Biography of J.Mohaddis
Noori (ar)
One of the great scholars whose
illuminating name spread the light of knowledge over the realm of Islam is Mirza
Mohammad Husain Mazndarani – famous as Mohaddis Noori.
His grandfather – Ali Mohammad Mazandarani
was associated with the government and wanted his son i.e. father of Mohaddis
Noori to be his successor, however he was not interested with the worldly
affairs. His father’s name was Allamah Mirza Mohammad Taqi Noori Tabresi (1201
– 1263 A.H.) was a great scholar, and Marje Taqleed of Mazandaran.
Allamah Mohammad Taqi completed his basic
education in Isfahan and then acquired religious knowledge from great scholars
like Maula Ali Noori and Sayyed Mohammad Mujahid. He returned to his hometown
after thirty years from Najaf al-Ashraf and founded a Hauza Ilmiya which spread
knowledge of Ma’arif to more than three hundred students.
Mohaddis Noori had four elder brothers and
all of them were religious scholars. Their names are as follows
- Haaj Mirza Hadi – Marje Taqleed after is his father for thirteen years
- Mirza Ali – Marje Taqleed after his elder brother
- Mirza Hasan – Scholar and teacher of Usool e Fiqh
- Mirza Qasim – Teacher of Usool e Fiqh
He had two sisters who were married to
religious scholars viz.
- Mulla Abbas Noori – father of Shaheed Fazlullah
- Mulla Fathullah Noori – father of Shaikh Moosa Noori
He was born on 18th Shavval 1254 A.H. in small village
Yalu in the city of Noor belonging to Mazandaran province. The entire village
celebrated his birth as his father was the Marje Taqleed of his time. He was
nine years old when his father expired. He was then under the shelter of his
brothers.
Since childhood he was inclined towards gaining knowledge and he did
not waste his time on useless things. When he was fourteen or fifteen years old
he sought knowledge from Mulla Mohammad Ali Mahlati.
One peculiarity about Mohaddis Noori was that he travelled a lot
even though there weren’t many amenities of travel in those days. However, he
was very much focused about his travel plans and made maximum utilization of
his time. He first migrated to Tehran to learn from Shaikh Abdur Rahim
Burujardi. Then, in 1273 A.H. he migrated to Najaf, Iraq along with his teacher
and father-in-law. After four years he returned to Iran, however after a short
span of time he again migrated to Iraq. This way he migrated to many places
including Kazmain, Karbala, Khorasan, Mecca and so on. The important point to
not here is that all his travel was for gaining knowledge.
The knowledge, personality and service of Mohaddis Noori was a
result of excellent teachers that he had. We shall mention the names of some of
them
- Mulla Mohammad Ali Mahlati
- Shaikh Abdur Rahim Burujardi
- Shaikhul Aarifeen Abdul Husain Tehrani
- Shaikh Aazam Ansari
- Ayatullah Sayyad Mohammad Hasan Shirazi
- Aakhund Mulla Sultanabadi
- Mulla Shaikh Ali Khalili
Mohaddis Noori was very particular about his time as well as very
disciplined. One of his students says that he scheduled a work for every hour
of the day and acted in accordance to it.
- He used to write from Zuhr to sunset.
- After Namaz e Magrib and light dinner he was busy in research till late night.
- He slept very little and with Wuzu.
- He used to wake up a couple of hours before Namaz e Subh and recite Namaz e Shab and supplications behind Baab e Qibla. When the Khadim of Haram opened the door, Noori was the first person to enter.
- After Namaz e Subh he returned home around sunrise and immediately used to go to his library and would be engrossed in research, analysis with his students. He left the library only for some important work or else he stayed there till Zuhr
On Fridays he followed a different schedule where he dedicated many
hours in the morning in research especially on Ashura. Later he participated in
the Majlis which was held in his house every Friday. He would go on the Mimbar
in the end and narrate traditions and concluded it with the Masaaeb of Sayyadus
Shohada (as). After Namaz e Juma he would engross himself in cleaning,
correction and making a time table for himself. He would then go for Ziyarat of
Haram and recite supplications
Mohaddis Noori was responsible for setting up three libraries viz.
Tehran, India and Najaf. It is said that the library of Najaf had no match in
the entire Iraq and Iran.
Many great scholars have the honor of being his students. These
students were not ordinary but very great scholars who command great respect amongst
Shias. Some of them are
- Shaikh Buzurg Tehrani – Author of ‘Az-Zariyah’
- Shaikh Abbas Qummi – Compiler of Mafatihul Jinan
- Ayatullah Shaikh Mohammad Husain Kashiful Ghitaa
- Sayyed Abdul Husain Sharafuddin Aameli
- Shaikh Ismail Isfahani
- Shaikh Mahdi Noori ibn Haadi Noori – his nephew
The magnum opus of Mohaddis Noori is his book which is an
encyclopedia of traditions called ‘Mustadrakul Wasaael Mustanbatul Masaael’ in
which he brought twenty three thousand traditions from fourteen infallibles.
Two-Third of the traditions are regarding Ahkaam and the rest of the book
covers science of knowledge and study of traditions. This book which is a result
of his life time hard work and research is based on the book Wasaael us Shia of
Shaikh Hur Ameli. Some of his other works are
- Mawaake’ Nujoom – His first book written at the age of 21
- Nafsur Rahman fi Fazaaele Sayyedina Salmaan
- Darul Islam – 2 volumes (regarding Dreams, their interpretations and Akhlaq)
- Faslul Khitaab
- Ma’alemul A’bar
- Mizaan us Samaa – this book proves that Holy Prophet (s) was born on 17th Rabi ul Awwal and not on 12th
- Kalemae Tayyib – Traditions and Akhlaq
- Jannatul Maava – Incidents of meeting with Imam Zamana (a)
There are more sixteen books to his credit however all cannot be
mentioned here.
This is a very short article on a great scholar whose work we still
benefitting from. To maintain brevity we have omitted many great characteristics,
incidents and works of Mohaddis Noori
Please recite a S. Fatiha for this great aalim and humble servant of
Ahle Bait (as)
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