Ayatollah Borqei


Allama Sayyid Abu al-fadl Burqa‘i Farsi: Urdu/Punjabi: was one of the most famous jurists in Qom who was critical of certain Shiite beliefs, was repeatedly harassed and eventually had to leave Qom.

Birth

Allama Sayyid Abu al-fadl Burqa'i was an Iranian clerk and religious scholar. He was born at Qom on 19 June 1908. His father name was Sayyid Hassan who was the son of a religious scholar Sayyid Ahmed. His mother Skeena Sultan was the daughter of a well-known clerk.

Education

When he was ten or twelve years old, he got admission into Madrassah Radvi and continued his religious studies there. He authored a number of books, among these books 35 are in defense of Shiah and later, he wrote 40 books in which he criticized shiahs rituals and dogmas. He was a teacher or professor at the Qom Howzah Elmieh Qom, where he taught Rasael, makaseb and fiqh for more than 20 years. Due to his reformist views he was soundly beaten there in Qom Howzah by seminarians and was deserted from the Howzah by Ayatollah Borojredi. He became prayer leader of Masjid Wazeer guzar Daftar in Tehran, where he continued his work as a leader of Jummah prayer and congregational prayers for 27 years.
Borqei wrote against the erroneous beliefs and aberrations in religious practices among his Shia countryman. He was considered the most learned mujtahid by many Iranians. He was against ghuluww and tafweez. He was against seeking the help of imams in prayers.

Beliefs and Rulings

Sayyid Abu al-fadl Burqa‘i rejected many well-established Shia beliefs, as well as criticised many religious rulings which are common among Muslims. He rejected the return of Jesus Christ before the Day of Judgement. He questioned the existence of Imam Mahdi as well as rejected all the narrations of Islamic literature about Al-Mahdi. He believed that there was no Blasphemy Law during the life of Muhammad, and that it was concocted later by Muslim jurists. Hence he wrote many articles where he strongly condemned sentence of death against people who commit irreverence toward holy personages, religious artifacts, customs, or beliefs. Isra and Mi'raj is recorded in many religious books of Shias and Sunnis, and many miracles are famous during this incident. In his commentary of the Quran, Sayyid Abu al-fadl Burqa‘i rejected the well established concept of Mi'raj. He did not believe that Muhammad had no corporal Me'raj.
In his book Islam Without Allah?: The Rise of Religious Externalism in Safavid Iran, Colin Turner quotes the content of Burqa‘i on various Islamic topics.

Tabishi az Qur'an

Tabishi az Qur'an is the commentary of Quran with simple Persian translation by Sayyid Abu al-Fadl Burqa’i. The book was written in 1386/1966, several editions have appeared under a penname. Unlike most of the commentators Burqa'i has tried to find the real meaning and interpretation of Quran using Quranic verses. This tafseer contained in 2200 pages.
Sayyid Abil al-fadl `Alläma Burqa`i, Mugaddima bar tabishf az Qur'an is a work comprising 280 pages, and many Western scholars have mentioned this Mugaddima of Tabishi az Qur'a in their books.

Books written by Ayatollah Borqei