Mutamar al-Najaf = al-Hujaj al-Qatiya li-Ittifaq al-Firaq al-Islamiyya
- Author died
- 1174 AH
- Editions
- مطبعة البصري
Mutamar al-Najaf (also known as al-Hujaj al-Qatiya li-Ittifaq al-Firaq al-Islamiyya, lit. 'The Decisive Proofs for the Agreement of the Islamic Factions') is a historical and polemical treatise by the Iraqi scholar Abu al-Barakat Abd Allah ibn Husayn al-Suwaidi (1104–1174 AH / 1693–1761 CE), documenting the proceedings, debates, and theological accord of the religious council held in Najaf in 1156 AH (1743 CE) .
Background and Composition
The events documented in the work took place following the military campaigns of the Iranian ruler Nadir Shah in Iraq and his negotiations with the Ottoman governor of Baghdad, Ahmad Pasha . Seeking to end mutual accusations of disbelief among the various Sunni and Shi'i populations across his realm, Nadir Shah sponsored a council of scholars in Najaf and requested that the Ottoman authorities send a Sunni representative to debate the Shi'i jurists . Ahmad Pasha appointed al-Suwaidi, who was then fifty-two years old, to represent the Sunni side .
The conference convened over three days, from 24 to 26 Shawwal 1156 AH, under the roof behind the shrine attributed to Ali ibn Abi Talib in Najaf . It was attended by around seventy scholars from Iran led by the supreme religious authority, the mulla-bashi Ali Akbar, along with seven scholars from Afghanistan, seven from Transoxiana, the Shafi'i mufti of Ardalan Ahmad al-Mufti, local scholars from Najaf, Karbala, and Hillah, and a large assembly of soldiers and onlookers estimated by al-Suwaidi at around sixty thousand .
Al-Suwaidi initially recorded his firsthand memoirs of the mission and debates within his travelogue, al-Nafha al-Miskiyya fi al-Rihla al-Makkiyya ("The Musky Breeze on the Meccan Journey"), which he compiled during his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1157 AH .
Structure and Contents
The text provides a chronological, diary-style narrative of the author's assignment, journey, and debates:
- Prelude and Private Debates: Al-Suwaidi recounts his initial apprehension upon being summoned by Ahmad Pasha, his preparation of arguments, and his preliminary discussions with the mulla-bashi Ali Akbar concerning the legitimacy of the early caliphate, the marriage of Umar ibn al-Khattab to Ali's daughter Umm Kulthum, the practice of taqiyya (dissimulation), and the legal school attributed to Jafar al-Sadiq .
- Proceedings of the Assembly: The author lists the prominent scholars present and outlines the deliberations on theological disputes, temporary marriage (mut'ah), and the status of the Prophet's companions . He records that the Iranian scholars agreed to abandon the cursing and reviling of the companions (sabb al-sahaba) introduced during the Safavid era, and affirmed the caliphal succession of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman ibn Affan, and Ali according to their traditional Sunni order of merit .
- The Declaration and Accord: On the second day (25 Shawwal), a formal Persian document (jarida) was read aloud by Aqa Husayn, the army's mufti . The document contained the pledges of the Iranian scholars to renounce insulting the companions, followed by confirmations signed by scholars of Najaf, Karbala, and Hillah, counter-declarations by the Afghan and Transoxianan scholars recognizing them as fellow Muslims, and al-Suwaidi's own written testimony and seal at the top of the parchment .
- Conclusion and Friday Prayer: The account concludes with the Friday sermon delivered at the Great Mosque of Kufa on 26 Shawwal 1156 AH, in which prayers and blessings were publicly invoked upon all four Rightly Guided Caliphs in sequence .
Publication History and Reception
The account was preserved in manuscript form within al-Suwaidi's al-Nafha al-Miskiyya as well as in the unpublished sections of his son Abd al-Rahman al-Suwaidi's chronicle Hadiqat al-Zawra fi Sirat al-Wuzara . It was first extracted and published as a standalone work under the title al-Hujaj al-Qatiya li-Ittifaq al-Firaq al-Islamiyya at Matba'at al-Sa'ada in Cairo in 1323 AH (with copies also dated 1324 and 1326 AH), accompanied by a short treatise on debating Shi'is by Ahmad Zayni Dahlan .
In 1367 AH, the Syrian editor Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib republished the text in Cairo under the title Mutamar al-Najaf, having previously serialized it in his journal al-Fath . The work was later printed in Baghdad in 1988, as well as in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, translated into Turkish, and summarized by the Syrian poet Khalil Mardam Bey in the journal of the Arab Academy of Damascus in 1379 AH .
Answer updated