Quick Facts
Biography
Mehdi Haeri Yazdi (1923 in Qom, Iran – 1999 in Tehran, Iran) (Persian: مهدی حائری یزدی ; Arabic: المهدي الحائري اليزدي; al-Ḥa’irī̄ al-Yazdī̄) was a prominent Shia Islamic cleric in Iran and the first son of Sheikh Abdul Karim Haeri Yazdi, the founder of Qom Seminary and teacher of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who became the leader of the Iranian Revolution and founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Family
Mahdi Ha'iri yazdi was son of the late Ayatollah Ha'iri great Shiite authority and great discipline of the late and lamented Ayatollah Boroujerdi. he was one of the masters of theology and Islamic philosophy.
Academic career
Ha'iri as the representative of Ayatollah Borujerdi set out for the U.S.A to prpogate islam in the western hemisphere. while propagating and islam in the western world, he studied western philosophy and received his PH.D in western philosophy from Toronto university. he was also elected as the master of Islamic philosophy at Toronto. he also taught in the university of McGill.
Background
Mehdi Haeri Yazdi himself was "one of Khomeini's prominent pupils"but parted ways with Khomeini on several issues. He opposed Khomeini's theory of velayat-e faqih as justification for rule of the Islamic state by Islamic jurists, Khomeini's unwillingness to end the Iran–Iraq War, and believed Khomeini's fatwa against Salman Rushdie was "inconsistent with the principles of Islamic law, or Shari'a" and "against the interests of Muslim society." Haeri-Yazdi published his objection to the velayat-e faqih in his 1994 book "Hekmat va Hokumat". The book was published in London, but nevertheless has been widely distributed in Iran.
In 1992 he published The Principles of Epistemology in Islamic Philosophy : Knowledge by Presence. The book aimed to present Western scholars and philosophers a theme that he considered most important : knowledge by presence - knowledge that arises from immediate and intuitive awareness.
Works
In Persian:
- Hekmat va Hokumat (London 1994)
- Kavushha-ye Aql-e Nazari
- Hiram-e Hasti
- Kavushha-ye Aql-e Amali
- safare Nafs( the journey of soul)
- Analytical philosophy
In English:
- knowledge by presence