Shamsābādī, Sayyed Abul-Hasan Āl-e Rasūl

Shamsābādī, Sayyed Abul-Hasan Āl-e Rasūl,a jurist and a preacher of the contemporary period (1902-1976/1281-1355).

He was born in 1902/1281 in Isfahan into a family of religious scholars.¹ His father, Āqā Sayyed Muhammad-Ebrāhīm, son of Āqā Sayyed ‛Abdullāh, benefited from the teachings of prominent scholars such as Āqā Najafī Eṣfahānī, Jahāngīr Khān Qashqāʾī*, Ākhūnd Kāshī*, Mullā Muhammad-Bāqer Feshārakī, Muhammad-Hāshem Chahārsūqī, and Muhammad-Bāqer Najafī Masjedshāhī.² Sayyed Muhammad-Ebrāhīm traveled to Najaf for further education, attending advanced jurisprudence and legal theory classes taught by Sayyed Muhammad-Kāẓem Yazdī, where he gained scholarly recognition. After receiving his license (ejāza) for ejtehād and hadith transmission from his teacher, he returned to Isfahan and engaged in teaching, religious guidance, congregational prayer leadership, and preaching.³

Sayyed Abul-Hasan learned the preliminary seminary subjects from his father, as well as Abul-Qāsem Zefreʾī, Jalāl ad-Dīn Humāyī*, Ahmad Mudarres Shahīdī, ‛Abd al-Wahhāb Zāhedī, and Muhammad-Hasan Dāvarpanāh. During this period, he studied calligraphy under Asadullāh Rejālīyān. He attended the advanced classes in jurisprudence and legal theory of prominent scholars in Isfahan, including Sayyed Muhammad and Sayyed Ali Mudarres Najafābādī, Muhammad-Hussein Feshārakī, Ahmad Mujtahed Bīdābādī, Sayyed Ali-Asghar Mudarres Barezānī, Muhammad-Ali Fatḥī Dezfūlī, Muhammad Humāmī, Sayyed Hussein Khādemī*, and ‛Abbās-Ali Adīb*. In 1936/1315, he migrated to Najaf to complete his studies and attended the classes of leading teachers therein, especially Sayyed Abul-Hasan Eṣfahānī (for ten years) and Āqā Ḍīyāʾ ad-Dīn ‛Erāqī (for six years). His other teachers in Najaf included Muhammad-Hussein Nāʾīnī, Sayyed ‛Abd al-Hādī Shīrāzī, Muhammad-Kāẓem Shīrāzī, Sayyed Jamāl ad-Dīn Gulpāygānī, and Ḥājj Mīrzā Abul-Hasan Meshkīnī.⁴Sayyed Abul-Hasan remained in Najaf until 1947/1326, then returned to Isfahan after receiving multiple licenses for hadith transmission and ejtehād.⁵

Shamsābādī taught advanced seminary courses in jurisprudence and legal theory at the Madrasa-ye Ṣadr Bāzār in Isfahan and held weekly discussion sessions at the Madrasa-ye Darb Kūshk (Bāqerīyye).⁶ Some of his students included Muhammad-Hussein Rashtī, Sayyed Abul-Faẓl Ṭabāṭabāʾī Khurasgānī, Muẓaffar Farzane, Sayyed Abul-Hasan Durcheʾī-zāde, Muhammad-Ali Feshārakī, Asadullāh Javādī, Sayyed Muhammad-Ali Ṣādeqī, Asadullāh-Elāhī Husayn-ābādī, Sayyed Taqī Hāshemī Dehsurkhī, Sayyed Muhammad-Taqī Ḥejāzī Furūshānī, Sayyed Muhammad-Taqī Madanī Chahārsūʾī, Sayyed Javād Abṭaḥī, Murtażā Rashtī, Sayyed Mujtabā Mahdavī Hurestānī, Sayyed Muhammad-Taqī Ḥejāzī Furūshānī, and Sayyed Nāṣer Mūsavī Mahdavī.⁷ Shamsābādī was at first the plenary agent  of Sayyed Hussein Burūjerdī, the contemporary Shiite religious authority (marja‛), and later held the general agency of all other religious authorities in religious and financial matters, overseeing the disbursement of stipends to seminary students in Isfahan until his martyrdom in 1976/1355.⁸ In addition to teaching, he served as the leader of congregational prayers at the Sartīp Chahārsūq and Sheikh Bahāʾī mosques. He also participated in founding and supervising several charitable and social institutions, most of which focused on promoting Mahdism and continue to operate, including the Abābaṣīr educational institute*⁹; the Ṣāḥeb al-Zamān welfare society for assisting orphans; the ‛Askarīye hospital; the Mahdīyye laboratory; the Aḥmadīyye charity and high school; the Ḥusaynīyye and pilgrim guesthouse of Eṣfahānīs in Mashhad; the pilgrim guesthouse of Eṣfahānīs in Karbala; and the Qāʾemīyye building.¹⁰ It is reported that when individuals associated with the Azalī sect gained influence in the Ḥusaynīyye and mosque of the village of Tār va Kashe near Kāshān, Shamsābādī, by sending representatives and eventually traveling there himself, thwarted their activities, guided some of them, and expelled the rest from the area¹¹

