Spiritual Philosopher:  Allameh Jafari

He was called Allameh, because there were so much knowledge

and wisdoms of this big world on him.

 Muhammad Taqi Jafari was born in Tabriz in 1923. he had learned how to read and write from his mother even before he started school, so he began his education from fourth grade. Indeed, his academic progress was wonderful from the very beginning, but it was Fattah Shahidi who actually realized how talented he was years later.

After elementary school, Muhammad Taqi began to study at the Talebieh seminary, and then moved to Tehran and Qom, where he studied under some of the outstanding religious scholars of his time. But when he heard about his mother's illness, he returned to Tabriz, and attended Mr. Shahidi's classes. Soon, the Shahidi insisted that he leave for Najaf so much that he decided to leave for the Najaf School of Theology. Muhammad Taqi Jafari spent 11 years in Najaf and learned from great scholars. His progress was so spectacular that he was conferred on the greatest degree of jurisprudence – ijtihad – when he was only 23.

His life was quite difficult at that time, for the only income he had was the allowance he received from the seminary. He had to work and study at the same time to manage his simple, austere life. He has about 120 volumes of precious books during his scientific life.

His first book, The Relationship between Man and the Universe, which he wrote when he was in his late twenties, also shows this. The book, which concerns physics and philosophy, implies how important learning about modern science and analyzing and criticizing it were to its writer. His style of criticism, however, was that of a young, Islamic academician who had been trained by the best Islamic scholars of his time. Of course, the fundamentals of Islamic civilization and development were also influential.

When the Jafari returned to Iran, he continued to study the new waves of thought that were rapidly spreading throughout intellectualism. He undoubtedly approved the basic idea of intellectualism, which was what had drawn him from decadent, traditional thoughts to study modern ones; the study that dominated his 60-year academic career.

As an explorer of anthropological domains, Muhammad Taqi endeavored to discover mankind accurately, so he began by practically showing value for human beings, and presenting the highest of moral values and constructive patterns in his behavior. Maybe it was his moral excellence that helped him accomplish so much in a rather short period of time – the Allameh wrote many books on a vast variety of fields, the most prominent of which are his 15-volume Interpretation and Criticism of Rumi's Mathnavi, and his unfinished, 27-volume Translation and Interpretation of the Nahj-ul-balaqah. These two major works of the Jafari contain his most important thoughts and ideas in fields like anthropology, sociology, moral ethics, philosophy and mysticism.

We hold dear his name and memory.