Durcheʾī, Muhammad-Bāqer

Durcheʾī, Muhammad-Bāqer, an Emāmī jurist of the 13^th and 14^th centuries/19^th  and 20^th  centuries (1848–1963/1264–1342).¹

He was born in 1848 in Durche*, a village in the Lenjān* district of Isfahan. It is said that his lineage traces back to Imam Mūsā al-Kāẓem, 7^th Imam of the Shiite school. His father, Murtaḍā, and his brothers, Muhammad-Hussein, and Mahdi were religious scholars—especially Mahdi, who was an alumnus of the Najaf seminary and a prominent instructor of jurisprudence and legal theory in the Isfahan seminary. His paternal great-grandfather, Muhammad Mīr-Lūḥī Sabzevārī, was one of the eminent scholars of Isfahan during the Safavid* period (r. 1501–1722) and a contemporary of Muhammad-Taqī Majlesī (d. 1659/1070).²

Muhammad-Bāqer Durcheʾī began his religious studies in Isfahan at the age of thirteen. He studied jurisprudence and legal theory under scholars such as Muhammad-Bāqer Kh^wānsārī, author of Rawḍāt al-Jannāt, Muhammad-Hasan Najafī*, a prominent scholar of Isfahan, and Mīrzā Abū al-Ma‛ālī Karbāsī, a descendant of Ebrāhīm ibn Muhammad-Hasan Kalbāsī. Around 1873/1290, he emigrated to Najaf to complete his education and attended advanced lectures (dars-e khārej) in jurisprudence and legal theory given by prominent jurists such as Mīrzā-ye Shīrāzī, Sayyed Hussein Kūh-Kamarī, and especially Mīrzā Ḥabībullāh Rashtī.³

Durcheʾī returned to Isfahan in 1885/1303 and devoted his life to writing, teaching, and scholarly as well as social activities. He taught at the Nīm-Āvard school* and Masjed-e Nu*, and led congregational prayers at Masjed-e Bāzārche-ye Vazīr.⁴ In the Isfahan seminary, Durcheʾī became renowned as an exceptional master of jurisprudence and especially of legal theory, attracting students from other cities to benefit from his instruction. His lectures—primarily derived from the taqrīrāt (lecture notes) of Mīrzā Ḥabībullāh Rashtī—were presented with thorough elaboration, posing numerous objections and responding to them in detail. As a result, only advanced and research-oriented students were able to follow and benefit from his classes. It is said that he taught three lessons each day and delivered each one three times.⁵

Some of Durcheʾī’s most well-known students include: Sayyed Abū al-Hasan Eṣfahānī*, Ḥājj Āqā Hussein Burūjerdī, Mīrzā Hasan Jāberī Anṣārī*, Mīrzā Ali Āqā Shīrāzī, Sayyed ‛Abd al-Hussein Ṭayyeb*, Mīrzā Mahdi Eṣfahānī, Muhammad-Hasan Āqā Najafī Qūchānī, Sayyed Jamāl al-Dīn Gulpāyegānī, Sayyed Hasan Mudarres, Muhammad Ebrāhīm Karbāsī, Ḥājj Āqā Raḥīm Arbāb*, and Jalāl al-Dīn Humāyī*.⁶

After the death of Sayyed Esmā‛īl Ṣadr* (d. 1919/1338), many people from Isfahan and other cities referred to Durcheʾī as their source of imitation (marja‛ al-taqlīd).⁷ Durcheʾī passed away in 1963/1342 in Durche.⁸ His body was ceremoniously transferred from Durche to Isfahan, where he was buried in the Kāzerūnī Takya within the Takht-e Fūlād cemetery.⁹

According to bibliographical sources, Durcheʾī was known for his ascetic lifestyle, piety, caution in the use of religious funds, opposition to superstitions and unsound beliefs—particularly exaggerated claims about the Shiite Imams—as well as his highly disciplined daily routine and unwavering dedication to teaching.¹⁰ As Jalāl al-Dīn Humāyī reports, even the news of his mother’s death did not interrupt his teaching schedule.¹¹

