Khādemī, Sayyed Hussein

Khādemī, Sayyed Hussein, a contemporary Emāmī jurist. He was born in Isfahan on 4^th January 1902/ 4^th Dey 1280.¹

His father, Sayyed Abū Ja‛far Khādem al-Sharī‛a,² was regarded as one of the influential scholars of his time in Isfahan. His grandfather, Sayyed Ṣadr al-Dīn Mūsavī ‛Āmelī³ (a descendant of the Ṣāḥeb al-Ma‛ālem, al-Shahīd al-Thānī, and Sheikh Ḥurr ‛Āmelī)⁴ was likewise among the major jurists, teachers, and religious authorities of Isfahan in the mid- 19th/13^th  century. His ancestor, Sayyed Ṣāleḥ Mūsavī ‛Āmelī,⁵ served as the leader of the Shiite community of Lebanon during the second half of the 18^th/12^th century.⁶ His mother, Fāṭema Khānum, was the daughter of Ḥājj Mīrzā Faḍlullāh Ṣadr al-Sharī‛a, the son of Mīrzā Naṣīr Mullā-bāshī.⁷ Sayyed Hussein lost his father at about five age⁸ and was raised under Mir Muhammad Ṣādeq Khātūn-ābādī.⁹

Khādemī pursued his preliminary, intermediate, and portions of his advanced studies in jurisprudence and legal theory in Isfahan under teachers such as Ali Mudarres Yazdī, Sayyed Mīrzā Ardestānī, Mīrzā Aḥmad Mudarres Eṣfahānī, Mullā ‛Abdul-Karīm Jazī, Sayyed Ali Mujtahed Najaf-ābādī, Sayyed Muhammad Najaf-ābādī, and Mudarres Khātūn-ābādī.¹⁰ He then went to Najaf to complete his education, studying advanced jurisprudence and legal theory under scholars such as Mīrzā Muhammad-Hussein Nāʾīnī*, Āqā Ḍīyāʾ al-Dīn ‛Erāqī, and Sayyed Abū al-Hasan Eṣfahānī,¹¹ while pursuing studies in biography of religious scholars (rejāl) and hadith scrutiny (derāya) with Sayyed Abū Turāb Kh^wānsārī, and theology (kalām) and history of Islamic sects (melal va neḥal) with Muhammad-Javād Balāghī.¹² It is reported that Khādemī attained the rank of ejtehād (advanced juristic authority( at the age of twenty-six and received written attestations on ejtehād from notable authorities in Najaf, including Āqā Ḍīyāʾ al-Dīn ‛Erāqī, Mīrzā Muhammad Huseein Nāʾīnī, Sayyed Abū al-Hasan Eṣfahānī*, Sheikh Muhammad-Kāẓem Shīrāzī, and Āqā Mīrzā Esṭahbānātī.¹³ Furthermore, according to the narrating-authorization he wrote for Sayyed Shahāb al-Dīn Mar‛ashī Najafī, he received permissions to transmit hadith from grand scholars such as Sayyed Hasan Ṣadr, Mīrzā Nāʾīnī, Sayyed Abū al-Hasan Eṣfahānī, and Sheikh Muhammad-Kāẓem Shīrāzī.¹⁴ Because his father was well known by the epithet Khādem al-Sharī‛a, he came to be known in Isfahan as Khādemī¹⁵ and in Iraq as Ṣadr or Mūsavī Eṣfahānī.¹⁶

