New Arabic Original full crown leather bdg. Large roy. 8vo. (25 x 17 cm). In Arabic. 6 volumes set: ([63], 3555 p.). Tabaqât-e a'lâm al-Shî'a. Nuqabâ' al-Bashar fî al-Qarn al-Râbi' 'Ashar. 6 volumes set. Edited by Sayyid Muhammad Tabatabyi Behbahani. Tehrani was born on 11 Rabi?a I 1293/6 April 1876, into a mercantile family of Tehran that had strong religious interests; his father, ?âjj 'Ali, participated actively in the celebrated tobacco boycott of 1308/1891 and later wrote a book on the history of the movement. Aqa Bozorg received his initial education from private tutors in Tehran before proceeding to the ?atabat in 1315/1897. (1313/1895 in Rahnema-ye ketab, p. 525), where he spent the rest of his life, with the exception of four brief return visits to Iran and two short journeys to Syria, Egypt, and the ?ejaz. Among his teachers in Najaf were A?und Molla Mo?ammad-Ka?em ?orasani, Sayyed Mo?ammad-Ka?em Yazdi, Say?-al-sari?a E?fahani and ?ajji Mirza ?osayn Nuri. He was particularly close to the first of these, working as his amanuensis and assisting in the composition of his major work on feqh, al-Kefaya. On the death of ?orasani in 1329/1911, he left Najaf for Samarra to join the circle of Mirza Mo?ammad-Taqi Sirazi. He stayed there until 1354/1935, returning then to Najaf which remained his home until his death. While in Samarra, he conceived, and began to execute, the plan of a comprehensive bibliographical survey of all classes of literature produced by Shi?ite authors. His original intention was to refute a statement by the Christian Arab litterateur, Jorji Zaydan, belittling the Shi?ite contribution to Arabic letters. However, the survey that Aqa Bozorg produced, al-?ari?a ela ta?anif al-si?a, went far beyond this polemical purpose to become the main achievement of his career and a major contribution to Islamic scholarship. In al-?ari?a, the titles of all books written by Shi?ite authors are listed alphabetically, together with a brief indication of authorship and content, as well as place and date of publication in the case of printed works, and location in the case of manuscripts. Aqa Bozorg returned to Najaf in 1354/1935 and established a press (Ma?ba?at al-sa?ada) to print the first volume of al-?ari?a, but was soon obliged to sell it (see Rahnema-ye ketab, p. 526). Other arrangements were then made for the printing in Najaf of the second and third volumes, but all subsequent volumes-with the exception of the thirteenth and fourteenth-were published in Tehran. Twenty-two volumes have appeared to date; seven more await publication (For full bibliographical details concerning al-?ari?a, see ?akimi, pp. 543-45). Aqa Bozorg also compiled a biographical dictionary of Shi?ite scholars as a companion to al-?ari?a. The dictionary has the general title ?abaqat a?lam al-si?a, but each section, pertaining to the scholars of a given century, also has a separate title. Three sections have been published so far: Nawabe? al-rowwat fi rabe?at al-me?at (Beirut, 1390/1970), dealing with Shi?ite traditionists of the 4th Islamic century; al-Keram al-mobarrara fi'l-qarn al-?ale? ba?d al-?asara (Najaf, 1374-77/1954-57), on scholars of the 13th century; and Noqaba? al-basar fi'l-qarn al-rabe? ?asar (Najaf, 1373-88/1953-68), on scholars of the 14th century (?akimi, pp. 549-51). In addition to these multi-volume works, Aqa Bozorg wrote a number of less voluminous books, including a survey of some 600 biographers of Shi?ite traditionists, Mo?affa 'l-maqal fi mo?annefi al-rejal (Tehran, 1337 S./1958); a biography of Mirza ?asan Sirazi, Hadiyat al-razi ela 'l-mojadded al-Sirazi (Najaf, 1392/1972, Pers. tr., Mirza-ye Sirazi, Tehran, 1362/1983); a polemic against Sunni concept of ejtehad, Tawzi? al-rasad fi ta?ri? ?a?r al-ejtehad (unpublished); and a defense of the textual integrity of the Koran, al-Naqd al-la?if fi nafy al-ta?rif ?an al-Qor?an al-sarif (unpublished); and a brief biography of Shaikh Abu Ja?far ?usi (Zendagani-e Say? ?usi, Tehran, 1360 S.
