Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari

Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestari (Persian: محمد مجتهد شبستری ; born 1936 in Iran) is a highly influential Iranian philosopher, Shia Islamic theologian, writer and professor at Tehran University. He is noted for his idea that ad-din, (religion) is perfect, but not all-encompassing, i.e. it does not possess the answer to every question in life. As a student in Qom, Shabestari studied with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Allameh Tabatabaei. He was influenced by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's idea that "Islamic ethics was not limited" to "personal relationships", but should be "reflected in the state and its form of government." He stayed in the seminary for seventeen years, achieving both degrees of Ijtihad (religious adjudication)...