Conversation with Allamah Sayyid Mortadha Askari
Hint
The idea of talking to Allamah Morteza Askari was on our agenda for months. We immediately started the arrangements, first we had to study his books before attending to benefit from the pure knowledge of this ideological and intellectual frontiersman of Shia.
To do this, we took advantage of the cooperation of Dr. Askari, the eldest son of Allamah Askari, and through repeated calls, we were able to provide him with the grounds for holding a round table. Ayatollah Javdan was also present with us one day until the evening and helped a lot in asking questions and arranging the round table.
On the other hand, due to some reasons, the language of the interview was Arabic, and the recorded tapes were not of very good quality, so we employed a group of colleagues to present the following to you the readers of Cultural cosmos. We hope it will be accepted.
Cultural cosmos: With sincere thanks to Allamah Askari and other dears ones, Ayatollah Javdan and Dr. Sayyid Kadhem Askari, who accepted our invitation to discuss and dialogue in this meeting, we would be happy if the teacher would share a summary of his biography from the beginning till now at the beginning of this round table.
Allamah Askari: In the name of Allah, the Merciful.
I thank you too. I was born in Samarra in Jamadi al-Thani 1332 lunar year (1293 solar year). My father, the late Sayyid Mohammad Ismail, was one of the scholars and the son-in-law of Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Sharif Askari, Tehrani, known as Khatam al-Muhaddithin. My father and mother’s family had settled in Samarra.
I was ten years old when they made me a talabeh (Islamic teachings student). I understood the Arabic language well when I took Jami Al-Muqadamat and then I started reading and learning, I was a book lover, my grandfather’s library was available to me. I used to read biographies and travelogues and I never let go of reading when I was young.
During my student days, I did not read some books completely with the teacher. I used to study part of it and in other parts, I would discuss and ask questions and solve problems.
I am memorize long poems. I came to Qom in the year 1350 lunar year (1310 solar year) during the Marja’eeya (an authority given by hawzah) of the late Ayatollah Hajj Sheikh Abdul Karim Haeri (may God bless him and grant him peace).
I studied high-level courses such as subjects of ethics and refinement, theology and interpretation under the great teachers Ayat Azam Marashi, Shariatmadar Savoji, Pa’een Shahri, Imam Khomeini and Haj Mirza Khalil Kamrei.
I stayed in this city for four years and together with Sayyid Mahmoud Taleghani, who was my friend, we jointly founded a new project for the study and teaching of Quranic and religious sciences, and this scientific-cultural nucleus reached a total of nine people, But it faced the opposition of the then director of the hawzah.
With the hawzah’s reaction, I lost my patience and left Qom and returned to Samarra. By the grace of God, I was blessed to participated in the class of Haj Habibullah Eshtehardi known as teacher Askari, one of the students of Haj Sheikh Hadi Tehrani, until I finished my kharej study (The highest level of courses in the hawzah) in Iraq.
Cultural cosmos: Sorry for interrupting you, usually students are more devoted to a professor. Who is your main teacher at this stage?
Allamah Askari: One of my main teachers was Haj Habibullah, who gave me private lessons, and the late Mirza Ali and Shushtari Mar’ashi were among my other teachers.
With the end of the Second World War, I decided to open a special school for Shiites in Kadhimayn, but they did not allow me. I went to my teacher Mirza Habibullah again and recited Urwa in his presence and gained grace. I learned Urwa in his presence and gained grace.
In these days, which was at the same time as the peak of jurisprudence of Ayatollah Boroujerdi. I came to Qom again and discussed the plan of setting up a new school of religious sciences with this great leader of the Shiite world, and He accepted my proposal, But I faced the process of nationalization of Iran’s oil industry and I was forced to go to Baghdad and as a representative of Ayatollah Hakim, I started extensive social activities.
After the beginning of Imam Khomeini’s uprising in 1963 and the killing of students in the Faiziyah school, I organized a funeral ceremony in Baghdad and Iraqi youths decorated the walls with Jihadi slogans. And on a trip to Hajj and Bait al-Muqadas (Jerusalem), I sang the dirge of Qom martyrs to be in line with Imam Khomeini’s movement.
I read the dirge of Qom martyrs to be in line with Imam Khomeini’s movement.
For a long time when I was in Baghdad, I used to go to the pulpit and i would give a speech in the East Karade neighborhood and spent my days with the students in the classrooms.
At that time, the situation in this city was extremely worrying, in a way the cultural invasion was peaking as the beginning of de-religiousism with the spread of secularism in universities and the support of nationalism and the propaganda of Marxism in Iraq.
