Hadi Sabzavari (Asrar)

Sabziwari, Hajj Mulla Hadi (1797-1873), son of Mirza Mahdi ibn Mirza Hadi. Religious scholar, philosopher, and poet, with the nom de plume Asrar. He was born in Sabziwar at the home of Hajj Mirza Mahdi, a pious man from that city. He went to school at the age of eight and learned Arabic grammar and literature early in his youth and furthered his studies. He lost his father at the age of 10, but, supported by a relative, he succeeded in paving the hard path to tread in future. Assisted by his cousin, Hajj Mulla Husayn Sabziwari, a man of knowledge and virtue, he departed for Mashhad and studied literature, jurisprudence, logic, philosophy, and mathematics for ten years at the seminaries in Mashhad. Then, he went to Isfahan and studied philosophy and jurisprudence with Akhund Mulla Isma’il Wahid al-‘Ayn and Aqa Muhammad ‘Ali Najafi respectively. In Isfahan, he performed his obligatory and supererogatory obligations and held conversations with Christian priests. He returned to Khurasan and taught philosophy, jurisprudence, and principles of jurisprudence in Mashhad for five years. After his return from pilgrimage to Mecca in 1834, he stayed for three years at the room of a seminarian, Mulla Muhammad ‘Arif, who was the caretaker of the schools as well, and married his daughter. His students include Akhund Mulla Muhammad Hikmi; Akhund Mulla Muhammad Kazim Khurasani; Mulla Muhammad Kazim Sabziwari; Aqa Shaykh ‘Ali Fazil Tabbati; Shahzadih Janab; Ayatullah Hajj Mirza Husayn Mujtahid Savziwari; Mulla ‘Ali Simnani; Aqa Sayyid Ahmad Razawi Pishawari Hindi; Mulla ‘Abd al-Karim Quchani; Shaykh Ibrahim Tihrani, well-known as Shaykh Mu’allim; Mulla Muhammad Sadiq Hakim; Shaykh Muhammad Husayn, well-known as Jirjis; Aqa Hasan ibn Mulla Zayn al-‘Abidin; Mirza Isma’il, well-known as Iftikhar al-Hukama’ Taliqani; Mirza ‘Alinaqi, well-known as Sadr al-‘Ulama’ Sabziwari; Sayyid ‘Abd al-Ghafur Jahrumi; Mirza Husayn Imam Jum’a Kirmani; Ayatullah Hajj Mirza Abu Talib Zanjani; Hajj Shaykh Mulla Isma’il ‘Arif Bujnurdi; Hajj Mirza Hasan Hakim, Hajj mulla Hadi’s son-in-law; Wuthuq al-Hukama’ Sabziwari; Hajj Mulla Isma’il ibn Hajj ‘Ali Asghar Sabziwari; Mirza Asad Allah Sabziwari; Shaykh ‘Abd al-A’la Sabziwari; Shaykh ‘Ali Asghar Sabziwari; Fazil Sadkharumi Sabziwari; Mirza Ibrahim Shari’atmadar Sabziwari; Fazil Maghitha’i Sabziwari; Sayyid ‘Abd al-Rahim Sabziwari; Mulla Muhammad Riza Sabziwari, with the nom de plume Rawghani; Mulla Muhammad Sadiq Sabbagh Kashani; Shaykh Mahmud ibn Mulla Isma’il Kashani; Mirza Aqa Hakim Darabi; Aqa Mirza Muhammad Yazdi, well-known as Fazil Yazdi; Mulla Ghulam Husayn Shaykh al-Islam; and Mirza ‘Abbas Hakim.

