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Looking for Unity in Knowledge Domains:

Re-inviting Art and Sciences to Howzeh ye Elmyie

Mohammad Reza Aghaya Before starting high school I persuaded my parents to move to Qom from Tehran. The change was to enable me to go to the well known Qom Howzeh (seminary) instead of the typical modern schools. There I wished to experience an entirely different kind of learning and living. Where or what is Howzeh ye Elmyie? What we know today as Howzeh goes back to the first days of Islam, when the Quran e Karim was revealed to Prophet Mohammad ( .) God through his words in the Quran invited Prophet Mohammad (similar to previous Prophets) to (a) recite to people his signs; (b) purify them; (c) and teach them the Book and wisdom: 2/ .
It is He who has sent among the unlettered a Messenger from themselves reciting to them His although they verses {(signs)} and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom 2/62 were before in clear error

During the very first years of Islam some of the Prophets family (Ahlulbayt) and some of his companions (Ashab) followed him and continued his way in reciting Gods signs, purifying people and teaching them the Book and wisdom. Ahlulbayt and Ashab spread the word to a number of cities and thus many schools, sects and communities were established. And now the term Howzeh ye Elmyie is mostly used to describe that knowledge domain which grew through the Ahlulbayt and .their shia followers. The city of Qom today represents this nexus

In Iran, there are different schools which date back to the Prophet (saw) himself and teach his teachings. The history flows throughout and is based on completely different assumptions than those in modern schools. The basis of teaching in Howzehs is the Quran and Islam. Everything else revolves around this. So far in my learning journey, I have gone through many transformations. The most important changes have been in making decisions on what to study. This has led me to a kind of confused state. In this state I have started thinking of what my problem is and how I should go about fixing it. In this stage I have not really been able to pinpoint an issue within myself which would compel me not to stick to a particular field of study and complete it. So the next step was to think that there might be a serious issue with the areas of studies that I am into. Is it possible that my issues really lie in how all fields of study have been fragmented?

Why are university majors becoming more and more isolated from one another, and why cant the interdisciplinary subjects really make changes either? Why isnt there a university where a student or scholar can study the whole world or the world as a whole in their field work? Why is studying separated from working and in turn working and studying separated from living? And why isnt there a sense of complete relationship between work and studies?

What I am looking into is to make possible a unity between science, the world and the life of the people living this. I am looking for a rope which would be able to connect or link all of these different attributes together. The integration of religion, art and science in both learning and practice has been an important factor in Howzeh, which I intend to explore thoroughly. Roots of knowledge in Howzeh ye Elmie To explore further what I have just recounted, I need to look for the roots of knowledge and its shape in Howzeh ye Elmie. The Quran is the main source. The Quran for the scholars in this domain is the word of God revealed as clarification of all things, as guidance and mercy and good tidings for Muslims. 89/ .

And [mention] the Day when We will resurrect among every nation a witness over them from themselves. And We will bring you, [O Muhammad], as a witness over your nation. And We have sent down to you the Book as clarification for all things and as guidance and mercy and good tidings for the Muslims. 16:89

The statement of clarification of all things is splendid. It leads me to God as absolute knower who is the just one who knows everything. The second source and root of Howzeh are the Sonat or the acts and words of Prophet Mohammad and the thirteen innocents from his family (Ahlulbayt) who continued his mission. The Prophet and Ahlulbayt in the belief of the Shia are connected to Gods source of knowledge and also based on this connectivity they know everything and because of their innocence they are free of faults. Thus they, like the Quran, are trustworthy. The Quran is the most clear mine of Gods knowledge1 and Ahlulbeyt contain this mine in their heart and they explain it through their words and their acts.2 Until 329 hegira, Shia scholars had access to the Prophet or Imams. They asked their questions from them and they shared the answers with the people. So until this time most of Shia knowledge was their knowledge about Gods words on the one hand and the Prophet and Imams words on the other hand. They used Ahlulbeyt words for better understanding of the words of God and viewed the world through these words and tried to connect themselves to Gods source of knowledge in this way. After the Great Absence of the Twelfth Imam, there was no direct access any longer to Imams and it was an immense challenge for Howzeh. This was the main reason for creating the systematic approach to understanding the world and its rules through religion or in other words Ijtihad. At this stage the third source of knowledge in Howzeh, reason (Aghl), gained in importance. So it is that during the ages these three main sources of Howzeh through the Ijtihad of Mujtahedin were created and developed, and maintained the knowledge and wisdom after the Prophet and the Imams. The Shape of Knowledge in Howzeh

