Haj Agha Rahim Arbab (1875–1975) was born in

Chermahin Chermahin () is a city in Bagh-e Bahadoran District of Lenjan County, Isfahan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Tur ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, from Isfahan province, to a family of scholars. Haj agha Rahim Arbab is among the Islamic scholars who never wore the traditional turban. He believed that the turban is for prophets and that he did not possess the scholarly permission to wear a turban. All of his 50 students ranked as Ayatollah after graduation. Among them, Allameh Jalal Homaei, Reza Alishah Tabandeh and Ayatollah Mirdamadi are well known.

Childhood

Haj Agha Arbab grew up in

, and nature and simple living had a very deep effect on the development of his philosophy and theology. He learned to read and write at the age of four and started reading Persian literature at that age. As is tradition, he started with learning

Gulistan Gulistan, Golestan or Golastan () means "flower land" in Persian language (''gol'' meaning "flower", and ''-stan'' meaning "land"). It may refer to: Places Iran "Golestan" most often refers to: *Golestan province in northeast Iran. * Goles ...

and

Bostan Bostan, Bustan, Boustan or Boostan () may refer to: Places Iran * Shahrak-e Bostan, Fars province * Bostan, Isfahan, Isfahan province * Bostan, Kerman, Kerman province * Bostan, Iran, Khuzestan province ** Bostan District (Dasht-e Azadegan ...

, the two books of the great Persian poet

Sadi Saadi, Sadī, Sadi, or SADI may refer to: People * Sadi (name) * Saadi Shirazi, a Persian poet * Saadi dynasty, a dynasty of Morocco Places * Sədi, village in Azerbaijan * Sadi, East Azerbaijan, a village in Iran * Sadi, Marand, a village in ...

, along with

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

ic studies. When he was five his teachers sent him back to his father, Haj Arbab, who was a scholar himself, stating that he had mastered all of the required fields and knew those books by heart. They requested that he be sent to hawzeh (a high level school also known as

Madrassa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary education or higher learning. ...

). This promise encouraged his parents to move to the city of

Isfahan Isfahan or Esfahan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Isfahan County), Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan province, Iran. It is the capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is located south of Tehran. The city ...

Formal studies

Haj Agha Rahim Arbab started attending the classes required for the traditional schools at a very young age, along with his cousin,

Mirza Abbas Khan Sheida Mirza Abbas Khan Sheida (1873 – 1949; Persian: میرزاعباس‌خان شیدا) also known as Sheida-ye-Esfahani (شیدای اصفهانی), was an Iranian sufi, poet and Journalist. Biography Sheida was born in 1873 in Shahre-Kord n ...

, who was later known as Sheida-ye-Esfahani. He attended the

Sadr The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), also known as the Sahrawi Republic and Western Sahara, is a partially recognized state in the western Maghreb, which claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara, but controls only ...

and finished his academic studies in jurisprudence (

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

) and its principles ( usul), theosophy ( hekmat), and the other Islamic intellectual ('aqli) and transmitted (naqli) sciences, under the supervision of philosophers and scholars such as Jahangir Khan Ghashghaei and Ayatollah Akhond Kashi. Ayatollah Haj Agha Rahim Arbab showed extraordinary abilities in formal and informal studies such as Persian and Arabic literature, mathematics, philosophy, mysticism and astronomy. He graduated to the rank of Ayatollah when he was only fourteen.

References

*Arbab Marifat, 1996, Published by Isfahan Municipality. {{DEFAULTSORT:Arbab, Rahim 1875 births 1975 deaths Iranian ayatollahs Iranian Muslim mystics Burials at Takht-e Foulad