Fiqh 260905

In the name of God, the All-Merciful, the Compassionate. Praise belongs to God, Lord of the worlds, and blessings and peace be upon our master, His Prophet, Muhammad, and the family of Muhammad. O God, bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad and hasten their relief. Dear friends, we read a beautiful hadith. We are supposed to be studying morphology in the mornings, as well as fiqh, and we are still grateful for the morphological section. Regarding Imam Hadi, may peace be upon him, please bear in mind that some of you are too shy to ask a question about morphology.

• warning: The opening ASR is highly corrupted; the repaired reading and translation are necessarily tentative, especially after the prayer formula.

May God have mercy on the departed; praise be to God. One of the very reasons for it, dear students, was that it caused me to forget everything. At the beginning of the class, before the previous discussions and arrangements, we had been dealing with it, and I had forgotten everything. Well, may God preserve the memory of the departed—indeed, may no one die. I came to understand a great deal that…

• warning: This passage is too corrupted to reconstruct confidently; several words and the intended anecdote remain unclear.

Sir, with your permission. Had you asked for me? We saw it, we saw it; I had perhaps preserved it completely—was it preserved? But they say that one of the students is not on the list, while those who are present are here. So we should mark them. They say that these people are not in this class, although they are. Yes, show it clearly; show it clearly. You should mark it. Some of them are shared between classes, and certain names must be checked off. This is also Mr. So-and-so, whom we had listed. Yes, we should mark him. Anyone who is absent must be marked. Mr. Shariati’s status is also unclear; yes, there is an issue because he is on leave. If it is possible to mark attendance now, we should do so.

• warning: The passage appears to concern attendance, but names and several administrative details are unclear in the ASR.

No, then let me explain. Well, this is somewhat better than the previous class. Let us say a little more about it; it seems that my explanations have improved somewhat, God willing. Sometimes, when we bring this up and discuss it, it becomes… Well, recently… I am afraid that, regarding one of your questions, I may…

• warning: The ASR is too fragmentary to support a reliable full reconstruction.

Do you also translate it? Friends, is your translation correct or not? Yes, yes, yes, yes. It is better—can you hear me? Yes, or does it get mixed up? This is exactly what you should do. These are excellent questions: what happens if a juristic opinion is combined with its…? What is the sentence as a whole? This…

• warning: Most of the central sentence is unrecoverable from the ASR; no substantive claim has been inferred.

This kind of thing happens through a mistake in moral conduct. They say, “Is that so?”—and she would say no. When this happens, the woman says, “These misfortunes are always with us”; that is, she is describing the mistake. When the child succeeds, the father says, “Look, my child got a twenty.” When the child also gets a twenty…

• warning: The lecturer’s example is only partially intelligible; the broader point appears to concern how parents describe children’s success.

When, for example, the child fails, then the child is blamed in every possible way; that is the situation. When things go well, the parent says, “Just look at my son. Look at how we achieved this good result; he will receive it.” But if things go badly: “If he fails, just look at your son—your son.” If he fails, he is called your son.

This means that, for example, the person says, “I gave it, and it was seen as coming from me,” so that he is pleased with himself. He says, “Well, I taught correctly myself. I taught these ones properly; they did not study properly.” He says, “I had no problem; I taught my lesson well.” This is also the self-justification of people who become hateful or increasingly hostile. Is being so concerned with the self really a good thing?

• warning: Several phrases are distorted; the translation preserves only the clear contrast between self-satisfaction, blaming others, and hostility.

No, then it is no longer good; it becomes negative. This negative point, if it comes from here, should… Tell me something. I have no problem. You ruined it; you arrived late.

• warning: The passage is largely repetitive and unintelligible; only the final admonition is clear.

You did not wear your shoes; you brought thousands of waters with you. I keep saying that this creates an inability within the group. The same applies to your class, to the group as a whole. If this damages the group—at home, in class, at school, between father and child, or among siblings—one should not say, “I had no problem; I always called and put things right.” No, a person must recognize this occurrence. This is the point I am making to you: that we may be able to deal with these moral matters, which are very subtle…

• warning: The opening examples and several repeated phrases are unclear; the reliable theme is interpersonal responsibility in family and educational relationships.