In the acute situation of the society at that time, which coincided with the coup of Abdul Karim Qasim and Abdul Salam Aref, I went to Beirut to fight against the rule of the Baath Party.
Of course, my family was not spared from the grip of this regime and were troubled, but by the grace of Almighty God, we came to Iran and stayed in this Shiite land.
Before the Islamic revolution, with the cooperation of a group of my friends, I established a scientific association in Tehran, which, in addition to cultural and educational activities, published Islamic science textbooks.
In 1996, I started the Faculty of Principles of Religion for the master’s degree in Qur’anic and Hadith sciences, and two years later, I started a branch of it in Dezful at the undergraduate level.
Cultural Cosmos: you wrote an analytical book under the title of “Abdullah Ibn Saba”, which is a precious gift for historians.
We are curious to ask how you first turned to the introduction of hadith forgers and introduced them to society!
Allameh Askari: One night I was working on narrations. I observed that the narrator is frequent in these hadiths. That is, the hadiths in these cases were narrated by Saif Ibn Umar.
By referring to Rijal’s books, I found out that he is a liar and has these qualities I called the fake narrator’s case Saif’s Hadith. At the beginning, I collected his hadiths about Abdullah Ibn Saba.
I showed these hadiths to my grandfather Sheikh Mirza Muhammad [Tahrani], he said to me: If you can prove this, you will be doing a useful thing
I was familiar with one of the scholars named sheikh Razi Al Yassin, the author of the book solh al-Hasan. I went to him, he was sitting on a bed, when he saw me, he stood up and said: Do you know what you have done, you have removed the shame attached to Shia.
While I was researching about this issue, I doubted whether Saif Ibn Umar, in addition to Abdullah Ibn Saba, also mentioned some other fake Companions or not. Within two months of research, we came to the conclusion that he created 140 fake Companions.
After collecting the collection of research, I published my writings under the name of Abdullah Ibn Saba and other myths.
Ayatollah Javdan: The books you edited were actually corrections of Sunni documents. What was their reaction to your writings?
Allamah Askari: The publication of this book had a wide impact, including Al-Azhar and Wefaq magazines and Radio Beirut praised this book. I started researching and collecting biographies of fake Companions and so far I have managed to expose 150 or so fake Companions.
I decided to write a book that would be mustadrak (documented) from Wasa’il al-Shia, so I started collecting narrations that I should pay attention to.
After that, I realized that we have no differences with our Sunni brothers in the life of the Messenger of God (PBUH). Rather, this difference arose after the Messenger of God (PBUH).
I decided to refer to the books of common Muslim biographies in collecting sources. I started from Sahih, and for example, in Sahih Muslim, I saw narrations that Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha and Abu Hurairah had quoted from the Prophet (PBUH).I felt that these narrations cannot be trusted, we must investigate them.
Here, I discussed the contents of the Fotoohat and I realized that in these Fotoohat there are issues that are not compatible with reason.
These issues led me to investigate similar narrations. I categorized these narrations. I compiled files related to the hadiths of Aisha, Abu Hurairah, Anas and a file for unknown narrators.
Dr. Sayyed Kazem Askari: Now that your books have been discussed, it is appropriate to talk about your scientific works.
Allamah Askari: I decided to write about the death of Imam Husayn because I saw in Iran and maybe in Iraq that the speakers did not adhere to recite the correct death narration.
I referred to the biography of the Messenger of God (pbuh) and I benefited from it. In this way, the number of Compilations increased, but all of them are incomplete. I am currently writing the myth of Saba.
Cultural cosmos: The historical era of hadith publication and narration in the school of Ahl al-Bayt (AS) begins during the lifetime of the beloved Prophet of Islam (pbuh).
The origin of the truths and rulings of Islam originate from the Qur’an, and its description and explanation are entrusted to the Prophet (PBUH) and other first-hand missionaries of Islam.
What was revealed to the Prophet of Islam (pbuh) and what mankind needs until the Day of Judgment, he spelled out everything to his cousin and son-in-law Imam Ali (AS) and he compiled these teachings.
We request you, according to the many studies you have had in the history of Islam, to tell us how the teachings of the Prophet (PBUH) were transferred to Imam Ali (AS) in the Assemblies.
Allamah Askari: The teaching meetings and regular meetings of Amir al-Mu’minin Ali (AS) with his cousin, the Messenger of God (PBUH) to acquire knowledge from him are detailed in narrative books.