The shape of knowledge in Howzeh should be close to the shape of knowledge in God, united and encompassing all things. 12/ .
It is Allah who has created seven heavens and of the earth, the like of them. [His] command descends among them so you may know that Allah is over all things competent and that Allah has encompassed all things in knowledge. 62:12

The Quran as Gods words is just one book in which every necessary guide for human beings is presented and it is impossible to separate it into different parts. In the Quran God describes his world, why he created the heavens, earths, different kinds of visible and invisible creatures, and why he created human beings as his successors in the world. He describes the rules and ethics people should adhere to in interaction with themselves, with their congener and with the world. In the Quran God tells us about previous Prophets, previous generations and their events, and his words and discourse are absolutely magnificent, and a miracle like his world. The Prophet Mohammad (saw) and the Imams, like the Quran, described all of religion and all of knowledge, and not one for ethics, another one for jurisprudence, another for science, etc. Prophet Mohammad (saw) described himself as a city of knowledge and Ali as the citys door.3 What I can understand here is that the Prophet Mohammad is the person to whom the Quran (Gods words) was revealed; thereafter he carries Gods knowledge inside himself and Imam Ali is the door to enter this city of knowledge. Howzeh in many periods was the place for every kind of knowledge about Gods words and Gods world. I do not claim that in every period of Howzeh every kind of knowledge was integrated. But I guess this integration is the origin of knowledge that Howzeh tries to understand, represent and work with. That is, the integration of study and work with Gods words to studying and working with Gods world. What in Howzeh and some eras of Islamic civilization made these vast and different sciences united was the revelation. All sciences and scientists gathered around Gods words, the creator of the subjects and objects of the sciences. His

words act as guidance for them and, like a rope, integrate science and knowledge domains together. Why fragmented knowledge? One of the reasons I could discover for those times in the history of Howzeh that created a distance and a gap between studying Gods words and Gods world was the separation between the sources of knowledge among scholars (Quran, Sonat and Reason). For example at the end of the tenth Higri century (17th century) after the death of great Mujtaheds and scholars like Mohaghegh e Karaki ( ,) Mohaghegh e Ardebili ( ,) and Sheikh Bahaei ( ,) a very radical school appeared in the name of Akhbarigari or Ekhbarion which believed that they could not trust their mind and reason and their understanding of the Quran. Therefore their only focus was on Akhbar which means those traditions they received from the Prophet and Imams in some reliable books. In this way the sources and roots of understanding became limited and it became a real danger to the dynamic tradition of Ijtihad and the unity of sciences in Howzeh. Shahid Motahari says the appearance and methods of this school were close to and influenced by the empiricism movements in Europe.4 Another reason was the separation process that academia has started. What initially began was a separation between Gods words and Gods world. After renaissance there was no place for Gods world in modern schools and universities. They cut the relationship between the world and its creator and named all creatures as nature. Then for understanding it and working on it there was no need to understand Gods words. In this worldview, religion is a myth and there is no relation to understanding nature through Gods words and vice versa. Howzeh and Muslim schools of thought and education, consciously or unconsciously, were awed by the western assumptions on knowledge, religion, art and sciences and therefore specializing themes started to enter Howzeh. After this, one major assumption that gradually appeared was the separation between religion and politics (as the science of devising and working). The title of those

