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Shaykh 'Abbas Qummi

Shaykh ʿAbbās Qummī (1294–1359 AH / 1877–1941 CE), known as Muḥaddith Qummī, was a Shi'a hadith scholar and the author of Mafātīḥ al-Jinān and Safīnat al-Biḥār. His relevance to this encyclopedia lies in his authorship of Fayḍ al-Qadīr fīmā yataʿallaq bi-Ḥadīth al-Ghadīr, a work on the transmission and implications of the Hadith of Ghadir (the hadith reporting the Prophet Muhammad’s declaration at Ghadir Khumm), which he completed in 1321 AH / 1903–1904 CE.

Shaykh 'Abbas Qummi
Shaykh 'Abbas Qummi
Commemorative stamp of Muḥaddith Qummi on the occasion of the 70th anniversary
Personal Information
Full Name'Abbas b. Muḥammad Riḍa Qummi
Birth1294 HS / 1877 CE
Demise1359 HS / 1940 CE
Burial PlaceNajaf
Academic Information
TeachersSayyid Muḥammad Kāẓim Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī • Mīrzā Ḥusayn Nūrī
StudentsSayyid Ḥusayn Ṭabāṭabāʾī Qummī • Sayyid Ṣadr al-Dīn Ṣadr
WorksMafātīḥ al-jinān • Safīnat al-Biḥār wa Madīnat al-Ḥikam wa l-Āthār
EducationFiqh • Hadith
ReligionShi'a
cultural information
Field of ActivityHadith literature
Reason for NotabilityAuthoring Mafātīḥ al-jinān
Commemorative stamp of Muḥaddith Qummi on the occasion of the 70th anniversary

Fayḍ al-Qadīr is regarded as a summary of the discussion of the Hadith of Ghadir in'Abaqāt al-Anwār by Mir Hamid Husayn Hindi, Shaykh ʿAbbās Qummī completed this work in 1321 AH / 1903–1904 CE.

Shaykh ʿAbbās Qummī has been described as a learned and righteous scholar, a hadith scholar, and a devout, ascetic preacher. He has also been described as a man of refined taste, free from prejudice, and courageous. He sought to benefit people through his writings and avoided writing material of limited value.

More than sixty works have been attributed to Shaykh ʿAbbās Qummī. They are well known among both the general public and scholars, and some have been published repeatedly. His first book is said to have been Fawāʾid al-Rajabiyya, which he wrote before the age of twenty. He was the author of Mafātīḥ al-Jinān, one of the best-known modern collections of duʿa (supplications), ziyarat (devotional texts for visiting sacred figures and sites), and devotional practices. The book has acquired a significant place among Shi'a Muslims. Safīnat al-Biḥār wa Madīnat al-Ḥikam wa al-Āthār, an alphabetically arranged selection from Biḥār al-Anwār, has been regarded as his finest work.

Status and Characteristics

Shaykh ʿAbbās Qummī, known as Muḥaddith Qummī, is regarded as a prominent hadith scholar and one of the best-known Shi'a authors of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries AH / nineteenth and twentieth centuries CE. He left works on history, rijāl (the biographical evaluation of hadith transmitters), biography, Qur'anic sciences, ethics, duʿa, and other religious disciplines.[1]

Sayyid Muḥsin al-Amīn (d. 1371 AH / 1952 CE), a biographer who was a contemporary of Shaykh ʿAbbās Qummī, described him as a learned and righteous scholar, a hadith scholar, and a devout, ascetic preacher.[2]

Abū al-Ḥasan Shaʿrānī (d. 1352 SH / 1973 CE), a prominent Shi'a scholar, described Shaykh ʿAbbās Qummī as an accomplished man of letters and a hadith scholar skilled in accurately recording intricate details, who wrote in eloquent Persian and Arabic.[3] He also described him as a man of refined taste, free from prejudice, and courageous, who wished to benefit people through his works and avoided writing material that offered little benefit.[4]

