Allamah Sayyed Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai was born in Tabriz in 1321 (1892) in a family of descendants of the Noblest Messenger of Allah Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH)which for fourteen generations has produced outstanding Islamic scholars.
He received his earliest education in his native city, mastering the elements of Arabic and the religious sciences, and at about the age of 20 years, came to the hawza of Najaf in Iraq to begin more advanced studies.
In the great city, Allamah Tabatabai studied fiqh and usul with two of the great masters of that day, Mirza Muhammad Husayn Na’ini and Shaykh Muhammad Husayn Isfahani.
In addition to formal learning, Allamah also devoted time acquiring gnosis through which knowledge turns into vision of the supernal realities.
He was fortunate in finding a great master of Islamic gnosis, Mirza Ali Qadhi, who initiated him into the Divine mysteries and guided him in his journey toward spiritual perfection.
Thanks to this master, the years in Najaf became for Allamah not only a period of intellectual attainment but also one of asceticism and spiritual practices. This enabled him to attain that state of spiritual realisation - often referred to as becoming divorced from the darkness of material limitations (tajrid).
He spent long periods in fasting and prayer and underwent a long interval during which he kept absolute silence.
Allamah Tabatabai returned to Tabriz in 1934. He worked as a farmer for 10 years to alleviate his family’s financial difficulties. In those years he continued to teach a small number of disciples, but he was as yet unknown to the religious circles of Iran at large.
In his quiet and unassuming manner, Allamah began to teach in the holy city of Qum, concentrating on Qura’nic commentary and traditional Islamic philosophy and theosophy, which had not been taught in Qum for many years.
His magnetic personality and spiritual presence soon attracted some of the most intelligent and competent of the students to him, and gradually he made the philosophical teachings of Mulla Sadra once again a cornerstone of the traditional curriculum.
The activities of Allamah since he came to Qum also included frequent visits to Tehran. After the Second World War, when Marxism was fashionable among some of the youths in Tehran, he was the only religious scholar who took the pains to study the philosophical basis of Communism and supply a response to dialectical materialism from the Islamic point of view.
The fruit of this effort was one of his major works, Usul-e Falsafah Wa Ravish-e Ri’alism (The Principles of Philosophy and Method of Realism).
His eminent student, Shahid Morteza Mutahhari, wrote footnotes and explanations to this work, thus making it easily comprehensible to the average person.
In addition to a heavy program of teaching and guidance, Allamah occupied himself with writing many books and articles which attested to his remarkable intellectual powers and breadth of learning within the world of the traditional Islamic sciences.
His fame rests on his various academic works - the most important being his great exegesis of the Qur’an, al-Mizan fi Tafsiri’l-Qur’an.
A third book Shi`ah Dar Islam (Shi`ah in Islam), was first published in Persian; later it was published in English. This book is based on Allamah’s discussions with Professor Kenneth Morgan of Colgate University, held in the summer of 1384 (1963) about Shi’ism.
His other major philosophical work is a voluminous commentary of Asfar al-'Arba'eh, the magnum opus of Mulla Sadra, the renowned Iranian thinker.
Apart from these he also wrote extensively on philosophical topics. His humanist approach is underlined by his three books on: the nature of man - before the world, in this world, and after this world.
His philosophy is focused upon the sociological treatment of human problems. His two other works, Bidayat al-hikmah and Nihayat al-hikmah, are considered among works of high order in Islamic philosophy.
Allameh Tabatabaei was also an accomplished poet. He composed his poetry mainly in Persian, but occasionally in Arabic as well. He was also the author of numerous articles and essays.
List of works
Shi'a Islam (Persian: Shi’ah dar islam)
The Principles of Philosophy and the Method of Realism (Iranian: Usul-i-falsafeh va ravesh-i-ri'alism) in five volumes, with the annotations of Morteza Mutahhari.
Glosses al-kifayah (Persian: Hashiyahi kifayah). Glosses upon the new edition of the Asfar of Sadr al-Din Shirizi Mulla Sadra appearing under the direction of 'Allahma Tabataba'i of which seven volumes have appeared.
Dialogues with Professor Corbin (Iranian: Mushabat ba Ustad Kurban) Two volumes based on conversations carried out between 'Allahma Tabataba'i and Henry Corbin of which the first volume was printed as the yearbook of Maktab-i tashayyu’, 1339 (A.H. Solar)
Risalah dar hukumat-i islami, (Treatise on Islamic Government).
Hashiyah-i kifayah (Glosses upon al-Kifayah).
Risalah dar quwwah wafi'(Treatise on Potentiality and Actuality).
Risalah dar ithbat-i dha~t (Treatise on the Proof of the Divine Essence).
Risalah dar sifat (Treatise on the Divine Attributes).
Risalah dar ata (Treatise on the Divine Acts).
Risalah dar Wasayil (Treatise on Wasayil).
Risalah dar insan qabl al-dunya (Treatise on Man before the World)
Risalah dar insan fi al-dunya (Treatise on Man in the World).
Risalah dar insan ba'd al-dunya (Treatise on Man after the World).
Risalah dar nubuwwat (Treatise on divine mission of messengers).
Risalah dar wilayat (Treatise on Wilayat).
Risalah dar mushtaqqat (Treatise on Derivatives).
Risalah dar burhan (Treatise on Demonstration).
Risalah dar mughalatah (Treatise on fallacious reasoning).
Risalah dar tahlil (Treatise on Analysis).
Risalah dar tarkib (Treatise on Synthesis).
Risalah dar i’tibarat (Treatise on Contingents).
Risalah dar nubuwwat wa manamat (Treatise on divine mission of messengers and dreams)
Manza’mah dar rasm-i- khatt-i-nasta’liq (Poem on the Method of Writing the Nasta’liq Style of Calligraphy).
Ali wa al-falsafat al-ilahiya (Ali and Metaphysics)
Qur'an dar islam (The Qur’an in Islam).
Allamah Tabatabai passed away in 1413 (1981) and is buried in the Masjid-e Bala Sar in the shrine of Lady Fatema Masuma(AS) in Qum.
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