Second Part of the Life of Shiite Religious Leader, Sheikh Morteza Ansari in the 12th and 13th Centuries AH

As mentioned in the previous article, the Shiites in Iran and neighbouring countries and other Shiites of those days followed Sheikh Ansari (May Allah grant him higher degrees). The scientific magnificence and greatness, i.e. the magnificence of ilm-ul usul (science of principles) and the greatness of figh (jurisprudence) and other sciences which were necessary, were fully under the control of his holiness. And now that we are in the first decades of the 15th century AH, all Imamieh (Shiite) theology schools in their highest level, i.e. the stages of figh and usul, which a person who is at the level of a religious leader should possess, benefit from his books Makaseb which is regarding figh and Farayed ul-Osool which is about the science of usul. And usul and figh of this great person have been and are still being taught firmly and strongly in the best possible method. And it is necessary for everyone to benefit from the enlightenments of any person who completely acquires these two sciences (figh and usul) and has achieved the highest degrees in figh and usul.



To clarify these issues to some extent, attention should be paid to the beginning of Sheikh Ansari’s leadership of the schools of theology:

Before his holiness, Sheikh Ansari the leadership of the schools of theology was undertaken by Skeikh Muhammad Hassan, author of the book Javaher up to the year 1266 AH. In the previous article, we described part of this for you. We will now explain another part of this subject: Sheikh Muhammad Hassan in the last days of his life ordered a meeting to be held at his bedside. All scientists who had reached the holy level of a Mojtahed (a person who is qualified for religious guidance) were told to be present for the leadership of the schools of theology to be transferred and assigned to the person who was most competent, pious and learned. Everyone was there, but Sheikh Ansari was not present.



The author of the book Javaher took a look around while he was unwell and near the time of his demise and asked:

 Where is Sheikh Morteza? They replied: We do not know. His holiness said: Search for him and see where he is.



After searching they found him in the Holy Shrine of Imam Ali (PBUH) standing towards the Kiblah (facing Mecca) and praying for the healing of the author of the book Javaher. According to some reports, the contents of his prayer were as follows:

Oh Allah, if Your Wisdom allows, reduce years from my life and add to professor, Sheikh Muhammad Hassan’s life.



After his prayer was over, they told him: Professor has asked for you, rush to him. He rushed as fast as possible to his professor who was dying. He was seated at the bedside of the author of the book Javaher. The author of the book Javaher took Sheikh Morteza’s hand and placed it on his heart and said:

 Now I can die peacefully.





Oh Viewer! Do you know what this sentence means or don’t you?

 It is as though words are printed on the heart of this page and you will probably pass by this sentence with hardly noticing it… No, it is not like this. Because this statement reveals that the load of the leadership of the school of theology was so heavy and precious that it had taken away peace and calmness from the author of book Javaher at the time of his death and forced him to take action in this regard.

The author of the book Javaher said: I do not know what will happen to the school of theology after my death.

Will the conduct of the school of theology please our master, Imam Mahdi (May our souls be sacrificed for him)?

He continued: God willing this will happen, but I am anxious. I said “Now I can die peacefully”. I meant I will transfer all the precious load which was placed on my shoulders to you (Sheikh Morteza) as I find you worthy from all aspects in this area.

 Then he told those present: He is your leader from now onwards.

 He then turned to Sheikh and said: There is no requirement for you to be so cautious. Because the holy religion of Islam is the true religion and is simple. In other words, hardship should be removed from this religion.

 (It should be stated that the above statement was made by the author of the book Javaher because of Sheikh Morteza’s extreme caution since if you recall (Please refer to the previous article on Sheikh Ansari), Sheikh Ansari before accepting the leadership of the schools of theology following the insistence of the author of the book Javaher and Mirza Shirazi, wrote a letter to Saeed ul-Ulama asking him to undertake the position of leadership.)



After Sheikh Ansari was convinced that he was scientifically competent for the position of leadership of the schools of theology, he decided to undertake this important position. He first decided to visit Imam Ali (PBUH) and said:

 Oh my God, I request you in the presence of this precious Imam; Imam Ali (PBUH), to protect me from sinning and going astray during my leadership of the schools of theology.

 And this was how his leadership started.

 After the demise of the author of the book Javaher, Sheikh Ansari undertook the leadership of Najaf School of Theology for 15 years from 1266 to 1281 AH.

During this period he underwent monetary hardship in his personal life. It is said one day one of his young daughters had fever. The girl’s mother sent Sheikh’s secretary whose name was Mulla Rahmatollah to Sheikh asking for a few dirhams to buy a pomegranate and give the juice to her daughter for her fever to reduce (this method was popular at that time).



Sheikh did not pay the amount and once again the request was made. He did not pay this time either since the money he kept was from the share of Imam (PBUH) and he was very cautious about personal use of the money. The request for a few dirhams was made three times. The third time he sent a message to his wife which was full of anger saying: Instead of having her drink pomegranate juice wash her feet with water so that her fever reduces.

 How was Sheikh cautious?

We will state a few examples. Await our next article.