Khādemī returned to Isfahan in 1928/1307,¹⁷ or 1929/1308¹⁸. After a short period, however, he came back again to Najaf, where he remained until 1935/1314.¹⁹ In that same year, he returned permanently to Isfahan²⁰ and began teaching advanced jurisprudence and legal theory at the Ṣadr-e Bāzār Madrasa*.²¹ At the same time, he held regular jurisprudential and legal theory discussion sessions with his contemporaries—among them Mahdi Najafī, Javād Kalbāsī, and Sulṭān al-‛Ulamā—sessions that continued for many years.²² In addition, he led the congregational prayers at noon in the Ḥājj-Rasūlīhā Mosque and in the evenings at the Dār al-Shafāʾ Mosque, and he preached during the months of Ramaḍān, Muḥarram, and Ṣafar.²³ He subsequently assumed the administration of the Seminary of Isfahan*.²⁴ Some of his well-known students include: Hussein Maẓāherī, Ebrāhīm Amīnī, Murtaḍā Muqtadaʾī, Sayyed Hasan Faqīh Emāmī*, Muhammad-Bāqer Ṣeddīqayn*, Muhammad-Taqī Ṣeddīqayn, Fakhr al-Dīn Kalbāsī, Muhammad-Ali Feshārakī, Asadullāh Rabbanī, Sayyed Javād Abṭaḥī, Mīrzā Ali Faqīh Īmānī, Muhammad-Bāqer Ketābī*, Muhammad-Taqī Majlesī*, and Sayyed Muhammad-Ali Mudarres Muṭlaq.²⁵

Khādemī engaged extensively in cultural, social, and political activities. In Isfahan, he founded or restored several schools and libraries, the most renowned of which were the primary, middle, and high schools, and the library of the Aḥmadīyya Institute*.²⁶ This institute later became a focal point for numerous cultural initiatives and for resistance activities against the Pahlavi regime.²⁷ Engaging with students and university youth, and responding to their intellectual concerns, was among his constant preoccupations.²⁸ He also participated in establishing social institutions and charitable associations aimed at addressing public needs.²⁹ Examples include his involvement in founding the ‛Askarīyye Hospital*,³⁰ the Imam Zamān Social Welfare Association*³¹ and the Ṣādeqīyye Charity Association, dedicated to supporting persons with disabilities and those unable to work.³² He also assisted with the livelihood issues of the families of political prisoners and strikers.³³ Among his major social contributions were the restoration of the religious school of the ʽArab-hā³⁴ in the Sārūtaqī bazaar—which was later renamed Ayatollah Khādemī,³⁵ and the libraries of the Mullā ‛Abdullāh Madrasa*,³⁶ and the Nu Ḥājj-Rasūlīhā Mosque.³⁷ He also played a decisive role in preventing the dissolution of the Dhū al-Faqār Madrasa*.³⁸ In addition to these institutions, numerous mosques were constructed or renovated under his supervision.³⁹

Khādemī began his political activities during the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi, protesting against the state programs of compulsory unveiling, the prohibition of mourning ceremonies for Imam Hussein, and the policy of dress uniformity.⁴⁰ In 1941/1320, together with Sayyed Hasan Chahārsūqī and several other scholars of Isfahan, he revived the “Isfahan Religious Council” (Heyʾat-e “Elmīyye-ye Eṣfahān), also known as the “National Sacred League of Isfahan,” in order to reform the religious and social conditions of the people.⁴¹ Some of the major political actions of this council included: supporting the movement for the nationalization of Iran’s oil industry, preventing corrupt governmental activities in Isfahan, aligning with the movement of Imam Khomeini, and resisting the proselytizing efforts of the Bahāʾīs.⁴² During the oil-nationalization movement, Khādemī endorsed and encouraged the struggle.⁴³ During the events of 5 June 1963/15 Khurdād 1342, he participated in Tehran as the representative of the scholars of Isfahan,⁴⁴ and due to his close relationship with Imam Khomeini, he emerged as the uncontested religious leader of the people. Through sermons, statements, and public demonstrations, he guided the populace, merchants, and educators of the city in the Islamic Revolution of 1978/1357,⁴⁵ and his home gradually became a refuge for the people and the principal center of revolutionary activity against the Pahlavi regime.⁴⁶ On 31 July 1978/Tir 1357, after the arrest of Sayyed Jalāl al-Dīn Ṭāherī Eṣfahānī*, Friday Prayer Leader of the city, a group of Isfahan residents staged a sit-in at Khādemī’s home demanding his release.⁴⁷ Khādemī supported their demand and declared in an official statement that the sit-in, and the closure of classes, the bazaar, and shops, would continue until Ṭāherī’s release.⁴⁸ On 10 August 1978/19 Murdād 1357/5^th of Ramaḍān 1398, the military forces clashed with fasting demonstrators, resulting in the martyrdom and injury of several sit-in participants.⁴⁹ Following this incident, martial law was declared in Isfahan.⁵⁰