In the different situations that arise—family, academic, and professional—we should be able to see our own role in the way the Ahl al-Bayt want us to. We should also recognize the mistakes we may ourselves have made. God willing, may we be counted among the true soldiers of the Imam, and may we live to see, with our own eyes, the victory and triumph of the camp of truth and the punishment and humiliation of the camp of unbelief. Through blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad. Dear friends, let us now turn to the noble book… What is its name?

The Sharāʾiʿ? Is that it? Yes, the book is called al-Rawḍa al-Bahiyya fī Sharḥ al-Lumʿa al-Dimashqiyya. How many volumes of this book do you have available? How many volumes can we use? I cannot manage the… Do not look at the… It is all like this. Consider this book: spend the final two terms working through its reasoning. This is the book that was written…

• term: al-Rawḍa al-Bahiyya fī Sharḥ al-Lumʿa al-Dimashqiyya is the well-known commentary by al-Shahīd al-Thānī on al-Lumʿa al-Dimashqiyya.

You tell me the century: two… it says the eighth century. The original book belongs to… And peace be upon you. Its continuation is in the eighth century; the original book is itself a commentary on another book. The commentary we are reading is by al-Shahīd al-Thānī, while this is al-Shahīd al-Awwal. Al-Shahīd al-Thānī’s commentary belongs to the tenth century.

• warning: The century references are partly garbled, but the distinction between al-Shahīd al-Awwal, al-Shahīd al-Thānī, and their periods is clear.

What century are we in now? Are we in the thirteenth century? A question arises for you: when you look back at developments in the cities, countries, and Islamic centers, from this you should… Mawlānā, faith…

• warning: The passage breaks down after the question about historical periods; the repeated phrase is not recoverable.

In a situation… in a situation… in a situation… Ah, anyway; that is, we do not know in this form and this…

• warning: The segment consists almost entirely of repetitions and cannot be translated more fully without inventing content.

What happens when someone has no motivation for study? He says, “Sir, just press by”—what else can they do for them? “If we do not get a grade here, they will not give us a visa; this is our student permit. We have to get a grade.” On the other hand, the teacher says that the student has not studied the course. If that is the case, then the student has not studied the course.

• warning: The English insertions and several Persian phrases are unclear; the reliable contrast is between instrumental motivation for grades or visas and actual study.

If there is no patience for discussion here, and if there is truly no motivation, then there is no patience to consult the commentary either. Well, sometimes he tells a joke about this in class, and in the end his jokes are good. They are good; at the end of the day, they refresh people and make them cheerful and lively.

We will tell a few jokes and then go to prayer; now we will go home. That is good. In short, these things happen. Why do we put it this way? Why is reading this book somewhat like mountaineering? Reading a book can be difficult in places. If mountaineering is not what you want, it becomes… there is a kind of trail or spring that is as easy as hiking, with ups and downs, but at one point the weather changes and it is still difficult. At another point it becomes… Well, let me say it: we keep asking why it has become so complicated; we go around and around.

• warning: The metaphors in the middle are severely corrupted; the clear comparison is between studying the book and climbing a mountain, with easy and difficult stretches.

Finish your work here. Well, you may have wondered why we should read this book and, given its atmosphere, why I asked you about it. But should you take something for yourselves next term or not? In general—let me put it this way—do a great deal of Arabic practice. No, I mean, so that your Arabic language improves.

Yes, practice it because it is old—look at the older material. No, well, you can use two books. If your Arabic improves now, what benefit does that have? Both the way of thinking in Arabic and the principles found in religion are involved here. This book applies those principles well and seeks to show how to apply them to particular cases, because new issues may arise in the century in which we live, and we should learn from this book how to apply the principles of religion. It is not limited to its own historical period; the book does not say that we must restrict ourselves to a particular time. Of course, it comes somewhat close to that. Does anyone have a view on this point?

I had forgotten the external point I was thinking of. Not this book—this book… Yes, this brings us to another argument. If you remember, may God have mercy on him, he said here, when you studied morphology here—may God have mercy on him—that he began with one thousand and distributed one thousand and one dates, so that we could eat the dates and set out the sweets. But he said that it was good and would help. Perhaps the two teachers who are present are alive as well; God willing, both are alive. Let us send them a salawāt; their spirits help us greatly. But Misa should not be too upset; perhaps things will improve, and perhaps we will see goodness in it.

