Grand Ayatollah Marja (; plural ''marājiʿ''; ) is a title given to the highest level of Twelver Shia religious cleric, with the authority given by a hawzah (a seminary where Shi'a Muslim scholars are educated) to make legal decisions within the confines of Sh ...

Jafar Sobhani (; born 9 April 1929) is an Iranian

Twelver Twelver Shi'ism (), also known as Imamism () or Ithna Ashari, is the Islamic schools and branches, largest branch of Shia Islam, Shi'a Islam, comprising about 90% of all Shi'a Muslims. The term ''Twelver'' refers to its adherents' belief in twel ...

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

marja, influential

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

and writer. Sobhani was a former member of the

Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom The Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom () is an Iranian group founded in 1961/3 by the leading Muslim clerics of Qom. Established by the students of Ayatollah Khomeini after his exile to Iraq, it was formed in order to organize political ac ...

and founder of Imam Sadiq Institute in

Qom Qom (; ) is a city in the Central District of Qom County, Qom province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is the seventh largest metropolis and also the seventh largest city in Iran. The city is ...

Education

Ayatollah Ja'far Sobhani learned

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is ''Adab (Islam), Adab'', which comes from a meaning of etiquett ...

Principles of Islamic jurisprudence Principles of Islamic jurisprudence () are traditional methodological principles used in Islamic jurisprudence (''fiqh'') for deriving the rulings of Islamic law (''sharia''). Traditional theory of Islamic jurisprudence elaborates how the scri ...

in the

Islamic Seminary Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

. In 1946, he went to Islamic Seminary in Qom. In the Islamic Seminary, he took part in famous teachers' classes of

Fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

, Usool,

Tafsir Tafsir ( ; ) refers to an exegesis, or commentary, of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' (; plural: ). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, interpretation, context or commentary for clear understanding ...

, and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

. Sobhani's important teachers were

Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Hossein Ali Tabatabaei Borujerdi ( Luri/; 23 March 1875 – 30 March 1961) was a leading Iranian Shia Marja' in Iran from approximately 1947 to his death in 1961. He was a major proponent for the elimination of Baha'is in I ...

Khomeini Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 19023 June 1989) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician, political theorist, and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian ...

, and

Mirza Sayyed Mohammad Tabatabai Mirza Seyyed Mohammad Tabatabai (Persian: آیت الله میرزا سید محمد طباطبائی, also known as Mohammad Sang-e-laji,;''Sang-e-laj'' (سَنگِلَج) is one of the neighbourhoods of the Old Tehran, not far from the Grand Ba ...

near 15 years.

Activities

* Qom Islamic Seminary's lecturer and scholar in Fiqh, Principles of Fiqh, history,rijal and theological studies * Founder and director of ''Maktabe Islam'' magazine * Founder and director of ''Kalaame Islami'' magazine * Established an institute for theological research known as Imam Sadiq Institute * Participated in writing the

Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran (, ''Qanun-e Asasi-ye Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Iran'') is the supreme law of Iran. It was adopted by referendum on 2 and 3 December 1979, and went into force replacing the Constitution of 1906. It ...

* Writer of a thematic interpretation of the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

* Fighting with

Wahhabism Wahhabism is an exonym for a Salafi revivalist movement within Sunni Islam named after the 18th-century Hanbali scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. It was initially established in the central Arabian region of Najd and later spread to oth ...

* Established the field of

Ilm al-Kalam ''Ilm al-kalam'' or ''ilm al-lahut'', often shortened to ''kalam'', is the scholastic, speculative, or rational study of Islamic theology (''aqida''). It can also be defined as the science that studies the fundamental doctrines of Islamic fait ...

in the seminary of Qom * Published more than 300 researches

Books

He has several

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

books that are categorized in seven fields as

Fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

History of Islam The history of Islam is believed, by most historians, to have originated with Muhammad's mission in Mecca and Medina at the start of the 7th century CE, although Muslims regard this time as a return to the original faith passed down by the Abr ...

, and

Biographical evaluation Biographical evaluation (; literally meaning'' 'Knowledge of Men', ''but more commonly understood as the ''Science of Narrators)'' refers to a discipline of Islamic religious studies within hadith terminology in which the narrators of hadith are ...

. In 2001, '' Doctrines of Shi'i Islam: A Compendium of Imami Beliefs and Practices'' book () was translated into English and published by I. B. Tauris. Some of his books include:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sobhani, Jafar 1929 births Living people People from Tabriz Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom members Members of the Assembly of Experts for Constitution Muslim People's Republic Party politicians Recipients of the Order of Knowledge Iran's Book of the Year Awards recipients