Writtings on Ghadir

'Abd al-Ḥusayn al-Amīnī, the author of al-Ghadīr, included Shaykh ʿAbbās Qummī among the scholars who had written on the Hadith of Ghadir, citing his authorship of Fayḍ al-Qadīr fīmā yataʿallaq bi-Ḥadīth al-Ghadīr.[5]

Fayḍ al-Qadīr is regarded as an abridgment of 'Abaqāt al-Anwār by Mir Hamid Husayn Hindi, concerning the Hadith of Ghadir.[6] Shaykh ʿAbbās Qummī completed it in 1321 AH / 1903–1904 CE.[7]

The book’s contents have been described as follows: it consists of two parts. The first establishes the tawātur (transmission through numerous independent chains, making collusion to fabricate the report implausible) of the Hadith of Ghadir and answers objections concerning it. The second explains the meaning and implications of the hadith and refutes objections concerning them.[8] The first part comprises three chapters:

 
Fayḍ al-Qadīr, a book about Hadith al-Ghadir.
  • The first chapter contains eight sections. Its eighth section names twelve Sunni scholars who established the tawātur of the Hadith of Ghadir.
  • The second chapter contains nine sections addressing Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s objections and answering them.
  • The third chapter contains two sections addressing and answering other objections. Its second section is further divided into two subsections.[9]

The second part contains nine sections presenting the various arguments based on the Hadith of Ghadir, together with objections and responses. The book concludes with a section presenting ten arguments based on the Verse of Tablīgh (the Qur'anic verse commanding the Prophet Muhammad to convey what had been revealed to him), accompanied by transmitted reports and scholarly statements, as well as objections and responses to them.[10]

Biography

ʿAlī Muḥaddithzāda, Shaykh ʿAbbās Qummī’s son, recounted his father’s life as follows: ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad Riḍā ibn Abī al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad Qummī was born in Qom in 1294 AH / 1877 CE.[11] He spent his childhood and youth in Qom, studying the literary disciplines according to the customary curriculum of the time. His mastery of these subjects earned him the nickname al-Farrāʾ, after the renowned scholar of Arabic language and literature.[12]

In 1312 AH / 1894–1895 CE, he went to Najaf, where he spent several years studying under leading scholars. He studied fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) under Sayyid Muḥammad Kāẓim Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī (d. 1337 AH / 1919 CE). However, his greater interest in hadith, rijāl, and dirāya (the critical study of hadith) led him to spend some time studying the hadith sciences under Mīrzā Ḥusayn Nūrī (d. 1320 AH / 1902 CE). He received ijāzat al-riwāya (formal authorization to transmit hadith) from Nūrī and several other hadith scholars in Najaf.[13] After living in Najaf for some time, Shaykh ʿAbbās Qummī returned to Qom because of breathing difficulties and devoted himself to writing and collecting hadiths in his hometown.[14]


In 1337 AH / 1918–1919 CE, he moved to Mashhad and settled there as a resident near the shrine. During this period, he made several pilgrimages to the House of God, the Kaʿba.[15] He also traveled to India.[16] In his spare time, particularly during periods of religious mourning, he offered people beneficial sermons and counsel.[17] In 1341 AH / 1922–1923 CE, at the request of a group of seminary students in Mashhad, he taught Islamic ethics on the evenings preceding Thursday and Friday.[18] Nearly one thousand students and scholars gathered at the Mīrzā Jaʿfar School to attend these lessons, each of which lasted approximately three hours.[19]

