatwas were not much difficult to implement. Muzaffar was known for his high morals. He spent most of his time teaching and writing. He wrote the book Dalaʾil al-sidq li nahj al-haqq, a critique of Ibtal nahj al-batil. Muzaffar’s grave is in Najaf.

Life

Muhammad Hasan Muzaffar was born in Safar 12, 1301/December 13, 1883 in Najaf.[1] His father Shaykh Muhammad (d. 1322/1904-5) was a scholar[2] and his mother was the daughter of Shaykh ʿAbd al-Husayn al-Turayhi. His brothers, ʿAbd al-Nabi, Muhammad Husayn, and Muhammad Rida, were all clerics and well-known scholars. Muzaffar married the daughter of Shaykh Muhammad Jawad al-Shabibi, who was a scholar and poet in Najaf.[3] Muzaffar travelled out of Iraq only once in 1368/1948-9 to visit the Shrine of Imam al-Rida (a) in Iran.[4]

Muzaffar passed away in Rabiʿ I 23rd, 1375/November 9, 1955 in Baghdad. His burial ceremony was held in Najaf, and he was buried there next to his father and brother.[5] A commemoration ceremony was held for him forty days after his demise at Ayatollah Burujirdi's madrasa in Najaf and in Basra. [6]

Education

Muzaffar began his seminary education in Najaf.[7] He studied Islamic law and legal theory for a short time with Muhammad Kazim Khurasani and Sayyid Muhammad Kazim Tabataba'i Yazdi and for a long time with Shaykh Ali Jawahiri and Shaykh al-Shari'a Isfahani.[8] Agha Buzurg Tihrani and Shaykh al-Shari'a Isfahani gave him the permission of narrating hadiths.[9]

Among his students were Muhammad Husayn Muzaffar (his brother), Abd al-Hadi Shayk Rādi, Muhammad Jawad al-Hijami, Muhammad Taha al-Huwayzi, and Abd al-Kazim Ghabban.[10]

Legal Views

Muzaffar is regarded as a mujtahid who had a practical and lenient attitude in his jurisprudence, which led to fatwas that were less difficult than the fatwas of other marajiʿ.[11] Among his fatwas were the following:

  • The ritual purity of the People of the Book and the permissibility of marrying them.
  • An object that comes in contact with something that was in contact with a najis substance does not become ritually impure.
  • The Verdict for confirmation of the Moon Sighting is upon Sharia ruler[12]

Works

The book Dalāʾil al-sidq, the most famous work of Muhammad Hasan Muzaffar

Muhammad Hasan Muzaffar authored several books on various topics. His most well-known book is Dalāʾil al-sidq li nahj al-haqq (Proofs for the Veracity of Nahj al-haqq), which aims at establishing Shiite beliefs and supporting the views of al-Allama al-Hilli in Nahj al-haqq. This work is a response to the critique of Nahj al-haqq written by the Sunni scholar Fadl b. Ruzbahan.[13]

Among his other works are the following:

  • Durar al-fawa'id fi Sharh Qawa'id al-Ahkam written by Allama al-Hilli
  • Al-Ifsah an ahwal al-rijal al-sihah
  • Hashiya bar Kifaya wa al-'Urwa al-wuthqa
  • Wajizat al-masa'il (his Tawdih al-masa'il)
  • Risala dar furu' ilm-i ijmali
  • Hashiya bar risala-yi Sayyid Abu l-Hasan Isfahani
  • Hashiya bar manasik-i hajj Sayyid Abu l-Hasan Isfahani
  • Hashiya bar risala-yi amaliyya-yi Shaykh Abd al-Husayn Mubarak
  • Diwan-i Shi'r[14]

Style

Muzaffar’s writing style is considered clear and balanced. In his Dalāʾil al-sidq, Muzaffar merely presents his explanations and proofs and disregards Fadl b. Ruzbahan’s insults and slanders.[15]

Scholarly and Moral Status

Agha Buzurg Tihrani describes him as the “Allama” (one with vast knowledge in various fields) of the family of Muzaffar.[16]

When Sayyid Muhammad Kazim Tabataba'i Yazdi passed away in 1337/1919, Muzaffar began teaching the advanced courses of Islamic law and legal theory (bahth al-kharij).