• warning: The anecdote contains several unrecognizable names and phrases; only its references to former teachers, morphology, dates, sweets, and prayer are retained.

It has light, brilliance, radiance, and silence… Whether it is written in a school or, for example, in prison, it is well written. The same applies to one class and one book; we should also look at another. Even if we were sitting in prison, we could read it. Dear friends, I have a particular point to make, and I will state it briefly. Fiqh has both a technical meaning and a lexical meaning. It is said that whoever properly possesses the transmitted reports is granted the power of tafaqquh fī al-dīn. Tafaqquh means the ability to derive understanding in religion.

• term: Tafaqquh fī al-dīn is rendered as deep understanding or interpretive competence in religion; here the lecturer explicitly connects it with istinbāṭ, legal derivation.

It is not merely a discussion of sharʿī fiqh rulings. Tafaqquh is also what the Qurʾanic verse means: “Why should not a group from every section of them go forth to gain deep understanding in religion”—li-yatafaqqahū fī al-dīn. Yatafaqqah means that one should derive and infer. Thus, when we enter the study of fiqh and want to read a fiqh text, its essence lies in this same inferential dimension. Is that not so? This is the power of istinbāṭ that we need.

• term: The quoted verse is Qurʾān 9:122; istinbāṭ means deriving a ruling or understanding from the relevant sources.

Naturally, we have the sources of the books of the Maʿṣūmīn—excuse me, we have sources in which the words of the Maʿṣūmīn have been collected, in the form of hadith books or hadith sources. What exactly are the Kutub al-Arbaʿa? What are our Four Books? We should be familiar with reading al-Istibṣār, al-Kāfī, and al-Tahdhīb…

• term: The Kutub al-Arbaʿa are the four major Imāmī hadith collections: al-Kāfī, Man lā yaḥḍuruhu al-faqīh, Tahdhīb al-aḥkām, and al-Istibṣār.

We know al-Tahdhīb, but we should keep these matters in mind. In what year was the last of them written? From which century to which century were the Four Books composed? In what centuries was each book written? And who were their authors? Shaykh al-Ṣadūq and al-Kulaynī—but what is the book of the late al-Kulaynī?

Al-Kāfī. In which century does al-Kāfī belong? The fourth century. Then there is the commentary of al-Ṭūsī, al-Istibṣār, and the commentary of al-Ṭūsī… even al-Ibṣār and…

• warning: The list of books after the fourth-century dating is garbled and cannot be reconstructed confidently.

And al-Tahdhīb and al-Istibṣār. After al-Tahdhīb, it was written approximately—apparently al-Tahdhīb was written first. I do not know the exact date now. This is also around four hundred, that is, before five hundred. In any case, these are collections of our reports. If we are going to do something, we must consult the sources—our first-hand sources. They show us how to reach the point of finding the words of the Maʿṣūm and accurately arrive at the Maʿṣūm’s statement.

Therefore, if you were in the presence of the Maʿṣūm, many of these stages would be replaced by direct answers. In the presence of the Maʿṣūm, you would no longer need to ask someone outside the gathering, only to be told, “The precaution is this, and the more cautious position is that.” The Maʿṣūm would say directly: suppose, for example, that something is ḥarām or ḥalāl; suppose we are deciding whether to attack or defend—under these circumstances, should we launch a preemptive attack, or should we wait until the enemy attacks and then respond?

• warning: One expression in the first sentence is unintelligible; the translation conveys the clear contrast between direct access to the Maʿṣūm and later juristic uncertainty.

This too is an issue of governmental fiqh. Fiqh is not entirely about najāsāt, ṭahārāt, and acts of worship; it also concerns defending the integrity of Islam. Whether we defend and the enemy attacks, or we attack; whether we should build an atomic bomb or not—if the Maʿṣūm were present, we would ask the Maʿṣūm directly. Is that clear? This resembles what happened in the period of the later Imams—for example, in the time of Imam al-Hādī—when jurists in each region collected questions and brought them to the Imam.