For example, in the book “Kafi”, it is mentioned that Imam Ali (AS) said that he used to go to the Prophet (PBUH) twice a day and spend time with him, And wherever the Prophet (PBUH) would go, Ali (AS) would accompany him.
All the companions of that Prophet knew that the Prophet of God had no such meetings with anyone else except Amir al-Mu’minin Ali (AS).
These meetings were often held in the house of Imam Ali (AS) and the Messenger of God (PBUH) gave sufficient answers to the questions of the Imam.
With the permission of the dear ones, I will read a short part of the speech of Ali (AS) quoted by Kulayni, where the Imam says: ” no verse was revealed to him but He taught it to me, dictated it to me, and i wrote it with my own hand, and taught me its interpretation and explanation. and Muhkam, and Mutashabih, and the specific ones, and the general ones, He prayed to God to give me understanding and memorization, and I have never forgotten a verse of the Book of God or what he taught me. ”
Here, it is appropriate to mention another hadith narrated by Zayd Ibn Ali (As) that The Prophet remembered the days when he did not meet with Ali and when the Imam came to his presence, he would say:
“O Ali, on such and such a day, such and such news came, and on such and such a day, such news was revealed to me, and he would continue like this until the day they meet. From these words of Imam Ali (AS) we understand that the Messenger of God (PBUH) was responsible for reaching the Imam all divine commands, prohibitions, the halals and harams, whether related to the issues of the present or the future, as well as what was revealed in the heavenly books to the prophets of the past.
Cultural cosmos: In the mentioned contents, you said, you specified the regular and predetermined meetings of the Imam (AS) with the Messenger of God (PBUH), which were recorded in the authentic books of both schools (Shia and Sunni).
In order to complete this discussion, and to inform the readers of the magazine, in continuation of the previous speech, you should also examine the irregular meetings of the Imam with the Messenger of God (PBUH).
Allamah Askari: Yes, thats a good point . Well, I will narrate a narration from Jabir Ibn Abdullah Ansari, which is in Sahih Tirmidhi – one of the authentic books of the school of caliphs.
In the battle of Taif, the Messenger of God (PBUH) called Ali (AS), and whispered to him. People said with criticism: How long it took him whispering to his cousin Ali!!
When this word reached the ears of the Messenger of God (PBUH), he said: I did not whisper with him for myself, but it is God who is whispering with him.
In explaining this hadith, Tirmidhi believes that the whispering of God means that God commanded his prophet to whisper to him.
Now, let’s see what was the real issue that the Messenger of God (PBUH) sat whispering with his cousin in the battle of Taif, according to God’s order.
Was this conversation a war consultation? While the Prophet (PBUH) used to involve everyone in the deliberations of the wars and did not consult with a specific person, as in the case of the battles of Badr, Uhud, Khandaq, etc.
This content is recorded in history. Therefore, it must be accepted that this meeting and irregular meetings like it were in the same line as his regular daily meetings.
Or we can say that these meetings may be one of the same meetings mentioned by Zaid Ibn Ali Ibn Al-Husayn, which I mentioned earlier.
From what I have said, the result is that the achievement of all those regular or irregular meetings of the Messenger of God (PBUH) with his cousin Ali Ibn Abi Talib (AS), is entrusting all the Islamic sciences and knowledge, from beliefs and rulings, etc., to the Imam (AS) .
Dr. Askari: According to these sufficient explanations, we wanted to know how what God revealed to His Prophet (PBUH) is divided in terms of the method of preaching it?
Allamah Askari: They are generally divided into two categories. First Division ; It included cases where the appropriate time had come to communicate them and there were suitable conditions for their expression, these cases were communicated by the Holy Prophet himself and without intermediaries to those present in his time.
And as for the second category; It includes cases that were implemented after the time of the Prophet (PBUH). He used to teach these things only to Ali (AS), and Ali (AS) wrote both types of content that were preached and explained by the Messenger of God (PBUH) in separate books in his own handwriting.
This continued until the passing of the Prophet (PBUH). Abdullah Ibn Amr ibn al-As in the history of Ibn Asaker narrates that the Messenger of God (PBUH) said during his last moments of illness: “call my brother for me.”
Ali came to him. Then the Prophet threw his garment over him and covered him and he approached him and spoke to him slowly.
In another hadith, Umm Salma swears that the last person who spoke to the Prophet of God was Ali.
At the end of this topic, I would like to remind you that Imam Ali (AS)’s words about this are included in detail in Tabaqat Ibn Sa’d , which he explained what happened in detail.