After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Khādemī intensified his political activities in pursuit of the ideals of the Revolution and Imam Khomeini. He frequently travelled to Tehran and Qum to meet the Imam,⁵¹ and the Imam often entrusted him with matters related to Isfahan.⁵² In 1979/1358, the people of Isfahan elected him as one of their representatives to the Assembly for the Final Review of the Constitution.⁵³ In addition to representing the people of Isfahan in that Assembly, he also served as its senior (age-ranking) chairman.⁵⁴ One of Khādemī’s major concerns during this period was providing the judiciary with competent and committed personnel.⁵⁵ For this reason, he encouraged leading scholars of the Isfahan seminary, and religious students and scholars studying in the seminary of Qum, to join the newly established judicial system.⁵⁶ Khādemī was among the first prominent scholars in the country to discern the true nature of the Mahdi Hāshemī group* and to stand firmly against them.⁵⁷ He was also one of the principal figures urging the people of Isfahan to support, with their lives and wealth, the combatants of the Sacred Defense in resisting the aggression of Ṣaddām Hussein.⁵⁸

Khādemī passed away in Isfahan on 11 March 1985/20^th Esfand 1363, and, according to his will, was buried in the Dār al-Salām Portico of the Āstān-e Quds-e Raḍavī in Mashhad.⁵⁹ On this occasion, Imam Khomeini issued a message in which he described him as “a sincere servant of the Sharī‛a, a guardian of the bounds of Islam, and a model of piety, learning, and practice”.⁶⁰ He has been remembered for qualities such as genuine religiosity, noble character, humility, openness of mind, patience, avoidance of seeking marja‛īyya (declining the pursuit of supreme religious authority), moderation, independence of judgment, sound thinking, freedom of mind, and simple living.⁶¹

He had ten children (six sons and four daughters).⁶² Among them, two of his sons entered the clerical vocation,⁶³ and several others have served as physicians or university professors.⁶⁴ Khādemī’s residence was located in Chahārbāgh-e Pāʾīn, on Jāmī Street, near the tomb of Sheikh Abū Mas‛ūd Rāzī*. After his passing, this residence—together with several adjacent houses—was transformed by his children and surviving family members into a center for religious and cultural activities.⁶⁵

Khādemī left behind a number of works in jurisprudence, legal theory, and theology, most of which remain in manuscript form:⁶⁶ among them are transcripts of Mīrzā Nāʾīnī’s lectures in advanced legal theory in two volumes; the transcripts of Mīrzā Nāʾīnī’s lectures on advanced jurisprudence lessons, also in two volumes; an edited version of Sheikh Murtaḍā Anṣārī’s rasāʾel (in collaboration with Murtaḍżā Ardekānī); a marginal commentary on Reza Hamadānī’s meṣbāḥ al-faqīh; a treatise in theology (a commentary on the first sermon of Nahj al-Balāgha, with discussions on divine unity); a treatise on logic; and rahbar-e sa‛ādat in two volumes on the proofs for the existence of God and on divine justice, which was reprinted in 2015/1394 by the Isfahan Seminary Administration Center.⁶⁷ Other works include:  ‛adam-e erth-e zawje az [amvāl-e] gheyr-e manqūl [Wife’s lack of inheritance from immovable property]; and lebās-e mashkūk [The doubtful dress of purity]. It is noteworthy that Khādemī possessed in his home a highly valuable personal library containing numerous distinguished manuscripts,⁶⁸ the catalogue of which—together with a detailed biography of his father—was compiled and published by his clerical son, Sayyed Muhammad-Ali.⁶⁹

/ Mohsen Kamalian /

Āqā Buzurg Ṭehrānī, Muhammad-Muḥsen. ṭabaqāt a‛lām al-shī‛a: nuqabāʾ al-bashar fī al-qarn al-rāb‛ ‛ashar, sections 1–4. Mashhad: Dār al-Murtaḍā, 1404.

