Interview with Ayatullah Sayyid Murtada Askari

Mohammad Hadi Khaleqi

Ayatullah Sayyid Murtada Askari was born in 1332 A.H in Samara in a religious scholarly family who had migrated from Saveh to that city. He started his religious studies at the age of ten. In order to persue his higher education he traveled to Qum in 1350 A.H. At that time hadith and tafsir were not taught in the Religious Academy of Qum. Hence Sayyid Murtada ‘Askari and Sayyid Mahmud Taliqani and a few scholars started a movement for reconsidering Qur’an and Hadith and in order to teach their students the new methods of dissemination of Islam. But because of some oppositons by managers of academy he returned to ‘Araq in 1353 A.H. and continued his higher religious studies in the Samara Religious Academy. He stablished many scientific, educational and non-profit institutes in Araq. The School of Muntada al-Nashr and the College of Usul al-Din in Baghdad are two of them. After his long campain against opinions of Ba'th party in 1389, he was under prosecution and had to scape to Lebanan and then Iran. In Iran, he continued to publish his books earnestly and at this time , he stablished the College of Usul al-Din in Qum. His major doctorines are as follows: 1) The Prophet's hadiths are revelation, but an explicational one. 2) There is no contradiction between the Ahl al-bayt's hadiths and the Prophet's hadith. They are alike. 3) All Islamic sects accept unanimously the scientific status of the ahl al-Bayt. 4) If no sect denies the other one's hadiths, the Prophet's sunnah (method of life) will be an important factor in stablishig unity in the Islamic world. From his published books are: 'Abdulla b. Saba, ‘Ahadith ‘Aisha, Khamsun wa Mi'ta Sahabi Mukhtalaq , al-Qur'an al-Karim wa Rivayat al-Madrasatayn, 'ala Ma'idat al-Kitab wa al-Sunna.

Click Here to read the Original Paper