Cultural Cosmos: The first book that was compiled during the history of hadith and narration was a book that was written in the spelling of the Messenger of God (PBUH) and the handwriting of Ali (AS) and it was called “Jami’a”.
And these interpretations in the description of the community in the hadiths show the importance that the Messenger of God (PBUH) attached to the writing of hadith from the very beginning and especially intended to provide a legacy in written form to his successors.
There are other narrations in this context, but they can only be cited as proofs of the Prophet’s (PBUH) favor in writing this heritage.
As it appears from some narrations, In this book, all Shari’a rules and duties as well as what is in the circle of God’s halal and haram have been there. The public publication of this book was probably not permissible due to taqiyyah and observance of certain expedients on the part of the imams, Of course, the Book of Jami’a is also mentioned in Sunni hadith sources.
Your expressive and argumentative statement in explaining the above information will help us to know more about this legacy of Imamate.
Allamah Askari: From many hadiths, it appears that Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib (AS) had several books that contained a collection of rules and teachings of the Islamic religion. Here, we will limit ourselves to reviewing the book of Jami’a, which is the subject of your question.
In the books “Osul Al-Kafi” and “Basa’ir ad-Darajat”, a narration is narrated from the words of Abu Basir, which is extremely interesting.
Abu Basir said, I went to Imam Jafar Sadiq (AS) and said: The Shiites claim that the Messenger of God (PBUH) opened a door of knowledge to Ali (AS), from which a thousand other doors are opened.
In response, Imam (AS) said: O Abu Muhammad, we have a Jami’a and what do they know what a Jami’a is? Abu Basir again asks for the description of the Jami’a, and Imam Sadiq says to him:
Jamia is a book seventy cubits long, all of its contents came out one by one from the blessed lips of the Messenger of God (PBUH) and Ali (As) wrote it in his own handwriting.
In that scripture, every halal and haram, and everything that people needed at that time and will need in the future, even the payment of a superficial scratch on the body’s skin, has been mentioned.
Jami’a the book of Imam Ali (AS) has been mentioned in many narrations, and here we will limit ourselves to mentioning this one narration.
It is necessary to know that the first Imam who referred to the book of Amir al-Mu’minin (AS) and spoke about it is Imam Ali Ibn Al-Husayn Zain al-Abidin (AS), and this matter has been narrated in at least eight authentic hadith books.
Also, sometimes it has been seen that Imam Baqir and Imam Sadiq (AS) opened the book of Amir al-Mu’minin (AS) in front of the followers of the school of caliphs, and showed them some of its contents.
The twelve Imams of Ahl al-Bayt (AS) sometimes used to say a ruling on a matter from the book of Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib (AS) and referred it to the Imam’s book, and sometimes they explained the same ruling without mentioning the name of the Imam’s (AS) book. We have explained this matter in the book “Maalem Al-Madrasatain”.
This is why all the hadiths of the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt (AS) are a single document, and their hadiths come from the same root and have complete unity. Hisham Inn Salim, Hammad Ibn Uthman and others have narrated that Abu Abdullah Imam Sadiq (AS) said:
My hadith is my father’s hadith; And the hadith of my father, the hadith of my grandfather. And the hadith of my grandfather is the the hadith of Husayn. And Husayn’s hadith is Hasan’s hadith; And the hadith of Hasan, is the hadith of Amir al-Mu’minin, and the hadith of Amir al-Mu’minin,is the hadith of the Messenger of God; And the hadith of the Messenger of God is the word of God Almighty.
So far, we have determined how the Imams of Ahl al-Bayt (AS) practically informed the Islamic community that they are the heirs of the Prophet in Islamic sciences and knowledge, and Ali (AS) wrote these sciences in his own handwriting and the spelling of the Messenger of God (PBUH) in a special book.
Ayatollah Javdan: After the Holy Qur’an, the second source of knowledge of Islamic rules and beliefs is the Sunnah of the Messenger of God (PBUH) and the hadiths of the infallible Imams (peace be upon them).
In this case, the Almighty God, by revealing “verse 44 of Surah Nahl”, made His Messenger obliged to explain the Quranic issues, and the Holy Prophet (PBUH) signed the authority of the Sunnah and the way of his family by issuing the Hadith of Saqalain.
In addition, the infallibility and competence of the Ahl al-Bayt of the Messenger of God are emphasized in the verse “31 of Surah Al-Ahzab” and “9 of Surah Al-Waqi’ah.”
Going through the history of early Islam, it is clearly evident that the prohibition of writing the hadith of the Prophet (PBUH) took place after his passing by the school of caliphs, and this distasteful practice caused a large group of jurists and public scholars to stop writing it And refrained them from editing the hadith and in other words respect the command.