Shamsābādī, in addition to his religious and social activities, did not remain distant from political affairs. In June 1963/Khurdād 1342, in support of Imam Khomeini, Bahāʾ ad-Dīn Maḥallātī, and the other scholars arrested by the Pahlavi regime, a declaration was issued bearing his signature along with those of other scholars of Isfahan. On 11 July 1963/20 Tīr 1342, he traveled to Tehran to join the protesting scholars and to object to the arrest of Imam Khomeini, remaining there until the Imam’s release. On 16 July 1968/25 Tīr 1347, a group of scholars from Isfahan, including Shamsābādī, sent telegrams to the religious authorities and scholars in various cities protesting the arrest and sentencing of the prominent clerics Hussein-Ali Muntaẓerī* and ‛Abdul-Raḥīm Rabbānī Shīrāzī. Among Shamsābādī’s other political actions was his message in 1976/1355 to a group of seminary students working at the Pahlavi government’s Office of Endowments, inviting them to his house; he urged them to resign from serving under the Office of Endowments and promised that if they did so, he would provide them with even greater stipends.¹²

Shamsābādī was martyred by a religious extremist group that later became known as the Mehdi Hāshemī group.¹³ The motive behind the planners of the assassination remains unclear. It has been said that one reason for the conflict between Mehdi Hāshamī and Shamsābādī stemmed from prolonged disputes over the book Shahīd-e Jāvīd by Ne‛matullāh Ṣāleḥī Najafābādī. Shamsābādī was an opponent of the content of this book, regarding it as a deviant work in which the foreknowledge (‛elm al-gheyb) of Imam Hussein was denied. He repeatedly and openly took a stand against this book, its contents, and its author. Moreover, it has been suggested that SAVAK, in order to sow discord between traditional clerics—among whom Shamsābādī was counted—and the supporters of Imam Khomeini’s movement, attributed this assassination to the followers of Imam Khomeini.¹⁴

At dawn on Wednesday, 7 April 1976/18 Farvardīn 1355, as he left his home to perform the morning prayer, he was abducted. His murderers suffocated him in a car and then concealed his body on the road from Isfahan to the town of Durche*. At sunrise, passers-by discovered the body and the news reached the city. Crowds of mourners moved in processions to the site of the tragedy and brought his body back to the city with the utmost respect.  The following day, his body was buried in Takht-e Fūlād* at the Tekye-ye Lesān al-Arż* (later known as Gulestān-e Shuhadā) during a magnificent funeral attended by thousands, including scholars from Isfahan and other cities. It is said that in honor of his martyrdom, shops in Isfahan closed for a week, seminary classes in Qum were suspended for three days, and the bazaar in Qum closed for one day, while mourning ceremonies for him continued for more than forty days throughout Isfahan province and other Iranian cities. The religious authorities in Qum, Tehran, Mashhad, and Najaf held gatherings in his memory, and numerous writers and poets composed elegies for him in Persian and Arabic.¹⁵ From the earliest days, Shamsābādī’s grave became a site of pilgrimage, and his devotees built a beautiful structure over it. With the intensification of the events of the Islamic Revolution, a number of the revolution’s martyrs were buried beside his grave, and gradually this area came to be widely known as Gulestān-e Shuhadā.¹⁶ It is noteworthy that from the donations and offerings made at his shrine, a mosque was built at the site of his martyrdom, and the book Tuḥfat al-Abrār on the philosophy of prayer by Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Shaftī* (d. 1844/1260) was printed.

Contemporaries of Shamsābādī praised his night vigils and worship (tahajjud), piety, generosity, humility, and asceticism. It is said that he was deeply attached to the Quran and supplications, and he showed great respect and honor towards diligent scholars.¹⁷ In maintaining family ties and observing the rights of relatives, he was likewise exemplary, often hosting them on various occasions.¹⁸A number of Shamsābādī’s personal writings remain in disordered form, but none have been published; these include his transcripts (taqrīrāt) on the jurisprudence and legal theory classes of Sayyed Abul-Hasan Eṣfahānī* and Āqā Ḍīyāʾ ad-Dīn ‛Erāqī in Qum¹⁹; a dīvān of poetry on the virtues, merits, and tribulations of the Imams (peace be upon them); a brief treatise on the principles of religion; and a booklet titled mav‛eẓe-ye ebrāhīm.²⁰

/Mahmud Foruzbakhsh/

Bibliography

Anṣārī Qumī, Nāṣer ad-Dīn, akhtarān-e feqāhat: barresī-ye zendegī-ye ‛elmī va sīyāsī-ye gurūhī az ‛ulamā-ye sade-ye akhīr, Qum: Dalīl-e Mā, 2006/1385.

Derāyatī, Muṣṭafā, fehrestegān-e nuskhehā-ye khaṭṭī-ye Iran, Tehran: Sāzmān-e Asnād va Ketābkhāne-ye Mellī-ye Jumhūrī-ye Eslāmī-ye Iran, 2011–2015/1390–1394.

