Motahhari, pioneer of anti-Zionism struggle

 
Iranian Philosopher Morteza Motahari was a pioneer in struggling against Zionism and always described Zionism as a concept based on arrogance and tyranny.

He also believed that Palestinian nation is an oppressed one and urged support to the nation. Ayatollah Motahari believed that helping Palestinians is the duty of all Muslims.

He once opened an account in an Iranian bank to collect public aid for the people of Palestine 1970 at time when the now-defunct Pahlavi regime had banned all sorts of comments against the Zionism and 'Israel'.

He announced the account in a public ceremony and was briefly arrested days afterwards by the regime's guards.

Below is a biography of the professor in brief.

Ayatollah Morteza Motahari, born 1920, received his elementary education in theology from his father, Sheikh Mohammad Hossein in his home town, Fariman in Khorasan province. When he was twelve years of age joined the Islamic Educational Center at Mashhad and pursued his studies there for five years. Then he proceeded to Qom, the great center of Islamic education.

He stayed there for fifteen years and completed his education in Islamic Beliefs and Jurisprudence under the supervision of the renowned philosopher Allameh Mohammad Hossein Tabatabai, Ayatollah Khomeini and many other distinguished scholars. Then he migrated to Tehran.

During the period of his education the Motahari felt that the communists wanted to change the sacred religion of Islam and destroy its spirit by mixing their atheistic views with the Islamic philosophy and interpreting the verses of the Qur'an in a materialistic manner. Communism was not the only thing which received his attention. He also wrote on exegesis of the Qur'an, philosophy, ethics, sociology, history and many other subjects.

In all his writings the real object he had in view was to give replies to the objections raised by others against Islam, to prove the shortcomings of other schools of thought and to manifest the greatness of Islam. He believed that in order to prove the falsity of Marxism and other ideologies like it, it was necessary not only to comment on them in a scholarly manner but also to present the real image of Islam.

Ayatollah Motahari wrote assiduously and continuously from his student days right up to 1979, the year of his assassination. He was one of the most versatile Islamic scholars and prolific writers of recent times, deeply rooted in traditional learning and enamored of its exponents. He was an Islamic thinker who had fully absorbed a rigorous philosophical training. Much of his work has been published in and outside Iran.

Ayatollah Motahary was a popular figure in the religious circles of Iran. He served in the Tehran University as the Head of the Department of Theology and Islamic Learning's. At the time of his assassination he was the president of the Constitutional Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran and a member of the Revolutionary Council.

Ayatollah Morteza Motahari was at the helm of Islamic intellectualism in the years of 1340s (1960s) and 1350s (1970s). Ayatollah Motahari had innovative theories and clarified the Islamic ideology to the young generation.

Motahari laid the foundation of intellectual approach to social issues in line with the Islamic ideology and overcame the then imported ideologies from either the East or the West.

Ayatollah Motahari was faithful, brave, polite, self-confident and an advocate of justice in his debates. He stood against the Marxist and liberal thoughts for several years through his adequate theoretical knowledge and put forward an illuminating picture of the Islamic ideology for the young intellectuals overwhelmed by the imported ideologies.

IR Leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei has advised the young generation to read Ayatollah Motahari's books. Addressing thousands of teachers on the occasion of Teacher’s Day and the martyrdom anniversary of eminent Islamic philosopher, Ayatollah Khamenei said all the works of Motahhari are like everlasting sources of light that illuminates the minds and hearts of all individuals.