The Pursuit of Philosophy
A Comprehensive Text on Metaphysics, Ontology, and Theology

An explication and translation of Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Nihāyat al-Ḥikmah, by Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi

A foundational work by Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn Ṭabāṭabāʾī, one of the most influential and respected scholars of the twentieth century, Nihāyat al-Ḥikmah is a famous summary of Islamic philosophy that serves as a core textbook for philosophers, theologians, and seminarians in the Middle East and beyond. Often known simply as ʿAllāma today due to his erudition and distinguished career as a scholar and teacher, Ṭabāṭabāʾī was credited with reviving not only the study of philosophy, the rational sciences (ʿulūm al-ʿaqlī), and the work of Ibn Sīnā, Mullā Ṣadrā, and Hādī Sabzavārī in fourteenth/twentieth century Iran, but also the practice of exegesis through his most famous work, Tafsīr al-Mizān, a 20-volume commentary (tafsīr) considered by many to be the greatest modern exegesis of the Qurʾān. Renowned for his interdisciplinary expertise in Islamic sciences, Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s classes in Qum on Ibn Sīnā’s al-Shifāʾ and Mullā Ṣadrā’s al-Asfār attracted many students. Yet he is also remembered for his engagement with Western dialectical and historical materialism, idealism, and realism in his five-volume Uṣūl-i Falsafah wa Rawish-i Riʾalism (The Foundations of Philosophy and the Method of Realism), as well as for intercultural dialogue and comparative philosophy through his discussions with the French philosopher and scholar of Shia Islam Henry Corbin. Several of Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s students went on to have distinguished intellectual careers, including Murtaḍā Muṭahharī, and contemporary scholars such as Seyyed Hossein Nasr and William Chittick. Ṭabāṭabāʾī remains a central figure in the study of philosophy.

In The Pursuit of Philosophy, the Dean of The Shīʿah Institute, Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi, presents an authentic and authoritative translation of Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Nihāyat al-Ḥikmah, a comprehensive and systematic introduction to the key subjects and issues of philosophy, including metaphysics, ontology, and theology. Drawing upon decades of research into the Islamic sciences and a lifetime of engagement in the translation of Arabic philosophical works, The Pursuit of Philosophy will stand as a fundamental resource for the study of Islamic philosophy for scholars, students, and general readers around the world.