Furūzbakhsh, Maḥmūd, furūq-e maḡhreb: zendegīnāme-ye Ayatollah Asadullāh Javādī Gūrtānī, Isfahan: Mesk, 2024/1402.

Ketābī, Muhammad-Bāqer, rejāl-e Eṣfahān: dar ‛elm va ‛erfān va adab va hunar, vol. 1, Eṣfahān: Gulhā, 1996/1375.

Khalīlīyān, Ḥamīd, “Shamsābādī, Ḥājj Sayyed Abul-Hasan,” in dāneshnāme-ye takht-e fūlād-e Eṣfahān, vol. 2, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2012/1391.

Mahdavī, Muṣleḥ ad-Dīn, a‛lām-e Isfahan, edited, annotated and expanded by Ghulām-Reza Naṣrullāhī, Isfahan: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2007/1386.

Mahdavī, Muṣleḥ ad-Dīn, zendegīnāme-ye ‛allāme-ye Majlesī, Isfahan: Dabīrkhāne-ye Hamāyesh-e Buzurgdāsht-e ‛Allāme-ye Majlesī, 1999/1378.

Muḥammadī-Rey-Shahrī, Muhammad, khāṭerāt-e sīyāsī, Tehran: Muʾassese-ye Muṭāle‛āt va Pajhūheshhā-ye Sīyāsī, 1990/1369.

Muntaẓer al-Qāʾem, Aṣghar, bazmgāh-e delbarān: tārīkhche-ye gulestān-e shuhadā-ye Eṣfahān, Isfahan: Kānūn-e Pajhūhesh, 2006/1385.

Ruḍātī, Aḥmad, mu‛īn al-eslām va farhang-e mu‛āṣer-e Eṣfahān, Isfahan: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2009/1388.

Ṣadrāʾī-Khūʾī, Ali, fehrestegān-e nuskhehā-ye khaṭṭī-ye hadith va ‛ulūm-e hadith-e Shī‛a, vol. 11, Qum: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 2010/1389.

Shaftī, Muhammad-Bāqer b. Muhammad-Naqī, tuḥfat al-abrār al-multaqaṭ men āthār al-aʾemmat al-aṭhār, ed. Mahdī Rajāʾī, Isfahan: Ketābkhāne-ye Masjed-e Sayyed-e Eṣfahān, 1989/1409.

Sharīf Rāzī, Muhammad, ganjīne-ye dāneshmandān, Tehran: Ketāb-furūshī-ye Eslāmīyye, 1973–1991/1352–1370.

tuṭeʾe-ye Shah bar ḍed-e Imam Khomeini dar rābeṭe bā ghatl-e Ḥujjat al-Eslām Shamsābādī va janjāl-e marbūṭ be Shahīd-e Jāvīd, under the supervision of Ṣāleḥī Najafābādī, Tehran: Khedmāt-e Farhangī-ye Rasā, 1984/1363.
Zende-Del, Maryam, shahīd-e Eṣfahānī: zendegīnāme-ye Ayatollah Sayyed Abul-Hasan Shamsābādī, Isfahan: Humā-ye Raḥmat, 2009/1388.

1. Shaftī, vol. 2, p. 521.  [↩]
2. Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 520–521; Ṣadrāʾī-Khūʾī, vol. 11, p. 39.[↩]
3. Shaftī, vol. 2, pp. 520–521.[↩]
4. Anṣārī Qumī, vol. 2, p. 960; Mahdavī, 2007/1386, vol. 1, p. 250; Shaftī, vol. 2, pp. 521–522.[↩]
5. Mahdavī, 2007/1386, vol. 1, p. 250.[↩]
6. Ketābī, vol. 1, p. 234; Zende-Del, p. 20.[↩]
7. Khalīlīyān, p. 542. [↩]
8. Ibid., p. 541.[↩]
9. Sharīf Rāzī, vol. 8, p. 188.[↩]
10. Shaftī, vol. 2, pp. 522–523.  [↩]
11. Anṣārī Qumī, vol. 2, p. 962; see also Furūzbakhsh, pp. 75–76.[↩]
12. Muḥammadī-Rī-Shahrī, pp. 160–161.[↩]
13. For details on the motive of the murderer(s) and subsequent events, see: Hāshemī, Sayyed Mehdī.[↩]
14. Tuṭeʾe-ye Shāh bar ḍed-e Imam Khomeyni, pp. 30–31.[↩]
15. Sharīf Rāzī, vol. 8, p. 189; Shaftī, vol. 2, pp. 524–525.[↩]
16. Muntaẓer al-Qāʾem, p. 36.[↩]
17. Shaftī, vol. 2, p. 523.[↩]
18. Ruḍātī, p. 45.[↩]
19. Derāyatī, vol. 3, p. 244[↩]
20. Sharīf Rāzī, vol. 3, p. 99; Mahdavī, 1999/1378, vol. 2, p. 343.[↩]