• term: Najāsāt and ṭahārāt refer to ritual impurity and ritual purity; governmental fiqh addresses collective and political matters.

They would ask Imam al-Hādī and then take the answers to Qom. Zakariyyā ibn Ādam was there; people would come, ask their questions, collect the religious dues, and gather the questions. At that time they could not simply come from anywhere on their own; they had to endure hardship and difficulty. It was not easy for them to see the Imam. They would visit the Imam; Zakariyyā ibn Ādam…

• context: Zakariyyā ibn Ādam was a prominent companion and representative associated with Qom in the Imāmī tradition.

They would reach the Imam’s presence, present the questions, receive the answers, and then return. This process is clear when you ask the Imam directly. But when direct access to the Maʿṣūm is no longer possible, you turn to those who transmitted the Imam’s hadiths. Is that clear? Well, who transmitted them?

How did they infer? How did they understand? Is their understanding important to us or not? Why is it important? Why does the understanding of jurists across history matter to us? Because it helps us. But what exactly is their understanding? Let me repeat the question: is it because they are older and therefore closer to us? The jurists who lived at that time had many indications that were actually present then but are missing now. Yet if you see that all of them together say the same thing, for example, today we believe that it should…

• warning: The final example is incomplete, and the English phrase in the ASR is preserved only where its meaning is clear.

For example… the point is that there are documents and materials here to which you do not have access. Therefore, in tafaqquh, this body of fiqh—this body of understanding derived from the riwāyāt—must be transmitted accurately to the later school of jurisprudence. Consider, for example, the schools of Baghdad, Ḥilla, Kufa, and Qom. There have been transitions among them; these developments have taken place.

• warning: Several proper names and English phrases in the ASR are unintelligible; the translation retains only the clear argument about transmission among juristic schools.

Where can one find this, approximately? Through familiarity with the classical texts. All of these texts up to Shaykh Anṣārī—and, if you include Shaykh Anṣārī as well—are classical works of fiqh. The book by Mr. … I taught this book; I taught this very book.

• warning: The author’s name in the middle is not intelligible.

My personal opinion is not the issue; you did not ask me for an opinion. I am saying that my opinion should not become the basis for decision-making. But if I am to offer an opinion, I must certainly have examined the sources properly. Whether one uses all the sources or only part of them, there is a middle position. Why? Because we need the classical text: we need to become accustomed to reading it, to the way the scholars spoke, and to how their expressions were understood. Some of this might perhaps be summarized in a simple video…

These things help the jurist give an opinion within a framework. Within what framework should he give an opinion? When he speaks, you may think that the jurist’s opinion is new, but he is still working within the context…

• warning: The sentence is incomplete and the surrounding ASR is almost entirely repetitive.

Second, if someone is to be introduced as a Shiite scholar in legal discussions, he must have studied the classical texts. Consider this: even without naming particular works, two centuries could be involved. One might establish a school of fiqh in England or Europe, but the classical texts and workshops would still be part of it.

Makāsib, al-Shaykh, and Kifāya. If I want to say something about a new issue of hijab in fiqh, the point I am making—for example, regarding a new fiqh of hijab—is…

• warning: The passage is interrupted by extensive repetition; the examples of Makāsib, Kifāya, and a new fiqh discussion are clear, but the argument is incomplete.

This must… this must… Or is shaking hands with a non-maḥram permissible? Suddenly everyone becomes silent.

• warning: The segment is too repetitive and truncated to reconstruct the intended legal conclusion.

For example, most of them… Or there is the question of eating the dhabīḥa of the People of the Book. One should be able to understand what lies behind these matters. I am not saying that all of it is contained in this book, al-Lumʿa. As for al-Lumʿa, the sections dealing with spiritual matters and similar themes perhaps have this excellence because of the sincerity of al-Shahīd. The book has endured, and work has been done on it. We also have other research-oriented books.

• term: Dhabīḥa refers to an animal slaughtered according to the relevant religious rules; Ahl al-Kitāb means the People of the Book.