Durcheʾī remained politically cautious and largely inactive. While most scholars of Isfahan—especially Nūrullāh Eṣfahānī known as Āqā Najafī*—were actively involved in the Constitutional Movement* and strongly supported it, Muhammad-Bāqer did not align himself with them. At one point, he was even reported to have shared views with Sheikh Faḍlullāh Nūrī, a prominent cleric opposed to the constitutionalism.¹² In response to a legal inquiry (istiftāʾ) issued in Rabīʿ al-Ākhar 1326/May 1908, he stated that the corruptions caused by the National Consultative Assembly over the past two years were beyond measure and declared participation in its formation to be forbidden (ḥarām).¹³

Some of Durcheʾī’s works include: marginal commentary on two major works by Sheikh Murtaḍā Anṣārī (d. 1864/1281), al-Makāseb and Farāʾed al-Uṣūl; a marginal commentary on Majma‛ al-Rasāʾel by Sheikh Muhammad-Hasan Gazī (d. 1908/1326); a marginal commentary on al-Ḥadāʾeq fī Uṣūl al-Dīn by Sheikh Ja‛far Shūshtarī (d. 1885/1303); a practical legal treatise (resāle ‛amalīyya); a treatise on determinism and freewill; and a comprehensive work encompassing an entire course of jurisprudence and legal theory.¹⁴ The last of these is most likely based on the lecture notes from his teacher Mīrzā Ḥabībullāh Rashtī.¹⁵

In 1971–1972/1350–1351, a series of anonymous essays titled Dar Takht-e Pūlād appeared in the monthly journal Khāṭerāt-e Vahīd,¹⁶ later identified as the work of Ali Dashtī. These essays were republished again under the title “A Fascinating, Important, Simple, and Worthwhile Dialogue between the Late Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Durcheʾī and His Students” in Kh^wāndanīhā magazine (citing Khāṭerāt-e Vahīd) and also appeared in a book form under the title Takht-e Pūlād. The content of these writings centered around an imagined conversation between Durcheʾī and a group of seminary* students in Isfahan, critiquing certain religious beliefs and practices. The themes presented in the dialogue were clearly at odds with the Shiite teachings and doctrines, yet they were attributed to a top-ranking Shiite jurist, thus raising serious questions.¹⁷ In consequence, the journal Dars-hāʾī az Maktab-e Eslām, which is published in Qum, printed a rebuttal titled “Unfounded and Unjustified Attributions,” in which it refuted the claim that the content of Takht-e Pūlād had any connection to Durcheʾī, demonstrating the baselessness of this attribution.¹⁸

Durcheʾī had four sons: Abū al-A‛lā,¹⁹ Abū al-Ma‛ālī, Abū al-Hasan, and Aḥmad. All of them, except for Aḥmad, were religious scholars.²⁰

/Muhammad Zāhed Najafī/

Bibliography

‛Aqīlī, Aḥmad, Negareshī bar Mashrūṭīyat-e Eṣfahān: Mashāhīr-e ‛Aṣr-e Mashrūṭe Madfūn dar Takht-e Fūlād, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2006/1385.

Anṣārī-Qummī, Nāṣer al-Dīn, “Pazhūheshī dar Āthār va Taʾlīfāt-e SHeikh Murtaḍā Anṣārī”, Āyeneh-ye Pazhūhesh, part 5, no. 3, October–November 1994/Mehr–Ābān 1373.

Āqā Buzurg Ṭehrānī, Muhammad Muḥsen, al-Dharī‛ah elā Taṣānīf al-Shī‛ah, ed. Ali Naqī Munzavī and Aḥmad Munzavī, Beirut: Dār al-Aḍwāʾ, 1983/1403.

