Journal of Islamic Studies Advance Access published online on April 5, 2006
Journal of Islamic Studies, doi:10.1093/jis/etl002
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1 University of California, Berkeley
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Born near Tabriz in 1904 into a family with a long record of scholarly prominence, {T-dot}ab
Original Papers
{lhamza}All
Hamid Algar 1 *
ma Sayyid Mu{h-dot}ammad {H-dot}usayn {T-dot}ab{t-dot}ab{rhamza}
: Philosopher, Exegette, and Gnostic
Hamid Algar, E-mail: algar{at}calmail.berkeley.edu
Abstract 
{t-dot}ab{rhamza}
began a decade of study in Najaf in 1925. This was a conventional move for an aspiring Shi{lhamza}i {lhamza}lim, but at that traditional centre of learning {T-dot}ab{t-dot}ab{rhamza} began evolving the interests that took him far beyond fiqh, the mainstay of its curriculum, and endowed him with a distinctive spiritual and intellectual personality. Those interests may be summarized as philosophy (primarily that of the school of Mull Sadr), practical gnosis ({lhamza}irfn-i {lhamza}amal), and Qur{rhamza}nic exegesis. After a ten-year hiatus in his scholarly activity, occasioned primarily by financial difficulties, {T-dot}ab{t-dot}ab{rhamza} moved to Qum in 1946, with the express intention of aiding the students who, confronted by the challenges of materialist thought, each came to Qum ‘with a suitcase full of doubts and problems.’ This he sought to do primarily by reviving the teaching of the rational sciences and Qur{rhamza}nic exegesis. The former was regarded as subversive by some elements in Qum who sought to have 
yatullh Bur
jird, the leading authority in Qum, curtail {T-dot}ab{t-dot}ab{rhamza}'s teaching of philosophy; he nonetheless persisted. Tafsr, on the other hand, was considered intellectually unchallenging, but here, too, {T-dot}ab{t-dot}ab{rhamza} continued on his chosen path, completing in 1972 his monumental Tafsr al-Mzn, arguably the most important commentary on the Qur{rhamza}n to be written in many centuries. Averse by temperament to extensive social involvement, and for many years weakened by poor health, he took little part in the developments that led to the emergence of the Islamic Republic in 1979, but there is evidence that he approved of its basic constitutional principle, vilyat-i faqh, and a number of his pupils, including yatullh Mu{t-dot}ahhar, did play leading roles in its foundation. He died in 1981, and was laid to rest in Qum.
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