who were studying in Howzeh changed from scholar or Alem to religious scholar, one who just studies and discusses religious texts without any concern for other social or natural topics. These new kinds of scholars in Howzeh that just dedicated themselves to studying religion, produced only knowledge about religion, not religious sciences. As far as my knowledge about the contemporary history and situation of Qoms branch of Howzeh goes, I see two major processes that highly influenced todays shape of knowledge and sciences in Qom. One is Allameh Tabatabai and his influential school on wisdom, mysticism and Quran interpretation; and the second is Imam Khomeini who brought back religion into social life and invented a religious theory of governance in Fiqh and fulfilled it in practice. What I observe from the efforts of Allameh Tabatabai is the deep and gradual integration between the sciences currently in Howzeh. Also, he placed the Quran in the center and circulated mysticism, philosophy, traditions, and other studies around it. This custom, forgotten for many years in Howzeh, was revived by him. And what I feel by the efforts of Imam Khomeini is the interrelation he made between religion and social life especially in politics and governance. He rebelled against the assumption of the separation between religion and politics and tried to prove this interaction in theory and practice. After the Islamic revolution in Iran, Qoms branch of Howzeh has started on its new and challenging period. Because of the Islamic roots of this revolution, Howzeh very soon became responsible for solving and responding to the problems and questions that were raised by the nation and its governors. Thankfully with Imam Khomeinis and Allameh Tabatabais efforts, some domains of knowledge like politics and other devising sciences, philosophy or wisdom and mysticism were brought back to the mainstream Howzeh teachings. After the revolution, the interaction between Howzeh and the universities increased and as one result of this, most of the humanities fields in the universities also came to Howzeh. Presently many universities and institutions inside Howzeh study and work in these fields. For me these new changes in Howzeh have two different dimensions, one positive and the other negative. The positive dimension is that these efforts for bringing

some fields from universities can help in returning and integrating all domains of knowledge together and come close to a unity in knowledge. But the negative aspect is that these fields that come from universities to Howzeh will come with their own assumptions, they are mostly developed by fragmented western ideology and they can potentially cause more separation between the knowledge domains in Howzeh. What is in my mind? In this time and age, when majority of the people try to be more specialised and narrowed, even talking about integration of religion, art and science is not easy. I am searching for finding some ways for this integration. As I said earlier, I think this integration and unity is the origin of religious knowledge, a kind of knowledge that in every aspect tries to be connected with Gods source of knowledge, and Howzeh has this claim. Now almost all of humanitys disciplines exist in Howzehs atmosphere but not as the major stream. These disciplines are studied and taught in Howzeh-based universities and institutions. It is obvious that most of these disciplines are developed by modern western academia and with very limited concern about religious beliefs like creation and viewing the world and humans as Gods creatures. There are many efforts in Iran to bring Islam back into these sciences but what I find most inspiring is the thought of Ayatollah Javadi e Amoli. What I will propose here is highly influenced by his words, lessons and works. If we now consider the sciences that they produce in Howzeh as Islamic knowledge, it is because they interpret and work by Gods words. Then if in universities instead of interpreting and working with nature, they interpret and work with Gods creation, then their sciences and knowledge would be Islamic and religious. This seems easy in theory but extremely difficult in practice. This belief cannot come with orders, policy and regulations; it can only come from the heart of practicing and believing scholars. By the way, what if we invite natural sciences to Howzeh (like the humanity studies which had entered before) and change them to creation sciences, or what

if we try to develop our traditional creature sciences. You know why I am talking about this invitation? Because I cannot imagine and understand the separation between sciences and religion. So why not try to make Howzeh again a place for all possible knowledge domains that are united by the Quran as the guidance for his worlds. In the Quran God in some different verses says that I created heavens and earths and what they include as a sign to myself and to you (human). Think and reflect on who did this and why. Howzeh has the potential to integrate its religious knowledge with sciences because almost all of the scholars who live in it believe that this world is Gods world, but we stopped and abandoned studying and working on it. This first integration (between religion and sciences) probably will lead to the next steps of this process and that is creation (Art). I guess creation is not the work of every scholar, and this is just limited to Allahs successors, who like their creator add beauty and perfection to the world through their works and their habits. Ayatollah Javadi e Amoli has a superb classification about the duties of the successor of Allah that I think can be principles guiding and governing the educational community.

