Grand Ayatollah Mujaddid Mirza
Muhammad-Hassan al-Shirazi
الميرزا محمد حسن الحسيني الشيرازي
TitleGrand Ayatollah
Mujaddid
Personal
BornApril 25, 1815
Shiraz, Qajar Iran
DiedFebruary 20, 1895(1895-02-20) (aged 79)
Samarra, Ottoman Iraq
Resting placeImam Ali Shrine
ReligionIslam
Children
  • Muhammad
  • Ali Agha
JurisprudenceTwelver Shia
Other namesal-Mirza al-Kabir, Arabic: الميرزا الكبير
al-Mujadid al-Shirazi, Arabic: المجدد الشيرازي
RelativesMirza Mahdi al-Shirazi (grand nephew & grandson-in-law)
Razi Shirazi (great grandson)
Abd al-Hadi al-Shirazi (first cousin, once removed)
InstituteNajaf Seminary
Samarra Seminary
Muslim leader
Based inNajaf, Iraq
Samarra, Iraq
Period in office1864–1895
PredecessorMurtadha al-Ansari
SuccessorAkhund Khorasani
PostGrand Ayatollah

Grand Ayatollah Mujaddid Mirza Abu Muhammad Mu'iz al-Din Muhammad-Hassan al-Husayni al-Shirazi (Persian: أبو محمد معز الدين محمد حسن حسينى شيرازى; Arabic: أبو محمد معز الدين محمد حسن الحسيني الشيرازي; 25 April 1815 – 20 February 1895), better simply known as Mirza Shirazi, was an Iraqi-Iranian Shia marja'.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

After the death of Murtadha al-Ansari, he was known to be the supreme Shia leader of his time, and gained fame for his celebrated 1891 verdict against the usage of tobacco in what became known as the Tobacco Protest in the Qajar era.[7]

He is dubbed as the mujaddid (renewer of the religion) of the 13th century of the Islamic era.

Early life and education

Shirazi was born in Shiraz, to the renowned al-Shirazi family. His father was Mirza Mahmud Shirazi, and his mother was Khanum Musawi. His father died when he was young, and his maternal uncle, Sayyid Husayn Musawi–majd al-ashraf–became his guardian.[2]

Education

He began his religious education at the age of four, and completed his introductory studies by the time he was eight years old. He began his advanced classes in jurisprudence and methodology in the seminary of Shiraz. He studied at the religious seminary in Isfahan beginning in 1832, and was granted ijtihad in 1835.[6]

He then moved to Najaf in 1845, and studied under many senior scholars including Sheikh Muhammad-Ibrahim al-Karbassi, Sayyid Sadr al-Din al-Ameli, Sayyid Hassan al-Mudarris and Sheikh Muhammad-Hassan Najafi. He studied for a short while under Sayyid Ibrahim al-Qazwini, author of al-Dhawabit.[1]

Najafi equipped Shirazi with another certificate of ijtihad and a letter of recommendation to Hossein Khan Sardar, governor of Iran.

Upon the death of al-Ansari in 1864, Shirazi was nominated the best qualified scholar to succeed him.[2]

Tobacco Protest

Tobacco Protest verdict issued by Shirazi in 1891

Shirazi was considered the leading marja' of the Shia world, especially in Persia. This meant that he was very influential, over the Shia community.[8] Two scholars were involved in bringing what was happening in Iran to Shirazi's attention, one of them sent a letter, whilst the other sent one of his students to Samarra to explain matters to Shirazi in person.[9][10]

The protest started with Shirazi sending a telegram to Naser al-Din Shah on July 26, 1891, protesting the granting of the tobacco monopoly. Shirazi was left with no reply; however, the Shah sent his ambassador in Iraq to Shirazi to try to persuade him to abandon his motive, and that the deal was beneficial to the nation. After another attempt by Shirazi, that was also met with no response, a fatwa began to go around in Tehran, declaring the use of tobacco to be tantamount to war against the Hidden Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi.[11][5]

Some doubts arose as to whether the fatwa was genuine; however, this was quickly dismissed as there was no sign of any remarks of renunciation from Shirazi, upon the circulation of the fatwa.

The case came to a close on January 26, 1892, when Naser al-Din yielded to the public pressure and cancelled the concession.

Ecumenical policy in Samarra

Shirazi's protest allowed Shiism to become more popular in Samarra. The Sunnis began participating in the mourning ceremonies of Muharram, with their Shia neighbours. Shirazi's demeanor also inspired them to pursue religious careers. Shirazi tried to use this advantage to strengthen ties between the Shias and Sunnis.[12] His great-grandson, Radhi al-Shirazi narrates when the Sunnis decided to build a seminary for themselves, after reaching a specific stage, they had run out of funds to complete the construction. They then turned to Shirazi for financial aid, to which Shirazi gladly provided them a generous sum, that helped complete their seminary.[1]

Unfortunately, this level of influence gained by a Shia marja', wasn't going down well with Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who decided to establish more Sunni madrasas in Samarra to "protect the Sunnis from the tricks of the heretics [Shias]".[13]

In 1893, when chaos began to spread across Samarra due to sectarian tensions, leading to the death of Shirazi's son, Muhammad, as well as one of his nephews. Pressures rose on the Shia's, many Shias from the south were adamant on going to Samarra and violently ending the conflict, but were constantly rejected by Shirazi. Eventually, a complaint was made to the sultan, who allegedly worked hard to extinguish the conflict. In the meantime, the British and Russian governments both tried to take advantage of the situation and intervene by deploying their forces to one side of the conflict, choosing Shirazi. But to their disappointment, Shirazi rebuffed the two powers, claiming "it was a simple dispute among brothers" and of no concern to foreign nations.[1]