After the demise of Sayyid Abu l-Hasan Isfahani in 1365/1946, Muzaffar became one of the maraji', though he tried to stay away from this high position because of his personal and moral characteristics.[17]

Muzaffar is praised for his piety and sincerity.[18] After his father and his brother Abd al-Nabi, he led congregational prayers at Masabik Mosque in Najaf and refused to lead prayers in Hindi Mosque, which had a better place.[19]

Poems

Muhammad Hasan Muzaffar had a poetic talent since his youth, and his poems were published in literary journals.[20] Later, his poems were introduced in discussed in some books, such as Shuʿaraʾ al-Ghari.[21]

Notes

  1. Mardī, Kitābshināsi dalāiʾl al-ṣidq Muḥammad Ḥasan Muzaffar, p. 275.
  2. Muzaffar, Tarjuma dalāʾil al-ṣidq, p. 23.
  3. Shaykh Rāḍī, Min aʿlām al-Najaf; al-Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥasan al-Muzaffar, p. 174-175.
  4. Mardī, Kitābshināsi dalāiʾl al-ṣidq Muḥammad Ḥasan Muzaffar, p. 275.
  5. Muzaffar, Tarjuma dalāʾil al-ṣidq, p. 24.
  6. Shaykh Rāḍī, Min aʿlām al-Najaf; al-Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥasan al-Muzaffar, p. 182.
  7. Shaykh Rāḍī, Min aʿlām al-Najaf; al-Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥasan al-Muzaffar, p. 174.
  8. Ḥirz al-Dīn, Muḥammad. Maʿārif al-rijāl, vol. 2, p. 247.
  9. Muzaffar, Tarjuma dalāʾil al-ṣidq, p. 24.
  10. Shaykh Rāḍī, Min aʿlām al-Najaf; al-Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥasan al-Muzaffar, p. 179.
  11. Shaykh Rāḍī, Min aʿlām al-Najaf; al-Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥasan al-Muzaffar, p. 178.
  12. Shaykh Rāḍī, Min aʿlām al-Najaf; al-Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥasan al-Muzaffar, p. 178.
  13. Muzaffar, Tarjuma dalāʾil al-ṣidq, p. 24, 25.
  14. Mardī, Kitābshināsi dalāiʾl al-ṣidq Muḥammad Ḥasan Muzaffar, p. 275.
  15. Muzaffar, Tarjuma dalāʾil al-ṣidq, p. 25.
  16. Āgā Buzurg Tihrānī, al-Dharīʿa, vol. 14, p. 161.
  17. Shaykh Rāḍī, Min aʿlām al-Najaf; al-Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥasan al-Muzaffar, p. 176.
  18. Ḥirz al-Dīn, Muḥammad. Maʿārif al-rijāl, vol. 2, p. 246.
  19. Shaykh Rāḍī, Min aʿlām al-Najaf; al-Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥasan al-Muzaffar, p. 176, 180.
  20. Shaykh Rāḍī, Min aʿlām al-Najaf; al-Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥasan al-Muzaffar, p. 175.
  21. Khāqānī, Shaʿrā al-gharā, vol. 7, p. 531-537.

References

  • Muzaffar, Muḥammad Ḥasan. Tarjuma dalāʾil al-ṣidq. Translated by Muḥammad Sipihrī. Tehran: Amīr Kabīr, 1374 Sh.
  • Shaykh Rāḍī, Muḥammad Ṭāhir. Min aʿlām al-Najaf; al-Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥasan al-Muzaffar. Afāq Najafīyya, No 8, 1428 AH.
  • Khāqānī, ʿAlī. Shaʿrā al-gharā ya al-najafīyyāt. Qom: Maktabat Āyatullāh al-Marʿashī al-Najafī, 1408 AH.
  • Mardī Abbāsʿalī. Kitābshināsi dalāiʾl al-ṣidq Muḥammad Ḥasan Muzaffar. Imāmatpazhūhī, No 2. 1390 Sh.
  • Āgā Buzurg al-Tihrānī, Muḥammad Muḥsin. Al-Dharīʿa ilā taṣānīf al-shīʿa. Beirut: Dār al-Aḍwāʾ, 1403 AH.
  • Ḥirz al-Dīn, Muḥammad. Maʿārif al-rijāl fī tarājum al-ʿulamā wa al-adibbāʾ. Qom: Kitābkhāna-yi Marʿashī Najafī, 1405 AH.