Muhsin al-Hakim
| Sayyed Muhsin at-Tabatabai al-Hakim | |
|---|---|
| Era | 20th century Islamic theology |
| Region | Islamic theology |
| School | Shia Islam |
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Notable ideas
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Fatwa branding Communism and atheism as Kufr. |
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Influenced
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Muhsin al-Hakim (1889–1970) (Arabic: أية الله العظمي سيد محسن الطباطبائ الحكيم) was born into a family, the Tabatabaei, renowned for its scholarship. He became the sole Marja' in 1961 after the death of Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Husayn Borujerdi. His son Abdul Aziz al-Hakim was the leader of SIIC the largest political party in Iraq.
Sayyid Muhsin al-Hakim was a member of the Hakim Family of Shiite scholars.
The hawza of Najaf grew immensely under his Marjaiyya. His historic opinion piece (although, not an official fatwa), branding communism as kufr and atheism proved the beginning of the end of communism in Iraq.
Muhsin Al-Hakim led the hawza, also known as the marja'iyya, the group of Shi'i scholars based in Najaf responsible for determining Shi'i religious doctrine, during a time of considerable tumult in Iraq. Communism had enveloped the south of Iraq, Iraqi nationalist parties (and most prominently the pan-Arabist Ba'ath party) were largely in control of Iraq's political institutions, particularly during the last decade of Hakim's life. It is important to note, however, that the hawza is not a papacy and that therefore "leading" it does not mean that Hakim alone could pronounce Shi'i doctrine, all members of the hawza of sufficient standing (namely, those given the title absolute interpreter, or mujtahid mutlaq) developed their own rules based on accepted techniques and practices. Hakim was simply the most respected of the relatively small group of scholars.
Hakim's general stance with respect to all of these movements, in contradistinction to those of his children, who later became extraordinarily active politically, was one of quietism. In fact, Shi'i quietism, later exemplified by hawza leaders such as Grand Ayatollah Abul Qasim al-Khoei and current Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, probably reached its apotheosis in Iraq during Hakim's tenure. Thus, while Hakim did attempt to limit Communist influence among the Shi'a by banning their participation in the party, for the most part he preferred to remain out of politics, at least tacitly agreeing with Baghdad's rulers to keep the hawza's scholars politically neutral in exchange for relative immunity for those scholars. Implicit in this stance was a certain alienation and disaffection with the notion of the modern nation state and the exercise of political authority. The state, and politics, were assumed to be inherently sullying, and something which good Shi'is should avoid. Quietism is thus not secularism, where the state and religion are presumed to have important, but separate, spheres of influence, but rather a type of devotion to the religious authorities and suspicion of political ones. Politics and religion would then be united once again after the return of the hidden Mahdi, now disappeared for over a millennium. The Mahdi is a lineal descendant of the Prophet Muhammad who is the Imam in Shi'i theology, an infallible individual in whom political and religious authority for the Muslim community is vested and who will ultimately bring justice to the world with his reappearance under Shi'i eschatological theory.
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