نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
نویسنده
استاد، گروه الهیات، دانشگاه اراک، اراک، ایران
چکیده
کلیدواژهها
عنوان مقاله [English]
نویسنده [English]
This study aims to critically assess a miraculous event (keramah) attributed to Mirza Ṭaher Tonekaboni, a renowned philosopher of the Peripatetic tradition, mystic, and scholar active during the Qajar and early Pahlavi periods. Owing to his scholarly and spiritual reputation, and the transmission of this miracle by certain scholars of biographical literature, the account gained notable acceptance and circulation in books, journals, and online platforms. The science of biography writing is an enduring scholarly discipline among Muslim intellectuals, dedicated to documenting the lives and legacies of religious, intellectual, and social figures. Initially situated within historical studies, it later emerged as a distinct field. The objective of this research is twofold: to critically evaluate the authenticity of the reported miracle and to avoid unwarranted skepticism toward verifiable miraculous accounts. To this end, the author employs a descriptive-analytical method, first presenting the Ṭay al-Arḍ narrative of Mirza Ṭaher Tonekaboni as recorded in various sources and then analyzing it through a chronological comparison—a method long employed by Muslim historians to evaluate the credibility of historical and hadith reports. For example, Ibn e-Isḥaq (d. 151 A.H) records a report that the Prophet Moḥammad (PBUH) established a bond of brotherhood between Jaʿfar ibn Abi Ṭaleb and Ma’adh ibn
e-Jabal. However, al-Waqedi challenges its accuracy, arguing that the event predates the Battle of Badr (2 A.H), during which Jaʿfar was still in Abyssinia and only arrived in Medina seven years later. Likewise, a hadith from Imam al-Ṣadeq (A.S) states that after the martyrdom of Imam Hossain (A.S), only three individuals remained steadfast in faith: Abu Khalid Kaboli, Yaḥya ibn Umm al-Ṭawil, and Jobair ibn Muṭʿim. However, historical records place Jobair’s death between 57–59 A.H, predating Imam Zayn al-Abedin’s (A.S) imamate in 61 A.H, thus contradicting the claim. Similarly, this study evaluates the Ṭay
al-Arḍ narrative by analyzing the life dates of the key figures mentioned in the report—such as Mirza Naṣrollah Lak, Mirza Ṭaher Tonekaboni, Ismāʿil Aṣanlu, and Mirza Mahmood Ḥosseini Zanjani as well as the date of the construction of the Ayeneh Courtyard (Ṣaḥn-e Atabaki), a central location in the reported miracle. These dates are systematically compared to assess the feasibility of the account. Findings from this investigation indicate that the report concerning Mirza Ṭaher Tonekabon's Ṭay al-Arḍ (traveling long distances in the twinkling of an eye) suffers from a significant historiographical flaw common in biography writing namely, the temporal gap between the event and its documentation. According to Modīr al-Dawlah, he and the Imam of Friday Prayer of Zanjan visited Mirza Ṭaher in 1322 A.H, during which Mirza Ṭaher reportedly described the miracle as having occurred 30 to 40 years earlier, thus dating the event to around 1282 or 1292 A.H. However, inconsistencies arise: Ismail Aṣanlu notes that Mirza Mahmood Zanjani, Imam of Friday Prayer, requested a visit to Mirza Ṭaher in 1322 A.H. Yet, Mirza Mahmood was born in 1309 A.H, making him only thirteen years old at that time-an age incompatible with such a formal role. Moreover, Mirza Ṭaher himself was born in 1280 A.H and entered the Tehran seminary in 1296 A.H at the age of sixteen. If the event occurred 30 years prior to 1322 A.H, he would have been twelve years old—prior to his seminary training and before the construction of the Ayeneh Courtyard, which began in 1295 A.H and concluded in 1303 A.H. If the miracle is dated 40 years earlier, Mirza Ṭaher would have been merely two years old, further compounding the implausibility. The courtyard itself did not exist at that time. Thus, the comparison of the reported event's timeline with the historical dates of the individuals and architectural landmarks involved reveals significant chronological discrepancies. These inconsistencies—between the time of the event and its narration, the ages and roles of the narrators, and the physical setting of the event—strongly challenge the credibility of the attributed miracle. The convergence of these temporal contradictions suggests that the Ṭay al-Arḍ narrative ascribed to Mirza Ṭaher Tonekaboni lacks historical veracity.
کلیدواژهها [English]
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