An Interview with Ayatullah Professor Seyyed Muhammed Khamenei on the Scientific Views of ‘Allamah Tabataba’i

15.04.2020

Given the fact that Ayatullah Professor Seyyed Muhammed Khamenei, President of the Sadra Islamic Philosophy Research Institute, was a student and disciple of ‘Allamah Seyyed Mohammad Hossein Tabataba’i, the Scientific Research Center of the Islamic Government of the Secretariat of the Assembly of Experts conducted an interview with His Excellency about the academic character and views of ‘Allamah Tabataba’i regarding the Islamic government and guardianship of the jurisconsult (velayat-e faqih). The complete transcript of the interview can be accessed in the provided pdf file or here.

The Introduction of this interview reads as follows:

One of the most important missions of the Scientific Research Center of the Islamic Government is to investigate the existing ambiguities and provide some updated responses to them. During the recent years, there have been some ambiguities regarding the relationship between ‘Allamah Tabataba’i and the Islamic Revolution. The project of confiscating ‘Allamah Tabataba’i’s views is one of the links of a mega-project which seeks to demonstrate that most of the prominent scientists in the fields of jurisprudence (fiqh), philosophy, and kalam disagree with Imam Khomeini and the theory of the guardianship of the jurisconsults, and that the theory of Imam Khomeini in this regard lacks the necessary scientific and rational support, and that is why the academic elite do not advocate it. The wide presence of a large number of ‘Allamah Tabataba’i’s students in beginning and leading the Islamic Revolution was an important obstacle to this confiscation. Not only the students of ‘Allamah Tabataba’i but also his son-in-law (Martyr Ali Ghodosi), who was one of the pillars of the contemporary philosophical, political movement, and Haghani Circle, which was wholeheartedly at the service of the Revolution, organized the judicial system of the Islamic Revolution with Martyr Ayatullah Beheshti and Martyr Ghodosi playing the central roles. However, presently, at a time that the age difference between our generation with ‘Allamah Tabataba’i and his students is becoming increasingly wider, the enemy is trying to cease the opportunity to portray an unreal image of this distinguished philosopher and imprint it on the minds and hearts of the Iranian youth with the help of the virtual space and social networks.

 

Complete transcript of the interview

Pdf file of the complete transcript of the interview

 

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