From the other People View Point

Professor Mohammad Reza Hakimi

My acquaintance with the famous Allameh, the precious Islamic thinker, Ayatollah Hajj Sheikh Mohammad Taghi Jafari Tabrizi, is forty years from now.

This acquaintance then came to me with a greater appreciation and to my friendship, my dedication to him, especially with the study of the books such as  "The Relationship Between the World -the Man", a rich and innovative book, and the book "Tavoun al-Din and the book "Mabdaol Aala =The Great Origin" ...and  Awareness of his serious presence and devotional identity on being the frontier of protecting God's religion and their fundamental  principles and transcendental values, in order to save human generations; as well as the persistence of this non-limiting, unconventional philosopher and thinker in contemporary human thought, in order to develop divine beliefs and protecting them, and reject different aggressions in each period. . . And then the creation of all these precious works in the broad widespread rich and vast culture of Iran, and the various dimensions of cognitive science, as if these works belonged to a group of scholars, it was a place of remembrance and wonder, what so ever he could lonely provide them with a lot of teaching and speaking sessions and trips and scientific and religious interviews. About the scientific character of Professor Allameh Jafari, what is more important is his comprehensiveness, and an open mind, and passing through the limitations of the narrow-minded, single-stranded and subjective constraints, which many of our scholars have been severely involved in their particular realms. 

. . And we, in this era see a group of comprehensive scholars who have reached a wide range of intellectual thoughts, and have gone beyond the special bounds of thought. His numerous and varied works, some of which have been identified, are an honest proof of how this wide range of thoughts has happened to him. (You can feel the essence if you smell it). And all this blessing of science and education, which has been presented over the decades by Professor Ja'fari's language and literature, both in Iran and abroad, is a fact that represents an overwhelming complexity in most aspects. A glance at the names of his works and the topics of the lectures and then their content is sufficient to distinguish his features.

 . . . And Professor Ja'fari with research in different thoughts of scholars decided to discover and open the gate of the human understanding of divine pure truth, divine faith and good deed to the society, and make society lucky and faithful.

Professor Moschopoulos - Professor of Philosophy at the University of Athens

The main concern of Professor Ja'fari was the goal and future of humanity. He was a scholar who had many experiences of the problems of the contemporary society and did not do to hide himself from these issues.

We were used to discussion and debates, especially about technology, that lasted for hours. He believed that: technology is a negative factor for our civilization, because it does not allow internal perfection to appear. I disagreed with this idea and I believed that: In Iran, technology was abused by, of course for the benefit of mankind. He admitted that technology could help human beings, but only if human beings use it as a tool.

This was just one example of years of deep debate, of course with different characteristics. Throughout the discussions, he was always a manifestation of accurate thinking and great will. I recall her pleasing behavior with my students at the University of Athens. At the beginning, Greek students broke the class order and I was angry why ,when they see a cleric  they make fun of him in their own culture, because he made his speak in a language that the students could not understand. But during the lecture, students paid special attention to those speeches and listened with a great deal of interest to the translation of his speeches. Then, enthusiastically they were learning a lot of things, they encouraged him with continuous applause, which was a manifestation of the positive acceptance of alamah Jafari courses. He communicated with them inspirationally there. Hence, I understood that it was a divine gift that a master would be so amazing.

Jafari was full of deep feelings. My colleagues encountered him so impressively that they surrounded him. I hereby appreciate my understanding, which is important, and that is; I am proud that he was my friend and symbol of the Islamic spirit of Iran. Also, he was a prominent professor of Islamic philosophy and moral values from the Qur'an. He criticized the social thoughts of contemporary world and he was a scholar who had both ancient values and new values.

I emphasize that he was trying to make these ideas available outside of Iran, because he was a valuable human being with all-round values not limited to a particular issue. His view was promising and satisfactory. I never saw him upset and shrugged. He knew well how to smile for others, and to himself too.

Professor Athan Delicostopoulos, researcher and professor at the University of Athens

A few years ago, I and many other friends from Greece met Mr Jafari at his home and had a lot of discussions. His attitudes, especially his library, influenced us. Three years before his passing away (solar year 1377), he had come to Greece and I had conversation with him in a meeting for more than two hours. I personally found that he is truly outstanding philosopher. He had excellent thought and played an important role in Islamic philosophy. I talked and discussed about theology of the heretical, and on this basis, I prepared an article on "Faith beyond Thought and unbelief in Universal reality." Also, we came  to a better agreement for the greater efforts of Orthodox Christians and Muslims.

Prof. Christos sp. Voulgaris – University of Athens:

"… In all of my life, nobody influenced me like Allameh Jafari. In the ancient city of Athens, instead of choosing names for streets, they used to put pillars on every street corner, and put three Hermes – the god of communications – on each pillar as a guide to people. From then on, outstanding figures who guided people to the right path were called Hermes. They were constantly ding figures who guided people to the right path were called hermes.llars on every street cornered. s speedbusy studying, researching, and using their intelligence and wisdom to serve humanity, guiding man like shining stars. One of these rare figures is Allameh Mohammad Taghi Jafari, who was not only the pride of Iran, but the whole world. I had the chance to meet him twice. Once in Tehran, and once in Athens, when he was delivering a speech at the Institute of Friendship between Iran and Greece. These meetings gave me the opportunity to get to know his deep, vast thoughts.

Facing someone like Allameh Jafari, you feel like you are facing a man of God, a man who, due to his intelligence, reason and lifestyle, has been able to get near to, and be inspired by God. Nobody has had a deeper influence on me than he did." 

"All in all, we must say that the likes of Allameh Jafari are extremely rare. He was a prophet-like leader. Despite his religious tendencies, he cried out to the whole wild world today that they have fallen astray of humanitarian ways and religious ways; brotherhood, compassion and developing true human nature has been forgotten. Allameh Jafari never condemned anyone. He was a teacher, not a judge. Once, I asked his opinion about Western societies. The question was unexpected to him, but he replied that though Western man has tried to become superhuman, but the only result he got was becoming non-human, for he deviated from God, and insists on his own logic and abilities. Allameh Jafari had succeeded in combining faith in God with human logic. May his soul rest in peace."

Prof. Hisae Nakanishi, lecturer at Nagoya University:

"There are countless aspects to Allameh Jafari's greatness. Most of all, however, I may point out the vast range of his knowledge of Islamic civilizations as well as other civilizations, and his profound insight which has led to such compassionate humanitarian works concerning man today and in the future. When I met him, I could fully feel that it was his warmth of heart and mind and great nature had made him care so much about creating a world of peace and mutual coexistence, and leave us such a valuable legacy.

Ishmael (Kozo) Nakayama - Japan

He was at the cone of science and knowledge, but at the same time he was very close to his students and ordinary people ,and spend his precious time with them. In the early 50's. I met Allame Ja'fari for the first time. Since then, I learned most of the principles of Islam and Islamic philosophy from him. He not only taught me Islam, but also he was a guide to my life.

His infinite knowledge, like the ocean and his greatness and dignity, was like Himalayas.

 … the world has undergone dramatic changes, and is heading for quite dangerous outcomes. Significant values and concepts like human dignity, greatness and heritage have been ignored, even denied. If they are to be rejuvenated, all of Allameh Jafari's ideas and works should be taken into consideration; his philosophy must be re-interpreted if a new, safer world is to be made."