Well, his sincerity has caused these two works to endure among all the classical books. You can use these, but the basic question is: why? Why should we work through one classical text? That is the reason behind it. But why this one in particular—why specifically this one? For example, the book al-Lumʿa. Considering remembrance of God, it also possesses a kind of luminosity because of al-Shahīd al-Thānī himself.

• warning: The final reference may concern al-Shahīd al-Thānī or the spiritual quality of the text; the ASR is not fully clear.

This great martyr has produced an important work. We are reading a book by the martyr, and if you investigate, you can find a complete edition of al-Rawḍa al-Bahiyya for this collection of Islamic fiqh. How many volumes is it? It is said to be accompanied by a commentary… perhaps six volumes, though some editions… in Persian, Ukrainian, and other languages… one edition has, for example, twenty volumes. As for the work by Mr. Vojdānī-Fakhr, you may not find it readily now; what should you do? Consult the internet and locate it there. There is a great deal of software for viewing these works, including newer software; even if one does not subscribe, the software is available.

• warning: Bibliographic details, names, volume counts, and languages are substantially corrupted in the ASR and should be checked against the audio or catalogue.

But this book is something different; it is a primary text. We are reading al-Rawḍa al-Bahiyya, the commentary by al-Shahīd al-Thānī. When we enter this book, it does not have many marginal notes; if there are any, they are very few. These notes concern either the wording of the book or, occasionally, a problem raised by al-Shahīd. His method is not to explain everything and refer every point to other sources. No, that is not the case. This book is self-contained and develops its material directly.

There are many commentaries on this book—perhaps as many as six. Some are analytical commentaries, such as Zubdat al-Fiqh. How many volumes is it? I think Zubda may be twelve volumes. Let us take its introduction and read the book carefully. In Persian we say, “Be honest with yourself,” meaning that you neither joke with yourself nor flatter yourself. If a person genuinely reads it, and reads it well, he discusses and forms opinions in a juristic manner. We should engage in discussion every day, because this allows us to see some of the components of the process of ijtihād.

• term: Ijtihād is disciplined legal reasoning by which a qualified jurist derives rulings from the sources.

Some of these works are commentaries, while others are ḥāshiya. We have a sharḥ and a ḥāshiya—what is the difference? A sharḥ is a commentary, explanatory in nature: it clarifies and expands the text. A ḥāshiya is critical; in this case, Zubdat al-Fiqh and its marginal notes combine clarification with criticism.

• term: Sharḥ means an explanatory commentary; ḥāshiya traditionally denotes marginal notes, often analytical or critical.

This is very extensive; if we were to discuss it fully, the book has twelve volumes of marginal commentary. In addition, we have a commentary by the late Vojdānī-Fakhr…

• warning: The bibliographic description and author’s name are uncertain in the ASR.

It is in Arabic and explains almost everything. For example, it asks what a particular expression means, what “wa-muqābala” refers to, and how it relates to “aghlabiyyat kathīr.” It explains what “muqābala” is, what “hiba” refers back to, where “tuʾakhkhirūhu” comes from, what its verbal noun is, and what “hiba” refers to. It explains all of these points—everything.

• warning: The Arabic examples are too corrupted for confident normalization; they are represented descriptively rather than quoted as reliable Arabic.

That is, word by word and letter by letter. This is the commentary by the late Vojdānī-Fakhr. We also have a commentary called Andīsha; it is almost entirely in Persian, but it is not the same work and is similar to it. This should…

• warning: The title and the concluding point are uncertain; “Andīsha” is retained as the apparent title.

I do not recommend buying all of these. The books take up so much space, and if you work with them, you can simply consult them in software and still have the book available. I remember that when laptops first appeared and became common, people would say that one absolutely had to buy a laptop.

I did not buy Makāsib, and I still regret it. I read Makāsib on a computer, and my eyesight suffered. I still regret not buying it. I thought Makāsib would teach me the book, but it became very difficult; it is truly a difficult book, and its material is scattered throughout.

• warning: The latter half is heavily corrupted; the translation preserves the clear anecdote about reading Makāsib on a computer and regretting not owning a print copy.

This is the one book to take. That is not my opinion. We can see the book, its charts, diagrams, and everything else, but it is not clear where the files are. I keep moving them from one laptop to another and from one hard drive to another. Yet the book remains with us; it is old. We bought this book in the year 1382 or 1384…

• warning: The dates and some opening phrases are uncertain.

