Allameh Sayyed Morteza Askari (may God have mercy on him)

Ayatollah Allameh Sayyed Morteza Askari (RA) is one of the enduring figures of this college and of the Muslim world. A brief account of his life follows.

There is scarcely a scholar or researcher in the science of theology (kalam) who has not heard the name of the great man of contemporary hadith scholarship and the standard-bearer of the struggle against baseless prejudice – the eminent scholar of the Shia world, Ayatollah Allameh Sayyed Morteza Askari (RA) – or has not leafed through the works of this tireless struggler.

Ayatollah Allameh Sayyed Morteza Askari (RA) was born in 1293 SH (1914 CE) into a clerical family of Iranian origin from the people of Saveh – a family that destiny had made beneficiaries of the table of knowledge of the two Imams al-Askari (peace be upon them) in Samarra. He had a great love of research in the manner of his grandfather, Khatam al-Muhaddithin. At the age of seventeen he came to Qom and studied the advanced lessons, together with ethics, self-refinement, theology and exegesis, under the Grand Ayatollahs Imam Khomeini, Marashi Najafi, Shariatmadar Savoji and Haj Mirza Khalil Kamarei (may their secrets be sanctified), and then returned to Iraq.

He completed the advanced (kharij) lessons in Iraq. After his plan to establish a religious school specifically for Shia Muslims in Iraq met with opposition, he came to Iran and spoke with Grand Ayatollah Boroujerdi (may his secret be sanctified) about a modern school of religious sciences. The plan met with his approval, but historically it coincided with the movement to nationalise the oil industry and the situation became turbulent. The political current of the time set the plan aside.

He returned once again to Iraq and, with the support of the noble source of emulation Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohsen Hakim, founded many religious schools and institutions.

At that time a common practice had developed: preachers were sent from Najaf to other countries to propagate the noble religion of Islam and the pure Shia faith. But for many reasons – not least their unfamiliarity with the culture and customs of the host nations – these preachers would return home without much success. In the wake of these failures, the late Allameh Askari (RA) conceived a new idea and thus stepped into a new field.

The idea was that, instead of sending preachers from Najaf to different countries, one could invite interested people of those same nations and, after teaching and refining them, send them back to preach in their own countries. This idea was the basis for founding the Faculty of Usul al-Din in Baghdad.

Indeed, the Faculty of Usul al-Din of Baghdad was founded – despite all the pressure of the government of the day and all the gruelling hardships it imposed on Allameh Askari (RA) – and it bore good fruit, such that by the time this struggling scholar was forced out of Iraq, two cohorts of students had graduated from it: graduates such as Mr Nouri al-Maliki, the former prime minister of Iraq; Dr Khudair Abbas, the former minister of education; Dr Muhammad al-Shammari, dean of the Faculty of Literature at Mustansiriya University; and other distinguished figures who serve in important posts and major scholarly and research centres.

The government of Iraq at the time, which saw a policy of confronting the scholars as the only way to preserve its own survival, sought to harass and even kill the Allameh, and he was forced to leave Iraq and go to Syria. While the late Allameh Askari was residing in Syria, the people of that land – through the late Grand Ayatollah Golpaygani (may his secret be sanctified) – asked him to establish a scholarly centre in that city. Ayatollah Golpaygani (RA) also raised the matter with him in a letter and encouraged him in this good work.

Letter of Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammad-Reza Golpaygani

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

To the researching scholar, the great and perceptive Sayyed Morteza Askari (may his support endure).

Peace be upon you. I ask God Almighty for your health and for a long life of honour and well-being for you, and I also pray that your success may increase day by day and that divine support for you may remain firm – support in the service of the upright religion and the true school, and in raising the word of monotheism and promoting the teachings of that household who are the people of revelation and the Qur'an (upon them be the best blessings of those who pray) – and I appreciate your efforts and struggles on this path.

Now then: a group of the believers of Aleppo – may God Almighty grant them success in doing what pleases Him – have asked, through us, that you establish a scholarly Islamic institution in that land. In view of this desire and request, it is fitting that you answer their call and respond to their invitation, and give effect to their wish in whatever way you see as proper and appropriate; and the same applies to other regions. It is also fitting for the honoured believers – both those of that land and the benefactors and righteous of other regions – to take part in your efforts and, God willing, to spare no effort on this path. We ask God, the Blessed and Exalted, and place our hope in Him alone, that He complete your efforts with final victory and be your helper on the path to attaining the good of this world and the hereafter; truly He is All-Hearing, Responsive.

Peace be upon you, and the mercy of God and His blessings.

The Holy City of Qom, 3 Jumada al-Thani 1414 AH
Sayyed Mohammad-Reza Golpaygani

After a period of residence in Syria and Lebanon, Allameh Askari (RA) settled in Iran and remained there until the end of his blessed life. After the passing of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Imam Khomeini (may his secret be sanctified), the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, in a letter written in his own hand in Arabic, asked Allameh Askari (RA) to establish the Faculty of Usul al-Din (with which he was already familiar and whose lofty goals he knew well) in Iran. A translation of the letter follows.

To the researching scholar Sayyed Morteza Askari (may his honour endure).

Peace be upon you, and the mercy of God and His blessings.

I consider it necessary that you continue your fruitful activities by reopening the Faculty of Usul al-Din, so that, God willing, scholars and specialists in the fields of research on the Qur'anic sciences, hadith and the life-conduct (sira) may be trained. I ask God the Glorified that, with the reopening of this faculty in the Holy City of Qom and its branches in other regions, your scholarly, sincere and uninterrupted efforts to disseminate the truths of Islam – carried out with a scholarly, impartial approach, free of prejudice and superficiality – may continue. I expect the brethren in faith to assist you in carrying out this beneficial undertaking. May God make your steps firm on the path of good.