Sayed Muhsin al-Hakim
Encyclopedia
Grand Ayatollah Sayyid
Muhsin al-Tabataba'i al-Hakim
(1889–1970) was born into a family, the Tabatabai, renowned for its scholarship. He was always in the forefront to defend Islam
and Muslims. He became the sole Marja
in 1961 after the death of Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Husayn Borujerdi. His son Abdul Aziz al-Hakim
was the leader of SIIC the largest political party in Iraq.
of Najaf
grew immensely under his Marja
iyya. His historic opinion piece (although, not an official fatwa
), branding communism
as kufr and atheism
proved the beginning of the end of communism in Iraq
.
Muhsin Al-Hakim led the hawza, also known as the marja'iyya, the group of Shi'i scholars based in Najaf responsible for determining Shi'i religious doctrine, during a time of considerable tumult in Iraq. Communism had enveloped the south of Iraq, Iraqi nationalist parties (and most prominently the pan-Arabist Ba'ath party) were largely in control of Iraq's political institutions, particularly during the last decade of Hakim's life. It is important to note, however, that the hawza is not a papacy and that therefore "leading" it does not mean that Hakim alone could pronounce Shi'i doctrine, all members of the hawza of sufficient standing (namely, those given the title absolute interpreter, or mujtahid mutlaq) developed their own rules based on accepted techniques and practices. Hakim was simply the most respected of the relatively small group of scholars.
is a lineal descendant of the Prophet Muhammad who is the Imam in Shi'i theology, an infallible individual in whom political and religious authority for the Muslim community is vested and who will ultimately bring justice to the world with his reappearance under Shi'i eschatological theory.
who were less enamored of Hakim's stance respecting political authority. Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr
, for example, a more junior member of the hawza during Hakim's time, sought a series of reforms to the hawza to make it more politically palatable and appealing to the Shi'i masses who were proving susceptible to Communism. Sadr therefore tried to unify and centralize the hawza, placing more power in the hands of the senior scholar, and sought to make its materials more accessible and understandable to the lay community, filled as it was with arcane and obscure language, often on minutiae of no interest to the broader Shi'i masses. He helped found the Da'wa party as well, an Islamist party that Sadr imagined would give the hawza political influence in Baghdad.
While Hakim had a great deal of respect for the intelligence and enthusiasm of Sadr, he viewed his political activism as contrary to its principles and interests. Hakim therefore asked Sadr to dissociate his relationship with Da'wa and generally discouraged his efforts to reform large parts of the hawza curriculum, though some important reforms were undertaken. Hakim therefore maintained the quietist balance through very difficult times, and ultimately projected a stance on politics and religion in the Shi'i community that remains influential today.
With Hakim's death, Sadr's activism increased and ultimately his ideas proved too threatening to the Saddam
and his government. In 1980, he and his sister were killed by Saddam Hussein's interrogators, as were any members of the hawza who were inclined to take Sadr's politically active position. With the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime, however, Shi'ism has reached a considerable period of ferment, with the religious community attempting to achieve some form of balance between the political activism announced by Sadr and the quietist stance embodied most clearly in the form of Muhsim al-Hakim.
He was buried in the great and modern library
he had established.
Sayyid
Sayyid is an honorific title, it denotes males accepted as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husain ibn Ali, sons of the prophet's daughter Fatima Zahra and his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib.Daughters of sayyids are given the titles Sayyida,...
Muhsin al-Tabataba'i al-Hakim
Hakim (title)
' and ' are two Arabic titles derived from the same triliteral ḤKM "appoint, choose, judge". Compare the Hebrew title hakham.-Hakīm :...
(1889–1970) was born into a family, the Tabatabai, renowned for its scholarship. He was always in the forefront to defend Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and Muslims. He became the sole Marja
Marja
Marja , also known as a marja-i taqlid or marja dini , literally means "Source to Imitate/Follow" or "Religious Reference"...
in 1961 after the death of Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Husayn Borujerdi. His son Abdul Aziz al-Hakim
Abdul Aziz al-Hakim
Sayyed Abdul Aziz al-Hakim was an Iraqi theologian and politician and the leader of Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a party that enjoys approximately 5% support in the Iraqi Council of Representatives....
was the leader of SIIC the largest political party in Iraq.
Activities in Hawza Ilmiyya, Najaf
The hawzaHawza
Hawza or ḥawza ʻilmiyya is a seminary of traditional Islamic school of higher learning. It is a term used mostly by the Shi'a Muslims communities to refer to a traditional Shi'a centre where clerics are trained...
of Najaf
Najaf
Najaf is a city in Iraq about 160 km south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2008 is 560,000 people. It is the capital of Najaf Governorate...
grew immensely under his Marja
Marja
Marja , also known as a marja-i taqlid or marja dini , literally means "Source to Imitate/Follow" or "Religious Reference"...
iyya. His historic opinion piece (although, not an official fatwa
Fatwa
A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
), branding communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
as kufr and atheism
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
proved the beginning of the end of communism in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
.