Twenty-two years ago. I do not know about here. Do you follow the academic year? Shaʿbān and…? The fourth, zero, and six. It was very fluent. The school of al-Shahīd… We worked on Māhān in 1384. The commentary by the late Vojdānī-Fakhr—does this one also contain argumentation? No. So only Zubdat al-Fiqh? Zubdat al-Fiqh lies between these two; if we wanted to read it with you in class, should we use it, or the ḥāshiya between the two? I do not remember at the moment…

• warning: Names, dates, and the comparison among texts are too corrupted for confident reconstruction.

But which of these two is better? Which is better? I do not know the students’ present level, but Zubdat al-Fiqh genuinely requires work. Alongside this class, you should certainly study for two hours or more so that you can understand its argumentation.

Yes, if you want to, read it. Say: it will… we have… and… these are things that must… that must…

• warning: The passage is almost entirely repetitive and unintelligible; no fuller reconstruction is possible.

I do not recommend the Persian version, because you know Arabic. Since you also have Persian here, it is not as though you know very little Persian; you are working with both Persian and Arabic extensively. In our time, the theoretical commentary was… that is, they would place the dictionaries side by side… At that time there was a habit of having a…

• warning: The discussion of Persian and Arabic editions and dictionaries is partially unintelligible.

For the evening prayer, someone had written a Persian marginal note… You should read it. Go, child—without a class? Should I go and read a risāla? Why do you say these things in class? There was a practice of having such material at that time. It is not referring to the school; but as for the Persian, since you will eventually read it later… Is it not Persian? We have a problem here.

• warning: The passage is too corrupted to identify the example or its conclusion.

Do you want to have difficulty with this? Do you want to struggle with it? But the Arabic commentary—not its Persian version. Yes, you may use this, for example. There are many commentaries here; for instance, this commentary by… Should we not use it as a reference? We should use it for understanding, to make sure we understand. As for your understanding and certainty, what we want is to discover what we have not understood.

• warning: The commentator’s name and some recommendations are unclear; the distinction between Arabic and Persian versions and the use of commentaries for understanding is clear.

You can look at the commentary by Vojdānī; consult Zubdat al-Fiqh and these software resources and examine them. For example, if tomorrow you say to yourself that you want to have a book of notes, take this one for clarification. It is not a problem; here you can use it to investigate the text… With another book, it becomes this much… Yes, if you want to take one, you would have to carry so many books. God willing, we will explain this book and benefit from the discussions it contains. So, God willing, in the next session we will open the book together.

• warning: The passage contains unclear references to particular software, books, and methods of consultation; the practical recommendation is retained.

Very well, we will open the book, God willing, perhaps by tomorrow. Come, come. Consider whether you know what you want to study next year. As I am saying, as a team we should first combine these two approaches in this book…

• warning: The closing advice about next year’s study plan is incomplete.

Now look: what is the second one? What is it? Suppose you are reading Maṭāhir; go and take volume four, as you took volume three. Then see what it is, because it contains… and then see what subjects it includes. We do not know how many of the first volumes we want to cover this year; perhaps we should go through one section together…

• warning: The names of the texts and the proposed reading plan are uncertain in the ASR.

Suppose we reach one hundred pages—that would be very good. But this book is five hundred pages, I do not know, and perhaps even up to three… This must… this must… Yet having the book is good; I…

• warning: The proposed page count and the concluding recommendation are incomplete.

You know, I gave you a table; one of the tables says ten grams. You saw it, and perhaps you prefer the computer version, the one in the relevant section. Now let us make an important point about al-Shahīd al-Awwal himself. Look, al-Shahīd al-Awwal occupies a position here because he was an extraordinary figure. We should place al-Shahīd al-Awwal somewhat clearly in our minds, in the context of his own time…

• warning: The opening reference to a table and the phrase describing al-Shahīd al-Awwal are corrupted; the historical transition is clear.