Āqā Buzurg Ṭehrānī, Muhammad Muḥsen, Ṭabaqāt A‛lām al-Shī‛ah: Nuqabāʾ al-Bashar fī al-Qarn al-Rābi‛ ‛Ashar, parts. 1–4, Mashhad: Dār al-Murtaḍā, 1984/1404.

Āzarnang, ‛Abd al-Ḥussein, “Ali Dashtī: Rūznāme-negār, Sīyāsatmadār, Nevīsandeh va Naqqād-e Adabī”, Bukhārā, no. 29–30, April–July 2003/Farvardīn–Tīr 1382.

Bāmdād, Mahdi, Sharḥ-e Ḥāl-e Rejāl-e Iran dar Qarn-e 12, 13, va 14 Hejrī, Tehran: Zavvār, 1978/1357.

Dashtī, Ali, Takht-e Pūlād, [n.p.: n.p., ?2003].

Durcheʾī, Muhammad-Ali, “Nesbathā-ye Nāravā va Bedūn-e Dalīl”, Dars-hāʾī az Maktab-e Eslām, vol. 14, no. 2, Bahman 1351/February 1973.

Durcheʾī, Taqī, Setāreh’ī az Sharq: Sharḥ-e Aḥvāl va Vaqāye‛-e ‛Aṣr-e ‛Allāme Sayyed Muhammad-Bāqer Durcheʾī, Tehran: Muʾassase-ye Eṭṭelā‛āt, 2004/1383.

Humāyī, Jalāl al-Dīn, Shu‛ūbīya, edited by Manūchehr Qudsī, Isfahan: Ṣāʾeb, 1984/1363.

Humāyī, Jalāl al-Dīn, Tārīkh-e Eṣfahān: Mujallad-e Abnīyeh va ‛Emārāt, Faṣl-e Takāyā va Maqāber, edited by Māhdukht Bānū Humāyī, Tehran: Humā, 2002/1381.

Jāberī Anṣārī, Muhammad Hasan, Tārīkh-e Eṣfahān va Rey va Hame-ye Jahān, Eṣfahān: Hussein ‛Emādzāde, ]1943/1322[.

Jenāb Eṣfahānī, Ali, Rejāl va Mashāhīr-e Eṣfahān (al-Eṣfahān), ed. Reḍvān Pūr-‛Aṣṣār, Eṣfahān: Sāzmān-e Farhangī Tafrīḥī-ye Shahrdārī, 2006/1385.

Mahdavī, Muṣleḥ al-Dīn, Bayān Subul al-Hedāya fī Dhekr A‛qāb Ṣāḥeb al-Hedāyah, yā Tārīkh-e ‛Elmī va Ejtemā‛ī-ye Eṣfahān dar Du Qarn-e Akhīr, Qum: Nashr-e al-Hedāyah, 1988/1367.

Mahdavī, Muṣleḥ al-Dīn, Tadhkerat al-Qubūr, yā Dāneshmandan va Buzurgān-e Eṣfahān, Eṣfahān: Saqafī, 1969/1348.

Malekzādeh, Mahdi, Tārīkh-e Enqelāb-e Mashrūṭīyat-e Iran, Tehran: ‛Elmī, 1984/1363.

Mu‛allem Ḥabībābādī, Muhammad-Ali, Makārem al-Āthār, vol. 5, Eṣfahān: Anjuman-e Ketābkhānehā-ye ‛Ummūmī-ye Eṣfahān, 1976/1355.

Mūsavī Eṣfahānī, Muhammad-Mahdī, Aḥsan al-Wadī‛a fī Tarājem Ashhar Mashāhīr Mujtahedī al-Shī‛ah, or Tatmīm Rawḍāt al-Jannāt, Baghdad: Maṭba‛at al-Najāḥ, [?1929/1348].

Najafī Qūchānī, Muhammad-Hasan, Sīyāḥat-e Sharq, yā Zendegīnāme-ye Āqā Najafī Qūchānī, ed. Ramaḍān-Ali Shākerī, Tehran: Amīr Kabīr, 1983/1362.