In 1352 AH / 1933–1934 CE, he left Mashhad to settle in Najaf.[20] During this period, he also made four trips to Syria and Lebanon.[21] Shaykh ʿAbbās Qummī passed away at the age of sixty-five on the night preceding Tuesday, 23 Dhū al-Ḥijja 1359 AH, during the ten-day period of Ghadir observances,[22] corresponding to 1 Bahman 1319 SH / January 21, 1941 CE.[23] Following the funeral prayer led by Sayyid Abū al-Ḥasan Iṣfahānī (d. 1365 AH / 1946 CE), a Shi'a marjaʿ al-taqlīd (a senior Shi'a jurist whose legal rulings are followed in matters of religious practice), his body was laid to rest in the courtyard of the shrine of Imam Ali, the Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him). He was buried in the third īwān (a vaulted hall open on one side) among those on the eastern side of Bāb al-Qibla, beside his teacher, Muḥaddith Nūrī.[24] According to Sayyid Muḥsin al-Amīn, three memorial gatherings were held for him in Najaf, Karbalāʾ, and Kāẓimayn.[25]

Teachers

Some sources list the following scholars as Shaykh ʿAbbās Qummī’s teachers or as those who granted him ijāzat al-riwāya:

  • Sayyid Muḥammad Kāẓim Ṭabāṭabāʾī Yazdī (author of al-ʿUrwat al-wuthqā)
  • Mīrzā Ḥusayn Nūrī (author of Mustadrak al-wasāʾil)
  • Muḥammad Taqī Shīrāzī (known as Mīrzā II)
  • Sayyid Ḥasan Ṣadr (d. 1354 AH)
  • Āqā Buzurg Ḥakīm Shahīdī (d. 1315 SH)
  • Muḥammad Kifāʾī Khurāsānī (son of Ākhūnd Khurāsānī)
  • Sayyid Abū al-Ḥasan Naqawī Lakhnawī (d. 1355 AH)
  • Sayyid Ḥusayn Ṭabāṭabāʾī Qummī (d. 1325 SH)
  • Mīrzā Muḥammad Arbāb Qummī (d. 1341 AH)
  • Shaykh al-Sharīʿa Iṣfahānī (d. 1339 AH)
  • Sayyid Aḥmad Ṭabāṭabāʾī Qummī (father-in-law of Muḥaddith Qummī)
  • Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥusayn Qummī (master of Nastaʿlīq calligraphy)[26]

Students

Some sources list the following individuals as Muḥaddith Qummī’s students or as those to whom he granted ijāzat al-riwāya:

  • Sayyid Ḥusayn Ṭabāṭabāʾī Qummī (d. 1325 SH)
  • Sayyid Ṣadr al-Dīn Ṣadr (d. 1373 AH)
  • Sayyid ʿAbd al-Hādī Shīrāzī (d. 1382 AH)
  • Shaykh ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn Rashtī (d. 1373 AH)
  • Sayyid ʿAlī Madad Qāʾinī
  • Shaykh Ḥaydar Qulī, known as Sardār Kābulī (d. 1331 SH)
  • Shaykh Muḥammad ʿAlī Urdūbādī (d. 1380 AH)
  • Imam Khomeinī (d. 1368 SH)
  • Sayyid Muḥammad Hādī Mīlānī (d. 1354 SH)
  • Sayyid Mahdī Ḥusaynī Shīrāzī (d. 1380 AH)
  • Sayyid Muḥammad Riḍā Gulpaygānī (d. 1372 SH)
  • Shaykh Muḥammad ʿAlī Arākī (d. 1373 SH)
  • Shaykh Muḥammad Riḍā Ṭabasī (d. 1405 AH)
  • Ākhūnd Mullā ʿAlī Maʿṣūmī Hamadānī (d. 1357 SH)
  • Mīrzā Khalīl Kamaraʾī (d. 1363 SH)
  • Sayyid Ṣadr al-Dīn Jazāʾirī (d. 1386 AH)
  • Shaykh Hāshim Qazwīnī (d. 1339 SH)
  • Sayyid ʿAlī Naqī Fayḍ al-Islām (d. 1364 SH)
  • Mīrzā Mahdī Ilāhī Qumshaʾī (d. 1352 SH)
  • Sayyid Maḥmūd Ṭāliqānī (d. 1358 SH)
  • Mīrzā ʿAlī Muḥaddithzāda (son of Muḥaddith Qummī)[27]