World viewing World watching World beautifying

And I put for the first one, religion; for the second, sciences; and for the third, art. God created his world as a sign to himself, to thinkers to find him and know him. Whoever understands this fact, will care about the world and also himself or herself and all of Gods creatures. Whoever becomes the successor of Allah is the person who has monotheistic world viewing, has purified himself or herself, and is attributed with good ethics. Such a person, like his creator, will also create and imagine how beautiful his or her creatures are.

What can unite these different aspects is that world viewing that just can be obtained through God s words and revelation. Revelation is central because without it there is no knowledge about the reason(s) of this huge creation and the explanation for who is the creator. Without it there is no explanation about invisibles, the truths of things and hereafter. Without revelation killing each other for money or land or recently survival can be accepted and without it, human beings will be lost in just superficialities of this world and no guide after, before or inside it. My question is which kind of education can facilitate this kind of Allahs successors growth? How can we have it or re-obtain it in Howzeh? Maybe we will be able to restart a new institution, university, community or I do not know what, where students and teachers (Talabeh: who seeks knowledge and truth) dedicate themselves to those three principles, world viewing, world watching and world beautifying. By working and reflecting on Gods words and works, they earn and make their world view (religion), they care about what God made and try to save it (including themselves, human beings, and all creatures) well and hand it over to the next generation (science) and one day, they will start to create and add beauty to this world by their good ethics and good works (art), but it is not the end. They are all travellers that leave this world and return to Allah and start their eternal life.

156 . /
Who, when disaster strikes them, say, Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return. 2:156

For restarting this project many things are needed from honest intents, honest donations, resources, theories, buildings, strategies and , but what is more important than all this is that people deeply believe and want to do this. And which strategy is more powerful than patience that these people find each other? For me as a young and fast person talking about patience is weird, but I have not been able to find anything stronger than this as yet.

Notes 1. 2. 3. 4. Abdallah Javadi Amoli, Shams Alvahi Altabrizy, Qom, 2007, p.58. Koleini, Alkafi, 1987, p.191. Tosi, Alamali, Qom, 1994, P.431. Motahhari, Dah Goftar, 1990, p.103-105.

References The Holy Quran Ayatallah Abdallah Javadi Amoli, Shams Alvahi Altabrizy, Scientific Lifestyle of Allameh Tabatabai, Esra Center for Publishing, Qom, 2007 ----, Role of Intelect in the Geometric of Religious Knowledge, Esra Center for Publishing, Qom, 2010 ----, World Knowing and Secularism in Nahjualbalaghe, collected by Abas Rahimian Mohaghegh, Esra Center for Publishing, Qom, 2001 ----, Theoretical and Practical Wisdom in Nahjualbalaghe, Esra Center for Publishing, Qom, 2008 ----, Horizons of Thoughts, Esra Center for Publishing, Qom, 2010 ----, Useful and Constructive Knowledge, in Esra Islamic Sciences Research Quarterly, Vol 1.No.1, Fall 2009 Mohamad ibn Hasan Tosi, Alamali, Darolseqafah, Qom, 1994 Abi Jafar Mohammad ibn Yaghub Koleini, Alkafi, Darolkotob Alislami, 1987 Seyed Mohammad Hossein Tabatabai, Almizan, Alami Institution for Publication, Beirut, 1983 Ruhullah Musavi Khomeini, Description on the Armies of Intelligence and Ignorance (Jonud Aqle va Jahl), Institute for Compilation and Publication of the Works of Imam Khomeini, 2004

----, Message to the clergy, authorities, teachers, scholars and imams (Manshoure Rouhanyat), in Sahifeh-e Nour, Vol 22, Institute for Compilation and Publication of the Works of Imam Khomeini. Aliakbar Zakeri, Ekhbarigari; Appearance and Outcomes, in Howzeh Magazine, No.89 and 90, 1999. Morteza Motahhari, Dah Goftar (A Selection of 10 Articles by Motahhari), Sadra Publication, 1990 Munir fasheh, How to Eradicate Illiteracy without Eradicating Illiterates? in, Literacy as a Freedom, UNESCO, 2003 The Committee of Islam and Iran Culture and Civilization, Looking at the Meaning of Jurisprudence and Broad Dimensions of it in History of Islam, Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution. www.parsquran.com www.quran.com

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