Rawḍātī, Muhammad-Ali, Zendegānī-ye Ḥaḍrat Āyatullāh Chahār-Sūqī: Ḥāvī-ye Sharḥ-e Ḥāl-e Bīsh az Yekṣad Nafar Rejāl-e Qurūn-e Akhīre, Eṣfahān: Dād, [?1953/1332.].

1. This article was previously printed in the Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam, vol. 17, pp. 489–491, and has been published in the Encyclopaedia Isfahanica with minor additions.[↩]
2. See: Āqā Buzurg Ṭehrānī, 1404/1984, part 1, pp. 224–225; Moʿallem Ḥabībābādī, vol. 5, pp. 1766, 1774; Rawḍātī, pp. 157, 159–160; Mahdavī, 1969/1348 Sh., pp. 189–190.[↩]
3. See: Āqā Buzurg Ṭehrānī, 1984/1404, part 1, p. 224; Mahdavī, 1969/1348, p. 191; Rawḍātī, p. 157.[↩]
4. Āqā Buzurg Ṭehrānī, ibid.; Rawḍātī, ibid..[↩]
5. See: Najafī Qūchānī, p. 163; Jenāb Eṣfahānī, p. 243; Jāberī Anṣārī, p. 390; Mahdavī, 1969/1348, p. 191[↩]
6. See: Rawḍātī, pp. 158, 160; Mahdavī, ibid.; Humāyī, 1984/1363, pp. 99–100; Taqī Durcheʾī, pp. 658–745.[↩]
7. Mūsavī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, p. 137; Bāmdād, vol. 5, p. 218.[↩]
8.  Taqī Durcheʾī, in Setāreʾī az Sharq, presents several arguments claiming that Muhammad-Bāqer Durcheʾī was martyred by agents of Reza Khān. For the details of his argument, see: Taqī Durcheʾī, pp. 549–552.[↩]
9. See: Jenāb Eṣfahānī, pp. 243–244; Āqā Buzurg Ṭehrānī, 1984/1404, part 1, p. 224; Humāʾī, 2002/1381, p. 450.[↩]
10. See: Āqā Buzurg Ṭehrānī, ibid.; Rawḍātī, p. 157; Mūsavī Eṣfahānī, vol. 1, p. 137; Muʿallem Ḥabībābādī, vol. 5, p. 1780, fn.[↩]
11. Humāyī, 1984/1363, pp. 99–100.[↩]
12. See: Mahdavī, 1988/1367, vol. 2, p. 50; Rawḍātī, ibid.; ʿAqīlī, pp. 65–67.[↩]
13. Malekzādeh, vol. 4, pp. 926–927.[↩]
14. See: Āqā Buzurg Ṭehrānī, 1984/1404, part 1, pp. 224–225; Mahdavī, 1969/1348, pp. 191–192; Anṣārī-Qumī, pp. 102, 107.[↩]
15. Jenāb Eṣfahānī, p. 243; Āqā Buzurg Ṭehrānī, 1983/1403, vol. 4, p. 372.[↩]
16. From vol. 9, no. 3 to vol. 10, no. 15, in a total of twelve issues.[↩]
17. See: Dashtī, introduction by Chūbīneh, p. 7; Āzarnang, p. 105; Mahdavī, 1988/1367, vol. 2, p. 131.[↩]
18. Muhammad-Ali Durcheʾī, pp. 120–124.[↩]
19. Cf. Mahdavī, 1969/1348, p. 192, where his name is recorded as “Abu al-Ali.”[↩]
20.  Āqā Buzurg Ṭehrānī, 1984/1404, part 1, p. 225; Rawḍātī, p. 159; Mu‛allem Ḥabībābādī, vol. 5, p. 1780; for further details, see: Taqī Durcheʾī, pp. 785–790.[↩]