Works

Shaykh ʿAbbās Qummī’s son credited him with more than sixty works, which are well known among both the general public and scholars. Some have been reprinted many times.[28] His first book is said to have been Fawāʾid al-Rajabiyya, which he wrote before the age of twenty[29]

Shaykh ʿAbbās Qummī is known as the author of Mafātīḥ al-Jinān, one of the best-known modern collections of duʿa, ziyarat, and devotional practices. It has acquired a significant place among Shi'a Muslims.[30] Safīnat al-Biḥār wa Madīnat al-Ḥikam wa al-Āthār, an alphabetically arranged selection from Biḥār al-Anwār, is regarded as his finest work.[31]

List of Works by Shaykh 'Abbas Qummi
List of Works List of Works
Al-Anwar al-Bahiyya fi Tarikh al-Hujaj al-Ilahiyya Al-Baqiyat al-Salihat
Bayt al-Ahzan fi Masab Sayyidat al-Niswan Tuhfat al-Ahbab fi Tarajim al-Ashab
Al-Tuhfat al-Tusiyya wa l-Nafhat al-Qudsiyya Tarjamat Jamal al-Usbu'
Tarjamat Misbah al-Mutahajjid li l-Shaykh al-Tusi Tarjamat Maslak Dhi l-Qawa'id min "al-Luhuf"
Tatmim Tahiyyat al-Za'ir li l-Muhaddith al-Nuri Tatimmat al-Muntaha fi Waqa'i' Ayyam al-Khulafa'
Summary of Volume Eleven of Bihar al-Anwar by 'Allama Majlisi Hikmat Baligha wa Mi'at Kalimat Jami'a
Khulasat Jild Ahad 'Ashar min Bihar al-Anwar Treatise on the Instructions of Hadrat Sayyid al-Shuhada' (a)
A Treatise on Major and Minor Sins Sabil al-Rashad
Safinat al-Bihar wa Madinat al-Hikam wa l-Athar Sharh al-Wajiza li l-Shaykh al-Baha'i
Sharh Hikam Nahj al-Balagha Ilm al-Yaqin
Al-Ghayat al-Quswa fi Tarjamat al-'Urwat al-Wuthqa Fayd al-'Allam fi Waqa'i' al-Shuhur wa l-Ayyam
Fayd al-Qadir fima Yata'allaq bi Hadith al-Ghadir Fawa'id al-Rajabiyya
Fawa'id al-Radawiyya fi Ahwal 'Ulama' al-Madhhab al-Ja'fariyya Kalimat Latifa
Kuhl al-Basar fi Sirat Sayyid al-Bashar Muntaha al-Amal fi Tarikh al-Nabi wa l-Al
Maqalid al-Falah fi 'Amal al-Yawm wa l-Layla Manazil al-Akhira
Miqlad al-Najah Mafatih al-Jinan
Naqd al-Wasa'il aw Fasl wa Wasl Nuzhat al-Nawazir (translation of Ma'dan al-Jawahir by Muhammad b. 'Ali al-Karajaki)
Nafs al-Mahmum Nafthat al-Masdur
Hadiyyat al-Za'irin wa Bahjat al-Nasirin Hadiyat al-Anam ila Waqa'i' al-Ayyam
Hadiyat al-Ahbab fi l-Ma'rufin bi l-Kuna wa l-Alqab Al-Kuna wa l-Alqab

