9 - ʿAllāma Ṭabāṭabāʾī and Exegetical Hadiths in al-Mῑzān: A Contemporary Imāmī Commentary on Hadith?

Summary

ʿAllāma Muḥammad Ḥusayn Ṭabāṭabāʾī (1320–1402/1903–1981) was a contemporary Iranian philosopher, mystic, theologian, exegete and prominent scholar on hadith. He was a master of the Islamic traditional sciences, received ijāzas in narrating and interpreting hadith, attained the rank of mujtahid and mastered Islamic philosophy according to the school of Mullā Ṣadrā. He dedicated his scholastic life to teaching and writing on two subjects that had been overlooked in the traditional seminary curriculum: philosophy and exegesis. His lifetime effort in these fields sparked a revival of Islamic philosophy in contemporary Iran and led him to write the twentyvolume Qur’an commentary al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān, a work that is considered the most important contemporary Shīʿī exegesis.

Ṭabāṭabāʾī is also considered an eminent hadith scholar. His approach and works on hadith were deeply influenced by his interest in philosophy and tafsīr. For Ṭabāṭabāʾī, philosophical knowledge is indispensable for the correct understanding of hadiths on creed. For ten years, he held classes on the hadiths in Biḥār al-anwār (lit., The seas of light), compiled by the Ṣafavid scholar Muḥammad Bāqir al-Majlisī (d. 1111/1700) and supervised its new edition. He wrote glosses on the book, often providing further information or correcting al-Majlisī's misunderstanding of specific hadiths. He considered al-Majlisī's misunderstanding to be a result of his ignorance of hadiths with philosophical content; Ṭabāṭabāʾī's sharp criticism of al-Majlisī's hadith commentaries provoked discontent among religious authorities in Qum. Ṭabāṭabāʾī's novel glosses were limited to the first six volumes and a part of the seventh volume. He also had a few brief comments on al-Kāfī of Muḥammad al-Kulaynī (d. 329/941) in which he explained difficult concepts such as badāʾ (the appearance of change in the divine will), free will and predestination, and the difference between the divine will (irāda) and the divine wish (mashiya).

Ṭabāṭabāʾī's works on tafsīr included hadith. In fact, hadith is the focus of concern in his brief (but incomplete) commentary on the Qur’an entitled al-Bayān fī muwāfiqat bayn al-ḥadīth wa-l-Qurʾān (The elucidation on consistency [between] hadith and the Qur’an). This commentary, which reaches Surat Yūsuf (12:57), was published after his death.