Personal life

Shirazi was married to his cousin, the daughter of Mirza Radhi al-Din Shirazi. From her he had four children, two sons and two daughters.[14]

His eldest son, Muhammad, was killed in Samarra; reports indicate that his death was at the hands of the sectarian tension that happened at the time,[15] and other reports, like that of his great-grandson, Muhammad al-Shirazi's, claim he was killed by the British. His second son Ali, became a high ranking scholar, and if it was not for his death in 1936, he would have been the marja' of his time.[16]

His great-granddaughter is married to the current grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Sistani.[17]

Death

After facing a strenuous period after the tobacco protest, Shirazi died in Samarra on Wednesday February 20, 1895. He was then taken to Najaf to be buried in the Imam Ali shrine.[7]

Legacy

Shirazi produced a large number of prominent students that proved to be great scholars of the age, and had a huge impact on the dissemination of the Islamic sciences. Some of them included:[18][19]

As the supreme marja' of his time, this left him very little time to attend to scholarly His duties as marja' did not leave him much time for publishing religious literature. He only had a few writings on the works of his mentor, al-Ansari.[20]

The role he played in the tobacco boycott has been dubbed a "stunning" demonstration of the power of the marja'-i taqlid, and the protest itself has been cited as one of the issues that led to the Persian Constitutional Revolution a few years later.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "al-Mujadid al-Shirazi al-Kabir". An-Nabaa Information Network (in Arabic). Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  2. 1 2 3 al-Tehrani, Agha Buzurg (2009). Tabaqat A'lam al-Shia; al-Kiram al-Barara Fi al-Qarn al-Thalith Ashar [Levels of the Notables of the Shia (13th Century)]. Vol. 13. Cairo, Egypt: Dar Ihya' al-Turath al-Arabi. p. 436.
  3. ↑ "Ayatollah Mirza Shirazi". Islamic Insights. 7 July 2008. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
  4. ↑ al-Wardi, Dr. Ali (2010-01-01). Lamahat Ijtima'iya Min Tarikh al-Iraq [Social Glimpses From The History Of Iraq] (in Arabic). Vol. 3. Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Rashid. pp. 86–102.
  5. 1 2 Hann, Geoff; Dabrowska, Karen; Townsend-Greaves, Tina (7 August 2015). Iraq: The ancient sites and Iraqi Kurdistan. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 189. ISBN 978-1-84162-488-4.
  6. 1 2 "Qa'id Thawrat al-Tunbak" [Leader of the Tobacco Protest]. www.alanwar14.com (in Arabic). Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  7. 1 2 "al-Mirza al-Shiraz.. Sahib Thawrat al-Tinbak" [al-Mirza al-Shirazi.. Head of the Tobacco revolution]. www.alrsool.info (in Arabic). Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  8. ↑ Pāyā, ʻAlī; Esposito, John L. (2011). Iraq, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World. Taylor & Francis. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-415-58228-5.
  9. ↑ Keddie, Nikki (1966). Religion and Rebellion in Iran: The Tobacco Protest of 1891-1892. London, UK. pp. 342–47.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ↑ Farah, Caesar E. (2008). Abdülhamid II and the Muslim world. Foundation for Research on Islamic history, Art and History. p. 129. ISBN 9789757874317.
  11. ↑ Kirmani, Nazim al-Islam (1953). Tarikhe Bidarie Iranian [The History of the Iranian] (in Persian). Tehran, Iran. p. 12.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. ↑ "Madrasat al-Imam al-Shirazi" [al-Mujadid al-Shirazi's school]. The Husayn Shrine (in Arabic). Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  13. ↑ al-Samarrai, Yunus (1966). Tarikh 'Ulama Samarra [History of the Scholars of Samarra] (in Arabic). Vol. 2. Baghdad, Iraq. p. 24.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  14. ↑ Adhwa' 'Ala Hayat al-Imam al-Shirazi [Lights on the life of Imam Shirazi] (in Arabic). Beirut, Lebanon: al-Wafa' Foundation. 1993.
  15. ↑ al-Samarrai, Yunus (1968). Tarikh Madinat Samarra [History of the City of Samarra] (in Arabic). Vol. 2. Baghdad, Iraq. pp. 177–78.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  16. ↑ al-Shirazi, Muhammad (1999). Mutaradat Qarn Wa Nisf [The Chase of a Century and a Half] (in Arabic). Kuwait. p. 5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  17. ↑ "Thikra Wafat al-Sayyid Mirza Mahdi al-Shirazi Fi 28 Shaban" [Ayatollah Sayyid al-Mirza Mahdi al-Shirazi's death anniversary on the 28th of Shaban (lunar calendar)]. An-Nabaa Information Network (in Arabic). Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  18. ↑ Herz-al-Din, Muhammad (1985). Ma'arif al-Rijal Fi Tarajim al-Ulama' Wa al-Udaba' [Knowledge of the Men, Biographies of Scholars and Literates] (in Arabic). Vol. 2. Qom, Iran. pp. 236–37.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  19. ↑ Tehrani, Agha Bozorg (1983). Mirzaye Shirazi [Mirza Shirazi] (in Persian). Tehran, Iran. p. 211.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  20. ↑ Tehrani, Agha Bozorg (1983). Mirzaye Shirazi [Mirza Shirazi] (in Persian). Tehran, Iran. pp. 217–18.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Further reading

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