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Damʿ al-Sujūm, (author's translation), p. 588; "A Study and Critique of the Book Muntahā al-Āmāl by Shaykh 'Abbas Qummi", p. 90.
  2. ↑ Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, vol. 7, p. 425.
  3. ↑ Damʿ al-Sujūm, (author's translation) p. 585.
  4. ↑ Damʿ al-Sujūm, (author's translation) p. 585.
  5. ↑ al-Ghadīr, vol. 1, p. 323.
  6. ↑ Ghadīr dar Āyina-yi Kitāb, pp. 627–628.
  7. ↑ Ghadīr dar Āyina-yi Kitāb, p. 628.
  8. ↑ Ghadīr dar Āyina-yi Kitāb, p. 628.
  9. ↑ Ghadīr dar Āyina-yi Kitāb, p. 628.
  10. ↑ Ghadīr dar Āyina-yi Kitāb, p. 628.
  11. ↑ Dam' al-sujūm, (author's translation), p. 587.
  12. ↑ Dam' al-sujūm, (author's translation), p. 587.
  13. ↑ Dam' al-sujūm, (author's translation), p. 587.
  14. ↑ Dam' al-sujūm, (author's translation), p. 587.
  15. ↑ Dam' al-sujūm, (author's translation), p. 587.
  16. ↑ Dam' al-sujūm, (author's translation), p. 587.
  17. ↑ Dam' al-sujūm, (author's translation), p. 587.
  18. ↑ Dam' al-sujūm, (author's translation), p. 587.
  19. ↑ Dam' al-sujūm, (author's translation), pp. 587–588.
  20. ↑ Dam' al-sujūm, (author's translation), p. 588.
  21. ↑ Dam' al-sujūm, (author's translation), p. 588.
  22. ↑ Ghadīr dar Guzar-i Zamān, 62–65.
  23. ↑ Dam' al-sujūm, (author's translation), p. 588.
  24. ↑ Dam' al-sujūm, (author's translation), p. 588; Shinākhtnāma-yi Muḥaddith Qummī, pp. 27–28.
  25. ↑ Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, vol. 7, p. 425.
  26. ↑ Mafākhir al-Islām, vol. 11, pp. 230–259; Ḥājj Shaykh ʿAbbās Qummī, Ḥadīth-i Najābat (1), pp. 115–117.
  27. ↑ Mafākhir al-Islām, vol. 11, pp. 318–320.
  28. ↑ Dam' al-Sujum, (translation by the author), p. 588.
  29. ↑ Dam' al-Sujum, (translation by the author), p. 588.
  30. ↑ Khurramshahi, Dar Khatira-ye Shat, p. 194.
  31. ↑ Dam' al-Sujum, (translation by the author), p. 588.


References

  • A'yan al-Shi'a; Sayyid Muhsin al-Amin al-'Amili, Beirut: Dar al-Ta'aruf li l-Matbu'at, 1403 AH.
  • "A Study and Critique of the Book *Muntaha al-Amal* (book) by Shaykh 'Abbas Qummi", Fereshteh Kushki, *Tarikhnameh Islam*, no. 2, Fall and Winter 1399 SH.
  • Dar Khatira-ye Shat; Baha' al-Din Khurramshahi, edited by Ruzbeh Sadrara, Tehran: Intisharat-e Javidan, 1376 SH.
  • Dam' al-Sujum: Tarjamat Kitab Nafs al-Mahmum; Abu l-Hasan Sha'rani, Qom: Intisharat-e Hijrat, 1381 SH.
  • "Hajj Shaykh 'Abbas Qummi, Hadith-e Najabat", Muhammad Taqi Adhamnezhad, in *Muballighan*, no. 88, 1385 SH.
  • Shenakhtnameh-ye Muhaddith Qummi; Scientific Committee of the Congress for the Commemoration of Muhaddith Qummi, Qom: Intisharat-e Nur-e Mataf, 1389 SH.
  • Ghadir dar Ayineh-ye Kitab; Muhammad Ansari Zanjani, Qom: Intisharat-e Dalil-e Ma, 1390 SH.
  • Ghadir dar Guzar-e Zaman; 'Ali Akbar Mahdipour, Qom: Intisharat-e Dalil-e Ma, 1389 SH.
  • Al-Ghadir fi l-Kitab wa l-Sunna wa l-Adab; 'Abd al-Husayn Amini, Qom: Markaz al-Ghadir li l-Dirasat al-Islamiyya, 1416 AH.
  • Mafakhir-e Islam; 'Ali Davani, Tehran: Intisharat-e Amirkabir, 1363 SH.
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