Hujjat al-Islam wa al-Muslimin, Dr. Muhammad Javad Arista, a member of the Scientific Council of Research Institutes of Jurisprudence Studies, in an exclusive conversation with the Research Institute of Contemporary Jurisprudence on the occasion of the death anniversary of Ayatullah Sayyid Abdul A’la Sabzevari, expressed the scientific characteristics of this great jurist.

The details of the exclusive conversation of the Research Institute of Contemporary Jurisprudence with Hujjat al-Islam wa al-Muslimin Dr. Muhammad Javad Arista is as follows:

The late Ayatullah Sayyid Abdul A’la Sabzevari was one of the great contemporary figures who, in addition to the field of jurisprudence and principles, was an expert in some other seminary topics such as interpretation and hadith sciences.

From a scientific point of view, he had characteristics such as:

The jurist of the Qur’an and al-ltrah

One of his notable features was his deep connection with the Qur’an and narrative texts in such a way that he left behind a valuable commentary called “Mawahib al-Rahman”; Fourteen volumes of it have been published and I don’t know if they finished it during their honorable life or not! What is available is really a valuable work because first of all they examine each verse from various lexical, jurisprudential, theological and moral aspects and secondly in their interpretation they look at the interpretation of al-Mizan without mentioning the name of Allameh Tabataba’i some of the views. They quote the late Allameh and if they have criticisms, they raise them.

His pen in interpretation is a very strong and mature pen, and therefore, his interpretation of Mawahib al-Rahman, due to the introduction of new views and also due to his comprehensiveness, and in addition to these, due to the opinion he has regarding the views of Allameh Tabataba’i in the commentary of Al-Mizan, the interpretation is considered special and very valuable.

In addition to the fact that the late Ayatullah Sabzevari had a great affinity with the Qur’an and used this affinity with the Qur’an in his own jurisprudential debates, he also had a great affinity with the traditions of the Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them. It has been said about him that he had read Bihar al-Anwar – this encyclopedia of one hundred and ten volumes – in detail and had read it so carefully and meditated on the traditions of Ahl al-Bayt peace be upon them that according to his great-grandson – Ayatullah Sayyid Ali Sabzevari – the late Ayatullah Sabzevari when he wrote a narration they would hear and distinguish from which Ma’sumi it was issued, and sometimes it even happened that some knowledgeable would a narrate narration from Ma’sumi, and he would say no! This narration was narrated from another infallible person and after investigation it was clear that he was right.

This power and understanding, which is rarely possible for anyone, shows the great and deep affinity of the late Mr. Sabzevari with the traditions of Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them.

A common jurist

Another characteristic of him is the very good and customary understanding of that great jurist in jurisprudential issues. At the same time that in the book of Tafsir and some theological discussions, they have observed intellectual and theological precisions, but in jurisprudence discussions, they have applied a sober and well-considered conventional view, and they have clarified in some places in their jurisprudence book. Jurisprudence should be explained based on common understanding because the words of Imams peace be upon them in jurisprudential discussions refer to the common understanding and therefore, in jurisprudence discussions, precisions that are beyond the common understanding should not be used as criteria.

Another characteristic of him is his rational attitude towards jurisprudential issues; many of the jurisprudential rules that he has examined in the jurisprudential discussions of the very valuable book “Muhathib al-Ahkam” have been referred to rational understanding; such as the rule of harmlessness, the negation of harm, consolation, and the validity of vision, and even a rule like taqiyyah, he returns it to a rational understanding and based on this, he makes some conclusions. It is true that jurists have also paid attention to the fact that a significant number of jurisprudence rules are rooted in intellectual understanding, but in this context, they have been exposed to this issue more broadly and more precisely than what others have said. In this context, in addition to jurisprudential rules, they have applied the same attitude in other jurisprudential conclusions and rulings that they put forward in the noble book of Muhaththib al-Ahkam. That is, they have not only used this method in referring jurisprudential rules to rational understanding, but they have also clearly applied this rational attitude in a significant number of jurisprudential rulings.

Jawaheri jurist

Another characteristic of him, according to what is mentioned in the biography of the deceased, is that he has carefully studied the book “Jawahir al-Kalam” several times and this study has clearly left its effects in his jurisprudence. Ayatullah Sabzevari has in many cases from the book Muhaththib Al-Ahkam, references to the book Jawahir al-Kalam, which is very valuable, that is, they have extracted very valuable and useful points from the words of the owner of the jewel, which is very remarkable.

Comprehensive jurist!

Another characteristic of him is the valuable effort of that respected jurist in the two books “Muhaththib al-Ahkam” and “Tahthib al-Asul” in the direction of combining different sayings; He proved that the plurality of sayings in jurisprudential and principled discussions can be reduced in many cases. That is, it is possible to carefully reduce the words to a smaller number. He tries to find the common points of different points of view and refrains from multiplying words for no reason.

Brief, not lengthy!

Another characteristic of him is avoiding useless extensions; We see in some jurisprudence books that sometimes a problem is discussed for a long time without any significant scientific results resulting from that long discussion or even without the need to express different divisions. The late Ayatullah Sabzevari strongly avoids trying to prolong a discussion without reason, without significant scientific results and practical results, and therefore, in one beautiful word, he says that perhaps discussions that can be concluded with short phrases but it can be seen in some books that they are unnecessarily long.

My last point about the scientific characteristics of the late Ayatullah Sabzevari is that his book “Tahthib al-Asul” is really a decent and neat book in the science of principles, and that great jurist has taken great care to deal with the practical points of the science of principles in this book, and honestly, the practical points he has raised many valuable points in this book, the likes of which can rarely be found in other books, and this is another aspect of his scientific strength.

A creative jurist

In addition to all these scientific aspects, the outstanding moral qualities that the late Ayatullah Sabzevari had and did not intend to raise his name in any way, are very important. The deceased was a very kind and humble jurist who spent his life promoting the teachings of Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them.

He gained the most fame after his death, while with those outstanding scientific aspects, he could have appeared much more during his lifetime, but he did not seek these things.

May his soul rest in peace.