Asnād-e enqelāb-e eslāmī, vol. 3. Tehran: Markaz-e Asnād-e Enqelāb-e Eslāmī, 1374.

Asnādī az anjumanhā va majāme‛-e madhhabī dar dure-ye Pahlavi, comp. Markaz-e Asnād-e Rīyāsat-e Jumhūrī. Tehran: Vezārat-e Farhang va Ershād-e Eslāmī, 1381.

Bāqerī Bīdehendī, Nāṣer. “Marḥūm Āyatullāh Ḥāj Āqā Hussein Khādemī Eṣfahānī.” Nūr-e ‛Elm, 3/11 (Khurdād 1369).

Enqelāb-e eslāmī be revāyat-e asnād-e Sāvāk, book 3. Tehran: Vezārat-e Ettelā‛āt, Markaz-e Barresī-ye Asnād-e Tārīkhī, 1383.

Kamaliyan, Mohsen, and Kamaliyan, Ḥāmed. turāth-e khāndān-e Ṣadr. Qum: Rāz-e Ney, 1404.

Kamaliyan, Mohsen. Ayatollah al-‛uẓmā Ḥāj Āqā Hussein Khādemī. Qum: Rāz-e Ney, 1404.

Kamaliyan, Mohsen. mashāhīr-e khāndān-e Ṣadr, vol. 1. Qum: Rāz-e Ney, 1396.

Kamaliyan, Mohsen. sharḥ-ḥāl-hā-ye khud-nevesht dar khāndān-e Ṣadr. Qum: Rāz-e Ney, 1400.

Khādemī, Muhammad-Ali. fehres makhṭūṭāt Ayatollah al-Khādemī al-Eṣfahānī. Qum: Muʾassasat Turāth al-Shī‛a, 1392.

Mehr-‛Alīzāde, Mahdi. tārīkh-e shefāhī-ye zendegī va mubārezāt-e Ayatollah Khādemī. Tehran: Markaz-e Asnād-e Enqelāb-e Eslāmī, 1387.

Muṣaddeq va ḥākemīyyat-e mellat, research by Muhammad Baste-negār. Tehran: Qalam, 1381.

Qulfī, Muhammad-Vaḥīd. majles-e khubregān va ḥukūmat-e dīnī dar Iran. Tehran: Muʾassasat-e Tanzīm va Nashr-e Āthār-e Imām Khomeini, 1384.

Rawḍātī, Muhammad-Ali. zendegānī-ye ḥaḍrat Ayatollah chahārsūqī: ḥāvī sharḥ-e ḥāl-e bīsh az yekṣad nafar rejāl-e qurūn-e akhīra. Eṣfahān: Chāpkhāna-ye Dād,[1332] .

Sharīf Rāzī, Muhammad. ganjīne-ye dāneshmandān. Tehran: Ketābfurūshī-ye Eslāmīyye, 1352–1370.

Yārān-e Imam be revāyat-e asnād-e Sāvāk, book 19: sharḥ-e mubārezāt-e ḥaḍrat Āyatullāh Sayyed Hussein Khādemī. Tehran: Vezārat-e Ettelā‛āt, Markaz-e Barresī-ye Asnād-e Tārīkhī, 1380.

