Life and Thought
Mehdi Hadavi Tehrani (born 1961) is a Shiite cleric, teacher of advanced jurisprudence and legal theory (dars-e khārij) at the Qom Seminary, and theorist of 'Systematic Thought in Islam.' He is the founder of the IslamQuest website and the director of the Ravāq-e Ḥekmat Scientific Research Institute, and has authored numerous works in the fields of jurisprudence, biographical evaluation (rijāl), Islamic economics, and the guardianship of the jurist (wilāyat al-faqīh).
Mehdi Hadavi Tehrani was born in Tehran in 1961. He initially studied electrical engineering at Sharif University of Technology before turning to seminary studies in Qom. After completing the intermediate level (sath), he attended advanced (dars-e khārij) classes under scholars such as Jafar Sobhani, Javad Tabrizi, Vahid Khorasani, Mohammad-Taqi Behjat, Naser Makarem Shirazi, and Mirza Hashem Amoli. He learned the jurisprudential and legal-theoretical school of Martyr Sadr from Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi and Seyyed Kazem Haeri, and studied biographical evaluation (rijāl) under Jafar Sobhani and Seyyed Musa Shobeiri Zanjani. In the field of practical ethics and mysticism, he also benefited for many years from the presence of Seyyed Reza Bahaoddini.
Hadavi Tehrani has taught at the Qom Seminary for over thirty-three years, with twenty-seven years of experience teaching advanced jurisprudence and legal theory (dars-e khārij). He is a member of the academic council and one of the founders of the Master's program in the Philosophy of Science at Sharif University of Technology, a member of the Council for the Review of Humanities Texts at the Ministry of Science, and the former head of the academic board of the Supreme Leader's Pilgrimage Affairs Office. He also directs the Ravāq-e Ḥekmat Scientific Research Institute and founded the IslamQuest website to answer religious questions and address doubts.
His works include 'The Theological Foundations of Ijtihad,' 'The General Structure of the Economic System of Islam in the Quran,' 'Taḥrīr al-Maqāl fī Kulliyyāt ʿIlm al-Rijāl,' 'The Guardianship of the Jurist (Wilāyat al-Faqīh),' 'The History of the Science of Legal Theory (Uṣūl),' 'The School and Economic System of Islam,' and 'Guardianship and Religiosity.' His theory of 'Systematic Thought in Islam' is among his well-known ideas.