Preface

Preface

In the 1923, a child was born in northwestern Iran who would a few decades later become, for his scientific efforts and profound writings, one of the greatest thinkers of his time. His name was Mohammad Taqi Jafari. 

Though born in a family who were by no means rich – which created many problems inhibiting his progress in education and academic endeavors – he persisted, and it was his tireless persistence and stamina that turned him into one of the richest men of the East in knowledge and mysticism. He soon accumulated a huge treasure of knowledge full of original, basic, innovative thoughts. Mohammad Taqi Jafari never studied at any university; yet, his ingenious, delicate mental endeavors lead to the creation of invaluable amounts of knowledge, particularly in fields such as philosophy, anthropology, ideology and analyzing modern truths. 

Jafari began his formal education at theological schools and seminaries, but his academic career mostly involves comprehensive viewpoints with the context of solving major ideological and philosophical dilemmas. 

Searching for topics and posing fundamental questions was the most prominent aspect of Allameh Jafari's mentality; thus, he was constantly searching, excavating into new worlds few had stepped into – at least, the way he stepped into them.

His childhood was spent with his silent, boyish thoughts; his youth, however, involved studies mainly focusing on humanity and the universe. As time passed, these two issues became more and more important to him, though his peers did not think so. His first book, The Relationship between Man and the Universe (The Change of Physical Mass in Man's Understanding from the Earliest Times up to the Twentieth Century), written in three volumes, showed how distinctive his way of thinking was; even though he was just a young man, he had begun a journey that he spent the rest of his life on – studying humanity, the universe and the facts that sacrifice the universe for man and man for himself. 

By considering things from a novel point of view, Mohammad Taqi Jafari tended to use historical issues with a new definition and for a new purpose. This made him be much more than a pure philosopher; other scholars paid attention to his thoughts on the basics of recognition and discovery and insights into science and philosophy. Still, he never stopped at that, and tried open up a new road by using the latest findings in the humanities and also experimental sciences like physics and mathematics. In fact, his questions about the mystery of life and his stops at stations like how evolutions arises in culture, the secrets about education helped him swiftly pass through the narrow road of "what there is" and "what there should be," and see life as an elevation. That was when he reached a crucially fundamental domain called "intelligible life," and then devoted all his capabilities into extracting a constructive truth out of obvious realities like culture, economics, science, history, philosophy, civilizations and technology that could save the world from falling into oblivion for the stormy hands of those who lack balanced thinking.

Since Jafari put a great deal of care into his work, and experienced and analyzed both Western and Eastern unsolved issues with incredible vigor and passion, and also probably due to his pioneer discoveries regarding issues where others failed, the second half of his lifetime had him change into an internationally renowned thinker. Many Western scholars and thinkers from prominent universities all over the world visited him and held talks and discussions with him – over 100 major interviews, some of which have been published. Allameh Jafari and Bertrand Russell had correspondence with each other. Professor Rosenthal, Dr. Kenneth Alan Luther, Dr. Allal Al-fasi, Professor Gankowski, Professor Van Ess, Professor Koroda, Professor Mohammad Abdul-Salam, and many others were among those who came to Tehran to hold discussions with Allameh Jafari. 

This book contains selections of but parts of the late Allameh's thoughts on some fundamental issues. It can be considered a way of thinking attempting to view truths from a new scope. Allameh Jafari's thoughts clearly show that he never confined himself to geographical boundaries; his main concern was mankind and the future – a future we cannot afford to neglect. Those who knew him admit that he excelled at avoiding prejudiced or limited thoughts, and this book should also verify this fact – it is the cry of a thoughtful bird who sees the world as a garden to develop, fly and fly higher and higher in. He heeds us not to forget flying higher. Through his hundreds of comprehensive studies and analyses, he has told us that it is impossible to solve the mystery of life without making it face eternity.

                                            The Allameh Jafari Institute (AJI)