1. Kamalian, 2017/1396, vol. 1, p. 362.[↩]
2. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 361.[↩]
3. Idem.[↩]
4. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 538.[↩]
5. Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 361–362; see also: Chart 1.[↩]
6. Kamalian, 2017/1396, vol. 1, p. 362.[↩]
7. Idem, ibid, p. 361.[↩]
8. Idem, vol. 1, p. 362.[↩]
9. Idem, ibid, p. 363.[↩]
10. Idem, 2021/1400, p. 55.[↩]
11. Ibid., p. 56.[↩]
12. Idem.[↩]
13. Idem, 2017/1396, vol. 1, p. 364.[↩]
14. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 365.[↩]
15. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 362.[↩]
16. Idem.[↩]
17. Āqā Buzurg Ṭehrānī, section 2, p. 518; Sharīf Rāzī, vol. 3, p. 90; Bāqerī Bīdehendī, pp. 91–94, 104.[↩]
18. Kamalian, 2017/1396, vol. 1, p. 365.[↩]
19. Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 365–366.[↩]
20. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 366.[↩]
21. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 367.[↩]
22. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 368.[↩]
23. Khādemī, p. 11; Kamalian, 2017/1396, vol. 1, p. 369.[↩]
24. Bāqerī Bīdehendī, p. 94; Yārān-e Imam be revāyat-e asnād-e Sāvāk, pp. 229, 314; Kamalian, 2017/1396, vol. 1, p. 374.[↩]
25. Kamalian, 2017/1396, vol. 1, p. 414.[↩]
26. Idem.[↩]
27. Bāqerī Bīdehendī, pp. 95–96; Yārān-e Imam be revāyat-e asnād-e Sāvāk, pp. 21–22.[↩]
28. Kamalian, 2017/1396, vol. 1, p. 414.[↩]
29. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 396.[↩]
30. Idem.[↩]
31. Idem.[↩]
32. Idem.[↩]
33. Idem. [↩]
34. Idem., vol. 1, p. 369.[↩]
35. Idem.[↩]
36. Idem.[↩]
37. Idem.[↩]
38. Idem.[↩]
39. Khādemī, pp. 25–26.[↩]
40. Kamalian, 2017/1396, vol. 1, p. 370.[↩]
41. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 371.[↩]
42. Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 371–372, 399.[↩]
43. Rawḍātī, pp. 29–31; Bāqerī Bīdehendī, p. 96; Muṣaddeq va ḥākemīyyat-e mellat, annexes, p. 945; Asnādī az anjumanhā va majāme‛-e madhhabī dar dure-ye Pahlavi, pp. 326–406.[↩]
44. Kamalian, 2017/1396, vol. 1, p. 396.[↩]
45. Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 373–392.[↩]
46. Bāqerī Bīdehendī, pp. 96–97; Yārān-e Imam be revāyat-e asnād-e Sāvāk, pp. 25–29; see also: Enqelāb-e eslāmī be revāyat-e asnād-e Sāvāk, book 3, pp. 203–204; Asnād-e enqelāb-e eslāmī, vol. 3, p. 87.[↩]
47. Kamalian, 2017/1396, vol. 1, p. 386.[↩]
48. Idem.[↩]
49. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 396.[↩]
50. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 387.[↩]
51. Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 392–393.[↩]
52. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 393.[↩]
53. Idem.[↩]
54. Bāqerī Bīdehendī, pp. 97–98; Qulfī, pp. 309–437; Kamalian, 2017/1396, vol. 1, p. 393.[↩]
55. Kamalian, 2017/1396, Idem.[↩]
56. Idem.[↩]
57. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 394.[↩]
58. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 396.[↩]
59. See: Bāqerī Bīdehendī, pp. 98–106; Khādemī, p. 47; Kamalian, 2017/1396, vol. 1, p. 413; Yārān-e Imam be revāyat-e asnād-e Sāvāk, pp. 20–31.[↩]
60. Khādemī, pp. 47–48.[↩]
61. See: Khādemī, pp. 13–14; Kamalian, 2017/1396, vol. 1, pp. 399–413.[↩]
62. Kamalian, 2017/1396, vol. 1, p. 413.[↩]
63. Kamalian, 2017/1396, Idem.; the same author, 2025/1404, pp. 134, 146.[↩]
64. Kamalian, 2017/1396, Idem.[↩]
65. Mehr-‛Alīzāde, p. 29.[↩]
66. Mohsen Kamalian and Ḥāmed Kamalian, vol. 1, pp. 162–164.[↩]
67. Idem., vol. 1, pp. 163–164.[↩]
68. Kamalian, 2017/1396, vol. 1, p. 416.[↩]
69. See: Khādemī, 2013/1392.[↩]