Mulla Hadi returned to Mashhad in 1826 and taught at Hajj Hasan School for five years. He settled for a while in Kerman and held teaching and scholarly debate sessions at the Ma’sumiyya School there. He won a name for scholarship and erudition before long and those aspiring to study philosophy turned towards him from different regions in Persia and abroad. His teachers include: Hajj Mulla Husayn Sabziwari; Hajj Muhammad Ibrahim Karbasi; Aqa Shaykh Muhammad Taqi; Mulla ‘Ali Mazandarani Nuri Isfahani; and Mulla Isma’il Kushki. Hajj Mulla Hadi composed quite fluent poetry in Persian and Arabic. His works include: Manzuma wa Sharh Manzuma-yi Sabziwari, the invaluable and unparalleled work is the fruit of twenty years of his youth. As mentioned by the author in the epilogue of the work, he commenced it in 1824 and completed it in 1845. Having completed its versification, he began teaching it and having completed its teaching, his eldest son, Akhun Mulla Muhammad taught it to the students interested in studying philosophy. From the date of its completion, it has been taught at seminaries and even in the writer’s times, it was a textbook used at the center for intellectual sciences in Tehran. Sharh-i Manzuma is devoted to logic and philosophy. The section devoted to philosophy is titled Ghurar al-Fawa’id. The number of its couplets exceeds 1,000 in number and it treats of significant philosophical discussions. Because of its treatment of very delicate philosophical concepts, the writer wrote a commentary on it. The other section is devoted to logical discussions and it is titled La’ali al-Muntazama. The most delicate logical discussions have been treated in eloquent, Arabic verse in about 300 couplets. Since the verses contain quite complicated and delicate material, he wrote a commentary on it as well. The commentary is supplemented to his Manzuma and is titled Sharh al-La’ali al-Muntazama. Hajj Mulla Hadi was a distinguished logician, philosopher, and poet of vigor. His divan of poetry includes about 1,000 couplets very elegant, mystical verse, in different forms, ghazals and quatrains, reflecting his mastery of the arts of poetry and belles-lettres. Asrar al-Hikma fi ‘l-Muftatah wa ‘l-Mughtatam is arranged in two parts. The first part, dealing with theoretical philosophy, opens with arguments substantiating the Necessary Existence (existentia necessaria, wajib al-wujud) and Divine Unity and proceeds with discussions on Resurrection (resurrectio, ma’ad), prophethood (nubuwwa), and imamate on an argumentative basis, and closes with arguments substantiating the imamate of Imam Mahdi. The second part, devoted to practical philosophy, opens with a preamble to be followed by the philosophy of the difference between female and male puberty and maturity together with four arguments, proceeding with discussions on purity and secrets of impurity, and closes with discussions on daily prayers, alms-tax, and fasting. His other works include: Sharh, commentaries on some difficult couplets of Rumi’s Mathnawi; Miftah al-Falah wa Misbah al-Najah, a commentary on the Sabah prayers attributed to Imam ‘Ali; Shahr al-Asma’, a commentary on the Jawshan Kabir prayers; al-Nibras fi Asrar al-Asas, a textbook of jurisprudence, in verse, in which summaries of discussions are presented from an intuitive and philosophical angle; Rah al-Qarah and Kitab Rahiq on badi’, a branch of rhetoric; glosses on al-Shawahid al-Rububiyya fi ‘l-Manahij al-Sulukiyya by Sadr al-Hukama Mulla Sadra Shirazi; glosses on Asfar Arba’a by Mulla Sadr al-Din Shirazi; glosses on Mafatih al-Ghayb by Mulla Sadr al-Din Shirazi; glosses on Mabda’ wa Ma’ad by Sadr al-Din Shirazi; glosses on Suyuti’s commentary on Ibn Malik’s Alfiyya on syntax; glosses on Mulla ‘Abd al-Razzaq Lahiji’s Kitab al-Shawariq, on philosophy; Hidayat al-Talibin fi Ma’rifat al-Anbiya’ wa ‘l-A’imat al-Ma’sumin. Similar to his predecessor’s, Sabziwari’s philosophy is profoundly intertwined with religious beliefs. From his perspective, all creatures in this world love perfection and proceed towards their final goal, inanimate objects towards the vegetative realm, towards the animal kingdom, and towards the human world. He died on 26 February 1873 and was buried beyond a city gate of Sabziwar, called the Nayshabur Gate, well-known as the Zand Circle (Falakih-yi Zand). A tomb, with an area of 110 steps and width of 50 steps, was erected in his burial place in 1882 by Mirza Yusuf, son of Mirza Hasan Mustawfi al-Mamalik, the then vizier. Numerous rooms have been constructed for pilgrims around the courtyard.  

Rayhanat al-Adab (2/ 422-427); Sharh-i Zindigani-yi Hajj Mulla Hadi Sabzivari (53-70).