Where did al-Shahīd al-Awwal stand? Al-Shahīd al-Awwal was one of Fakhr al-Muḥaqqiqīn’s outstanding students. In the book we read, God willing, that Fakhr al-Muḥaqqiqīn says: “The matter is this: the benefit I gained from him was greater than the benefit he gained from me”—that is, “I benefited from this student more than he benefited from me.”

• context: Fakhr al-Muḥaqqiqīn was the son of al-ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī and an important jurist in the Ḥilla tradition.

This sentence was said by the teacher, Fakhr al-Muḥaqqiqīn. Who was Fakhr al-Muḥaqqiqīn? He was the son—yes, that is correct—the son of al-ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī. When you visit Najaf, al-ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī is buried there, beside the doorway beneath the Golden Iwan. Thus, al-ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī’s son was Fakhr al-Muḥaqqiqīn, and Fakhr al-Muḥaqqiqīn was the teacher of al-Shahīd al-Awwal.

Be precise: all of these figures belong to the school of Ḥilla, which was important during the golden age of the Ḥilla school, from the seventh through the ninth centuries. Who was al-Muḥaqqiq al-Ḥillī? In fiqh, he wrote a book on which anyone who wished to establish, in his own time or even centuries later, that he was a jurist would write a commentary or marginal notes.

• term: The Ḥilla school was a major center of Imāmī legal scholarship in medieval Iraq.

His commentary? Yes, his commentary. The book is Sharāʾiʿ, Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām. These jurists wrote for al-Muḥaqqiq al-Ḥillī. Now, al-Muḥaqqiq al-Ḥillī was the maternal uncle of al-ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī, whose son was Fakhr al-Muḥaqqiqīn. Fakhr al-Muḥaqqiqīn was the teacher of al-Shahīd al-Awwal. Al-Shahīd al-Awwal spent thirty—thirty-four—years under confinement… someone went and reported him to the caliph, and he was martyred.

• warning: The duration and circumstances of al-Shahīd al-Awwal’s confinement and martyrdom are uncertain in the ASR.

From this point it proceeds… the people in black… this is what he becomes. They came and wrote it down. In any case, when you look at it, our point is that al-Shahīd al-Awwal, in terms of scholarly strength, was a student of Fakhr al-Muḥaqqiqīn, who was the son of al-ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī. Al-ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī himself was among the great scholars. All of these figures were connected with Ḥilla; Ibn Idrīs, who came after Shaykh al-Ṭūsī, was also associated with Ḥilla. All these Ḥilla scholars belonged to the golden age of the Ḥilla school.

• warning: The first half is unintelligible; the genealogical and school-historical point in the latter half is clear.

We have several schools of thought: the school of Ḥilla, the school of Baghdad, the school of Kufa, and the school of Qom. Qom has had a golden age, and Najaf has had a golden age. In this golden age, we should identify who al-Shahīd al-Awwal’s teacher was, so that his position becomes clear in our minds. We should not simply say that because he was imprisoned, martyred, and possessed spiritual illumination, we should read his book. No, his scholarly standing is genuinely important—just as today someone may go to Qom and attend a class taught by one of the great scholars, and also attend a session with Mr. Bahjat…

• context: The lecturer is distinguishing spiritual veneration from scholarly authority and locating al-Shahīd al-Awwal within a network of major schools.

One session is with Mr. Bahjat, and another session is elsewhere. Then he goes and says, “As for my being a student, Mr. Bahjat…” This al-Shahīd al-Awwal…

• warning: The passage is dominated by repetition and does not yield a complete argument.

This is al-Shahīd al-Awwal… We are using a mixed commentary, and the commentary up to al-Shahīd al-Awwal is a mixed commentary. What does a mixed commentary mean? We have two types of commentary: one is sharḥ mazjī, and the other is the ordinary commentary with which we are familiar. So you must arrange it so that the paragraph is separate…

• term: Sharḥ mazjī, or interwoven commentary, incorporates the base text and the commentator’s explanation into a continuous passage.

“Muqtadā”—this is a mixed commentary. Mazj means interweaving, bringing things together. Al-Shahīd al-Thānī produced this commentary, and God willing we will address it from the next session. Praise belongs to God, Lord of the worlds. O God, bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad and hasten their relief. God willing, we will open the book and see how the work proceeds.