Sajjad Rizvi سجاد رضوي Profile picture
Jul 17, 2020 16 tweets 11 min read Read on X
One of the genres of writing that emerged in #Safavid Iran was triumphalist #Shii history and biographies that imagined a past connected to the sacred time of the Prophet and the Imams as continuous chains of notables figures who made contributions to #Islamic culture 1/
Perhaps the best example was the large work Majālis al-muʾminīn of Sayyid Nūrullāh Shūshtarī known as Qāżī Nūrullāh (d. 1610), scion of the Marʿashī sayyids, who settled in India, becoming judge in #Lahore and eventually dying, following the wrath of #Jahangir in #Agra 2/ ImageImageImage
The Majālis was written late in his life, a large #Shii history divided into (not surprisingly #12erShii) 12 sections: 1) places associated with the #Imams and #Shii communities such as #Kūfa #Kāshān and so forth 2) #Shii tribes and sayyids such as his own #Marʿashī lineages 3/
It is also sometimes alleged that the muttering at court against Shūshtarī that led to #Jahāngīr action against him was due to the Majālis 3a/
3) #Shii companions of the Imams, from the clan of the Prophet #BanūHāshim and others 4) the companions of the #Imams 5) the early theologians, Qurʾanic exegetes, hadith narrators, jurists, grammarians and representatives of the Imams 6) Sufis 7) philosophers and theologians 4/
8) #Shii Kings 9) commanders and soldiers 10) viziers and kuttāb 11) Arabic poets 12) non-Arabic poets - the structure and categories became a model for latter works, 'continuations' (dhayl), translations and commentaries 5/
Already by the end of the 17thC it was extensively used by Mirzā ʿAbdallāh Afandī (d. 1717), student of Majlisī (d. 1699) and author of Riyāḍ al-ʿulamāʾ, and by Sayyid ʿAlī Khān Madanī (d. 1709) in his al-Darajāt al-rafīʿa 6/ ImageImageImage
A number of works that continued or summarised the Majālis were written: for example, the earliest Muntakhab Majālis al-muʾminīn of Khalīl Ẕūʾl-Qadr is brief (around 60 folios) dated 1053/1643 in Iran in Tehran University Central Library 8948 7/
or Khulāṣa-yi Majālis of Muḥammad Żāmin dated 1265/1849 from India extant in #Aligarh #AzadLibrary MS Persian Sufism 219 with over 160 folios 8/
There were translations - into Urdu, for example, Mawāfiq al-muʾminīn of Sayyid Muḥammad Shabbar Jaunpūrī published in Allahabad in 1924, and into Arabic by Shaykh Aḥmad al-Ḥāʾirī also in the early 20thC (and there is the view that Sayyid ʿAlī Khān's work is a translation) 9/
The best known continuation is Maḥāfil al-muʾminīn from 18thC of Sayyid Muḥammad Shafīʿ ʿĀmilī, Shaykh al-islām of Qazwīn under Karīm Khān #Zand, completed in 1776 10/ Image
One of the significant works that follows the model of Majālis is Riyāḍ al-janna of Mīrzā Muḥammad Ḥasan Zunūzī Khūʾī known as 'Fānī (d. c. 1817) completed in 1216/1802 zounuz.blogfa.com/post/6 11/ ImageImage
Only the section on biographies has been edited and published along with excellent annotations cross-referring other sources 12/ ImageImageImage
The text is divided into 8 'gardens': 1) a history of the Prophet, his daughters and the #Imams - the pleroma of #walāya 2) a theological exposition of divine theodicy 3) the cosmology and ontology of celestial and earthly being 4) on biographies of #ʿulema 5) poets 13/
6) rulers 7) viziers 8) miscellanea - it demonstrates his training in #philosophy (it is a very valuable source for the 'minor' philosophers) and a sense of a cosmic hierarchy of entities from the Prophet and his family down as a pyramid of being emanating from God 14/
Riyāḍ al-janna is one of many texts published in the last few decades which have facilitated the study of the intellectual history of #ShiiIslam and made it more accessible 15/

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More from @mullasadra

Aug 28, 2023
In a recent article on the canonisation of the #Nahj_al_Balāgha, Aun Hasan Ali cites the words of the eminent authority of contemporary #Shii_Islam Sayyid ʿAlī Sīstānī that advises believers to read this famous collection from the 11th century - a thread on the Nahj 1/
The article itself can be found here 2/contemporarystudyofislam.org/index.php/jcsi…
While there is little doubt that the Nahj is popular in contemporary Shii households and lives - and increasingly also among Zaydī and Ismaili Shiʿa as well - how did it attain its status as the pre-eminent text after the Qurʾan since it is not normally considered canonical? 3/
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Jan 17, 2022
Any consideration of a #decolonial approach to #philosophy must engage with #Africana philosophy - but what is often occluded in that is the #Islamic element 1/
@HistPhilosophy with @ChikeJeffers has done an excellent job in introducing many to #Africana philosophy and let’s hope they continue to flourish 2/
A number of works have recently appeared that are relevant to our understanding of the Muslim element in that often focused on #WestAfrica 3/
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Jan 17, 2022
The influence of Immanuel Kant on modern philosophy cannot be underestimated - a thread on #Kant in #Iran
Often in academic departments of philosophy (#analytic but also beyond) #Kant is the key figure if the modern period 2/
He represents a systematic approach to philosophy, to metaphysics, ethics, and much beyond covering theoretical and practical philosophy displacing #Aristotle 3/
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Oct 31, 2021
Sad to hear that Mahmoud Ayoub (1935-2021) one of the pioneers of #ShiiStudies and #intrafaith and #interfaith #MuslimChristian studies has passed away earlier today - a 🧵
Much of his career was in #MuslimChristian understanding partly influenced by his own biography - born into a #Shii family in Qana in Southern Lebanon in 1935 and converting to Protestantism 2/
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Oct 16, 2021
With the recent passing of Āgha-ye Ḥasanzādeh Āmulī, mention was made of his teacher Mīrzā Abūʾl-Ḥasan Shaʿrānī (1903-1973) whom most Iranians know through his translation of the Qurʾan - a 🧵
In terms of his scholarly family background, his father was a descendant of Fatḥollāh Kāshānī, author of the 16th century #QurʾanExegesis Manhaj al-ṣādiqayn, and his maternal grandfather was Navvāb-e Tehrānī, author of the literary Shiʿi martyrology Fayż al-dumūʿ 1/
Shaʿrānī trained in the seminary, first at the Madrasa-ye Khān Marvī with important philosophers such as Mīrzā Mahdi Āshtiyānī (1888-1953), one of the first to teach university students as well, and Mīrzā Maḥmūd Qummī (d. 1925), a specialist on the school of #IbnʿArabī 2/
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Sep 26, 2021
The seminarian philosopher and polymath Āqā-ye Ḥasan Ḥasanzāde Āmolī (b. 1307Sh/1928) passed away yesterday 25 September 2021 - a 🧵 on his life and works #ShiiPhilosophy #mysticism #ʿerfān #ḥekmat
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In Tehran, he studied philosophy and mysticism with a major teacher at the Madrasa-ye Marvī, Shaykh Muḥammad Taqī Āmolī (1887-1971) best known for his work on #Avicennism and his glosses on Sharḥ al-manẓūme of Hādī Sabzavārī (d. 1873) 3/
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