Dear Mr. Allamah, it is clear that the implementation of this policy caused many prophetic narrations, especially the narrations about the virtues of the Ahl al-Bayt (AS), to go out of circulation or to be forgotten. We would like to hear the reasons for this approach from you.
Allamah Askari: We know that the principles of Islam are found in the Qur’an, but their description and expression is in the Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH), is in the hadith and his life. In this regard, God says to the Prophet (PBUH): We have sent down the Qur’an to you so that you can explain it to the people.
What was sent to them are orders such as prayer, fasting, Hajj, khums, zakat, marriage, divorce, inheritance, will, etc., all of which are mentioned in the Qur’an, but their details were explained to the people by the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
And because the policy of the government at that time was contrary to the rulings and traditions of the Prophet (PBUH), they wanted no one to be familiar with these rulings so they won’t be objected to by the people, so they prevented the transmission of the hadith of the Prophet (PBUH).
Ayatollah Javdan: may you mention some cases of this practice?
Allamah Askari: Yes, I will give some examples, including the fact that Abu Bakr said to the companions of the Prophet (PBUH) that you are narrating hadiths from the Prophet of God in which you disagree, And people after you disagree more. Don’t narrate anything from the Prophet of God (PBUH).
And if someone asks you something, say that the Qur’an is between us and you, and our Qur’an is sufficient, consider its halal as halal and its haram as haram.
Or it is mentioned in “Taqabat Ibn Sa’d” that the hadiths increased during the time of Umar, he made people bring the written hadiths and they brought them to him thinking that he wanted to use them.
Umar ordered to burn them all. Also, those companions of the Prophet (PBUH) who read narrations for Muslims in different cities, such as Abdullah Ibn Hudhayfa, Abu Dar Da, Abu Dhar, Uqbah Ibn Amer were summoned to Madina and he did not allow these companions to leave Madina until the end of his life.
Uthman’s attitude towards narration was the same, so when he became the caliph, he said that no hadith should be narrated except what was narrated during the time of the two previous caliphs.
Therefore, Abu Dhar was exiled to Syria and then to Rabzah for narrating the hadiths of the Prophet, which was against the government of the time.
Another reason why the caliphs forbade the publication of the hadith of the Prophet (PBUH) was to prevent the publication of the virtues and merits of Amir al-Mu’min Ali (AS) because he had killed many Quraysh leaders in the first wars of Islam.
And an Arab Qurashi person could not be indifferent in this matter, besides the hadiths of the Prophet (PBUH) about the virtues of Ali (AS) prevented Quraysh from reaching the ruling.
What hadiths that the Prophet (PBUH) said about Ali (PBUH) regarding the interpretation and dignity of revelation of the verses of the Holy Qur’an.
Therefore, the hadiths of the Prophet (PBUH) that were with the Companions in Madina remained in their minds, and when the prophet passed, those hadiths disappeared.
During the time of Mu’awiyah, to justify the work of the caliphs, they fabricated hadiths that the Prophet (PBUH) said do not write anything about me and whoever wrote anything about me other than the Holy Quran should erase it.
Or it is narrated in “Sahih Muslim” that they asked the Prophet (PBUH) for permission to write a hadith from him, but the Prophet (PBUH) did not allow it, and there are other narrations in this context that i won’t quote in order to avoid the length of this discussion.
In any case, the caliphs were able to confine the hadiths of the Prophet (PBUH) in Madina – that is, in the minds, and to distant people outside of Madina from the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh), except for what the Caliph and his followers saw fit, and did not cause a problem for the government.
If this was the case, he took it from him and ordered six copies to be written on it, and he sent one copy to the cities of Mecca, Sham, Kufa, Basra, Homs, and Alexandria, so that it could be reproduced and read only from these, and one copy was sent to Madina.
Then he collected the Companions’ books with the commentary and burned them all. Therefore, this Qur’an remained unexplained in the hands of Muslims, only Abdullah Ibn Masoud did not give his Mushaf, that’s why he was slandered.
For example, they said that he doesn’t give his Quran because he doesn’t have a certain surah or he has a lot of something. This was the story of the Qur’an during the time of the three caliphs.
Of course, more deplorable things were done in relation to the Qur’an and its teachings, which, God willing, should be addressed at the appropriate time.
In the second part of the article, we will discuss the continuation of the conversation between the cultural cosmos and Allamah Askari.
Source: cultural cosmos