Muhsin Al-Hakim led the hawza, also known as the marja'iyya, the group of Shi'i scholars based in Najaf responsible for determining Shi'i religious doctrine, during a time of considerable tumult in Iraq. Communism had enveloped the south of Iraq, Iraqi nationalist parties (and most prominently the pan-Arabist Ba'ath party) were largely in control of Iraq's political institutions, particularly during the last decade of Hakim's life. It is important to note, however, that the hawza is not a papacy and that therefore "leading" it does not mean that Hakim alone could pronounce Shi'i doctrine, all members of the hawza of sufficient standing (namely, those given the title absolute interpreter, or mujtahid mutlaq) developed their own rules based on accepted techniques and practices. Hakim was simply the most respected of the relatively small group of scholars.
Political Stances
Hakim's general stance with respect to all of these movements, in contradistinction to those of his children, who later became extraordinarily active politically, was one of quietism. In fact, Shi'i quietism, later exemplified by hawza leaders such as Grand Ayatollah Abul Qasim al-Khoei and current Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, probably reached its apotheosis in Iraq during Hakim's tenure. Thus, while Hakim did attempt to limit Communist influence among the Shi'a by banning their participation in the party, for the most part he preferred to remain out of politics, at least tacitly agreeing with Baghdad's rulers to keep the hawza's scholars politically neutral in exchange for relative immunity for those scholars. Implicit in this stance was a certain alienation and disaffection with the notion of the modern nation state and the exercise of political authority. The state, and politics, were assumed to be inherently sullying, and something which good Shi'is should avoid. Quietism is thus not secularism, where the state and religion are presumed to have important, but separate, spheres of influence, but rather a type of devotion to the religious authorities and suspicion of political ones. Politics and religion would then be united once again after the return of the hidden Mahdi, now disappeared for over a millennium. The MahdiMahdi
In Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will stay on Earth for seven, nine or nineteen years- before the Day of Judgment and, alongside Jesus, will rid the world of wrongdoing, injustice and tyranny.In Shia Islam, the belief in the Mahdi is a "central religious...
is a lineal descendant of the Prophet Muhammad who is the Imam in Shi'i theology, an infallible individual in whom political and religious authority for the Muslim community is vested and who will ultimately bring justice to the world with his reappearance under Shi'i eschatological theory.
Other Point of View
There were some within the hawzaHawza
Hawza or ḥawza ʻilmiyya is a seminary of traditional Islamic school of higher learning. It is a term used mostly by the Shi'a Muslims communities to refer to a traditional Shi'a centre where clerics are trained...
who were less enamored of Hakim's stance respecting political authority. Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr
Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr
Shahid-e-Khamis Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr was an Iraqi Shi'a cleric, a philosopher, and ideological founder of Islamic Dawa Party born in al-Kazimiya, Iraq. He is the father-in-law of Muqtada al-Sadr and cousin of both Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr and Imam Musa as-Sadr...
, for example, a more junior member of the hawza during Hakim's time, sought a series of reforms to the hawza to make it more politically palatable and appealing to the Shi'i masses who were proving susceptible to Communism. Sadr therefore tried to unify and centralize the hawza, placing more power in the hands of the senior scholar, and sought to make its materials more accessible and understandable to the lay community, filled as it was with arcane and obscure language, often on minutiae of no interest to the broader Shi'i masses. He helped found the Da'wa party as well, an Islamist party that Sadr imagined would give the hawza political influence in Baghdad.
While Hakim had a great deal of respect for the intelligence and enthusiasm of Sadr, he viewed his political activism as contrary to its principles and interests. Hakim therefore asked Sadr to dissociate his relationship with Da'wa and generally discouraged his efforts to reform large parts of the hawza curriculum, though some important reforms were undertaken. Hakim therefore maintained the quietist balance through very difficult times, and ultimately projected a stance on politics and religion in the Shi'i community that remains influential today.
With Hakim's death, Sadr's activism increased and ultimately his ideas proved too threatening to the Saddam
Saddam
–Saddam is an Arabic name which means "One who confronts", other meanings include: "One who frequently causes collisions", "Powerful collider", "One who causes a collision that had bad results", "Powerful confronter", "One who frequently crashes", or "Powerful commander"...
and his government. In 1980, he and his sister were killed by Saddam Hussein's interrogators, as were any members of the hawza who were inclined to take Sadr's politically active position. With the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime, however, Shi'ism has reached a considerable period of ferment, with the religious community attempting to achieve some form of balance between the political activism announced by Sadr and the quietist stance embodied most clearly in the form of Muhsim al-Hakim.
He was buried in the great and modern library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
he had established.
See also
- List of Ayatollahs
- List of Shi'a Muslim scholars of Islam
- Marjas
- List of Marjas
- List of Shi'a books
- The Four BooksThe Four BooksThe Four Books is a Twelver Shiʿa term referring to their four best known hadith collections.The books are:Shi'a Muslims use different books of ahadith than Ahl al-Sunnah's Six major Hadith collections...
- HawzaHawzaHawza or ḥawza ʻilmiyya is a seminary of traditional Islamic school of higher learning. It is a term used mostly by the Shi'a Muslims communities to refer to a traditional Shi'a centre where clerics are trained...
- ResalahResalahA Resalah , also resalah amaliyah is a book written by a Shia Marja that contains his practical rulings arranged according to topics dealing with ritual purity, worship, social issues, business, and political affairs, and outlining the principles used to derive specific rulings.All resalahs begin...
- Muhammad Hussain Najafi
External links
- http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/religion-shia2.htm