¶ÙÄ€¸éÄ€µþĪ, SAYYED JAÊ¿FAR b. AbÄ« EsḥÄq MÅ«sawÄ« BorÅ«jerdÄ« KašfÄ« (b. Eá¹£á¹ahbÄnÄt in FÄrs, 1189/1775, d. BorÅ«jerd 1267/1851), religious scholar, nephew of the AḵbÄrÄ« YÅ«suf b. Aḥmad BaḥrÄnÄ« and father of Sayyed YaḥyÄ Waḥīd DÄrÄbÄ«.
His position on the dispute between AḵbarÄ«s (see ´¡á¸´B´¡¸éĪ³Û´¡) and OṣūlÄ«s is unclear. Like his contemporaries MÄ«rzÄ Moḥammad AḵbÄrÄ« (d. 1233/1818) and Asad-AllÄh BorÅ«jerdÄ« (d. 1271/1854), DÄrÄbÄ« claimed intuitive knowledge (kašf) to be an alternative to the rational inquiry propounded by the OṣūlÄ« school of Twelver ShiÊ¿ism. On the other hand, his opposition to the continuation of Friday congregational prayer during the occultation of the twelfth imam, an opposition shared by many AḵbÄrÄ« Twelvers, was based on revelations received in a dream (Amanat, pp. 44-47; ḤabÄ«bÄbÄdÄ«, ²Ñ²¹°ìÄå°ù±ð³¾, p. 1856).
DÄrÄbÄ« was skilled in koranic exegesis and wrote as well on logic, grammar, Hadith, oṣūl al-dÄ«n (fundamental principles of Islam), and theology. He composed both EjÄbat al-możá¹arayn and the abridgment KefÄyat al-aytÄm (completed 1259/1843) for MÄ«rzÄ Moḥammad-TaqÄ« ḤosÄm-al-Salá¹ana, governor of BorÅ«jerd (²¹±ô-Ḏa°ùÄ«Ê¿²¹ I, pp. 120-21, XVIII, pp. 88-89; DÄnešpÄžūh, V, pp. 1988-89, VI, p. 2121). At MÄ«rzÄ Moḥammad-TaqÄ«’s behest, he composed Toḥfat al-molÅ«k fÄ«’l-sayr wa’l-solÅ«k (1233/1817-18) in Persian and dedicated it to Fatḥ-Ê¿AlÄ« Shah (1212-50/1797-1834); in this work he argued for the concurrent authority of the mojtahed (jurist) and the political ruler, defining the former as the spiritualdeputy of the Imam and the second as the temporal deputy (Amir Arjomand, pp. 225-28; ²¹±ô-Ḏa°ùÄ«Ê¿²¹ III, p. 471).
DÄrÄbÄ« performed the ḥaÂáÂá in 1260/1844, the same year as MÄ«rzÄ Ê¿AlÄ«-Moḥammad, the µþÄå²ú. Neither then nor after his son Sayyed YaḥyÄ converted to Babism, a move that he is said to have discussed with his father, did DÄrÄbÄ« himself become a convert (Amanat, pp. 247-48; Balyuzi, pp. 70, 93-94; Browne, 1975, p. 8; idem, 1893, p. 347-48). He witnessed both his son’s subsequent involvement and death in the failed Babi uprising in NeyrÄ«z and the execution of the µþÄå²ú in 1266/1850.
Bibliography:
A. Amanat, Resurrection and Renewal. The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran, 1844-1850, Ithaca, N.Y., 1989.
S. Amir Arjomand, The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam, Chicago, 1984, pp. 225-29, 232, 235-37.
AÊ¿yÄn al-ŠÄ«Ê¿a XV, s.v., pp. 262-63.
H. M. Balyuzi, The Bab. The Herald of the Day of Days, Oxford, 1973.
E. G. Browne, ed. and tr., The Táríḵ-i-Jadíd, or New History of Mírzá Ê¿Alí Moḥammad, the Báb, Cambridge, 1893, pp. 111, 231 n. 2.
Idem, ed. and tr., A Traveller’s Narrative Written to Illustrate the Episode of the µþÄå²ú, Amsterdam, 1975, pp. 183, 254.
M.-T. DÄnešpÄžūh, ed., Fehrest-e ketÄb-ḵÄna-ye ehdÄʾī-e Ä€qÄ-ye Sayyed Moḥammad MeškÄt ba ketÄb-ḵÄna-ye dÄnešgÄh-e TehrÄn, Tehran, 6 vols., 1332-35 Š./1953-56.
²¹±ô-Ḏa°ùÄ«Ê¿²¹ I, pp. 493, 498, 501; III, pp. 144, 471; IX/3, p. 911; XII, p. 232. FasÄʾī, II, pp. 178, 236.
M.-T. LesÄn-al-Molk Sepehr, NÄseḵ al-tawÄrīḵ. Dawra-ye kÄmel-e tÄrīḵ-e qÄjÄrÄ«ya, ed. J. QÄʾemmaqÄmÄ«, III, Tehran, 1337 Š./1958, p. 121.
M.-Ê¿A. Modarres TabrÄ«zÄ«, RayḥÄnat al-adab V, TabrÄ«z, 1327 Š./1948, pp. 60-62.
(ANDREW J. NEWMAN)
(Andrew J. Newman)
Originally Published: December 15, 1994
Last Updated: November 15, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. VII, Fasc. 1, pp. 9-10
