TEHRAN --  Beyond the vast salt flats of Dasht-e Kavir, roughly 147 kilometers from Iran’s capital, Tehran, lies the city of Qom, home to the holy shrine of Fatimeh Masumeh (AS), sister of the eighth Shia Imam, Ali ibn Musa Reza (AS).
In a serene corner of this magnificent shrine rests Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari, the distinguished Islamic scholar, philosopher, author and thinker. His final resting place is regularly visited by scholars and men of faith from across the world.
Born on February 2, 1920, in Fariman—a modest town located about 60 kilometers from the holy city of Mashhad—Ayatollah Motahhari would go on to become one of the architects of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Mashhad, home to the magnificent mausoleum of Ali ibn Musa Reza (AS), formed the spiritual backdrop of his early life and spiritual upbringing.
Ayatollah Motahhari’s father, Muhammad Husain Motahhari, was a revered scholar who had studied in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf and spent several years in Egypt and Saudi Arabia before returning to Fariman, Press TV reported.
It was under his father’s tutelage that young Motahhari first tasted the fruits of religious learning. In a heartfelt tribute, he dedicated one of his most celebrated books, Dastan-e-Rastan (The Epic of the Righteous), to his father. The work was selected as the Book of the Year by the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO in 1965.
At the young age of 12, Morteza Motahhari began his formal religious education in Mashhad. He gravitated naturally toward philosophy, theology, and mysticism, which shaped his worldview and define the intellectual legacy he left behind.
“I can remember that when I began my studies in Mashhad and was still engaged in learning elementary Arabic, the philosophers, mystics, and theologians impressed me far more than other scholars and scientists, such as inventors and explorers,” the great scholar would later recall, revealing the early stirrings of his philosophical leanings.
“Naturally, I was not yet acquainted with their ideas, but I regarded them as heroes on the stage of thought.”
A prolific author of numerous books, Ayatollah Motahhari illuminated the core principles of Islamic ideology for generations of youth—especially those grappling with the rising tide of Western thought during the era of the Pahlavi monarchy.
He became a trailblazer in closing the gap between the seminary and the student body.
“The late Motahhari was a scientist, thinker, and researcher with a rich intelligence, clear thinking, and a realistic mind. The writings he left behind and the research he wrote about scientific and demonstrative purposes, which can be seen in his books, are astonishing,” said Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, paying tribute to Ayatollah Motahhari’s vast contributions to Islamic literature.
Profound devotion and deep kinship defined Ayatollah Motahhari’s beautiful relationship with Imam Khomeini, the chief architect of the Islamic Revolution that toppled the West-backed Pahlavi regime in 1979.
“I lost a dear son who was a part of my body. A pure one unparalleled in purity of spirit, strength of faith, and power of expression has joined the Supreme Being… I mourned him, who was one of the personalities who is considered the product of my life. With the martyrdom of this noble son and the eternal scholar, a gap has been created in dear Islam that nothing can replace,” Imam Khomeini said after his martyrdom.
On May 2, 1979, Ayatollah Motahhari was assassinated by a member of the terrorist organization Furqan shortly after attending a late-night meeting.
To Ayatollah Motahhari, Imam Khomeini represented his “lost soul”—a spiritual mirror he found early in life. He referred to the beloved leader of the Islamic Revolution and founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran as the “Holy Spirit of God.”
Ayatollah Motahhari first encountered Imam Khomeini as a young seminary lecturer in the holy city of Qom, and soon became his student. Their intellectual bond deepened over time, as Ayatollah Motahhari recalled:
“I realized that the thirst of my spirit would be quenched at the pure spring of that personality (Imam Khomeini)… the lectures on ethics given by that beloved personality (Imam Khomeini) every Thursday and Friday were not restricted to ethics in the dry, academic sense but dealt with gnosis and spiritual wayfaring, and thus, they intoxicated me,” he wrote in one of his books.
“I can say without exaggeration that those lectures aroused in me such ecstasy that their effect remained with me until the following Monday or Tuesday. An important part of my intellectual and spiritual personality took shape under the influence of those lectures and the other classes I took over twelve years with that spiritual master (Imam Khomeini).”
In a 2023 commemorative gathering, Ayatollah Khamenei described Ayatollah Motahhari as the embodiment of a “true and perfect teacher.”
A prolific writer and author of several masterpieces, Ayatollah Motahhari always emphasized teaching above everything else. After his untimely and tragic death, his disciples took on the task of transforming his lectures into books.
In 1954, he began teaching philosophy at the Faculty of Theology and Islamic Sciences at the University of Tehran, where he served for 22 years. His reputation as a knowledgeable and respected professor grew steadily.
Beyond academia, Ayatollah Motahhari was also deeply involved in a variety of Islamic professional circles. In 1955, he facilitated the first commentary session of the Islamic Students Association, laying the groundwork for future intellectual gatherings.
In 1965, he played a foundational role in establishing the Husayniya-e-Irshad—an institute intended to disseminate Islamic thought among educated youth. Ayatollah Motahhari’s lectures at the Husayniya drew large audiences from all walks of life, who were captivated by his depth and clarity.
Between 1972 and 1974, he lectured across various mosques and religious centers in Tehran, including the Al-Jawad, Javid, and Arak Mosques. But in 1975, the Western-backed Pahlavi regime banned him from public lecturing, as his lectures were a source of awakening for people.
The following year, Ayatollah Motahhari was dismissed from the Faculty of Theology. After his removal, he traveled to Najaf to meet Imam Khomeini. On returning to Iran, he emerged as the foremost proponent of Imam Khomeini’s revolutionary vision.
Among Ayatollah Motahhari’s enduring legacies was his early and courageous advocacy for the Palestinian cause. He saw Zionism not merely as a hate-driven political movement, but as an extension of Western colonial arrogance and tyranny.
He firmly believed that Palestinians were an oppressed people, and that aiding them against the Zionist occupation was a moral and religious imperative for all Muslims, just like his mentor, Imam Khomeini.
In a daring act of solidarity, he opened a bank account in 1970 to collect donations for Palestinians—at a time when the Pahlavi regime maintained warm ties with Israel and suppressed all criticism of Zionism.
To Ayatollah Motahhari, Palestine was not an Arab problem, it was the foremost issue confronting the entire Islamic world.
“All Muslims, both Sunni and Shia, have a religious duty to help the struggles of the Muslim and oppressed people of Palestine,” the prominent scholar once declared.
Today, the Palestinian issue remains central to the foreign policy of the Islamic Republic, echoing the unwavering principles laid down by its visionary founders, including Ayatollah Motahhari.