Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born on April 7, 1933 (19 Farvadin 1312 A.H. solar) in Tehran into a family of distinguished scholars and physicians. His father, Seyyed Valiallah, a man of great learning and piety, was a physician to the Iranian royal family, as was his father before him. The name "Nasr" which means "victory" was conferred on Professor Nasr's grandfather by the King of Persia. Nasr also comes from a family of Sufis. One of his ancestors was Mulla Seyyed Muhammad Taqi Poshtmashhad, who was a famous saint of Kashan, and his mausoleum which is located next to the tomb of the Safavid king Shah Abbas, is still visited by pilgrims to this day.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, currently University Professor of Islamic Studies at the George Washington University, Washington D.C. is one of the most important and foremost scholars of Islamic, Religious and Comparative Studies in the world today. Author of over fifty books and five hundred articles which have been translated into several major Islamic, European and Asian languages, Professor Nasr is a well known and highly respected intellectual figure both in the West and the Islamic world. An eloquent speaker with a charismatic presence, Nasr is a much sought after speaker at academic conferences and seminars, university and public lectures and also radio and television programs in his area of expertise. Possessor of an impressive academic and intellectual record, his career as a teacher and scholar spans over four decades.
Professor Nasr began his illustrious teaching career in 1955 when he was still a young and promising, doctoral student at Harvard University. Over the years, he has taught and trained an innumerable number of students who have come from the different parts of the world, and many of whom have become important and prominent scholars in their fields of study.
He has trained different generations of students over the years since 1958 when he was a professor at Tehran University and then, in America since the Iranian revolution in 1979, specifically at Temple University in Philadelphia from 1979 to 1984 and at the George Washington University since 1984 to the present day. The range of subjects and areas of study which Professor Nasr has involved and engaged himself with in his academic career and intellectual life are immense. As demonstrated by his numerous writings, lectures and speeches, Professor Nasr speaks and writes with great authority on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from philosophy to religion to spirituality, to music and art and architecture, to science and literature, to civilizational dialogues and the natural environment.
For Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr, the quest for knowledge, specifically knowledge which enables man to understand the true nature of things and which furthermore, "liberates and delivers him from the fetters and limitations of earthly existence," has been and continues to be the central concern and determinant of his intellectual life.
Antara buku yang mengambil masa lama untuk membacanya tetapi bukan kerana isinya tidak bagus, bahkan layak diberikan lima bintang, sebaliknya saya membaca versi e-buku hingga memerlukan ruang yang lebih selesa untuk menyusur perjalanan hidup tokoh besar dalam dunia agama, falsafah, pemikiran dan seni Islam-Parsi yang menguasai pula kebudayaan dan pemikiran Barat.
Kita akan menyusuri sejarah hidup Prof Seyyed Hossein Nasr ini sejak dari kecil dan menyaksikan bukan saja ranah kebudayaan Islam-Parsi yang menumbuhkannya hingga menjadi ilmuwan, bahkan didikan keluarga khususnya bapanya sendiri.
Buku ini bukan hanya mengenai Nasr, bahkan juga mengenai pemikiran dalam Islam, Syiah dan Iran, politik Shah hingga Khomeini, falsafah dan pemikiran Timur serta Barat, termasuk bagaimana sekularisme dan modenisme terkait dalam kehidupan kita khususnya umat Islam dan manusia Timur.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr's writings have shaped my views on Islamic spirituality in the past few years. I have read many of his works from books to introductions to other books and random articles. This book gave me a comprehensive look on his life and views in general. I found myself relating to many of his experiences such as his experience in university, studying physics. His purpose behind studying physics was to learn "the nature of things," but instead he found a gap in the modern scientific study and instead was more interested in the metaphysical. In my case, when I started my psychology degree, in a sense what I wanted to learn - to put it in Nasr's terms - was the nature of the human being. Instead, I was faced with a fragmented science dealing with fragments of the human mind and behaviour as opposed to a holistic view of mind-body-soul. The gap in my study of psychology has led me to "search for the sacred" in other disciplines such as literature and philosophy (there will always be the spiritual gap if we do not actively seek it). Another thing I really like about Nasr's worldview is that he links everything back to the Sacred and Divine. For example, his views on architecture. He believes that the architecture of the building should reflect its purpose, so you cannot build a mosque like an industrial building, a "box" that deprives the space of its spiritual essence. Another important issue he addresses is the environmental crisis, which is ultimately caused by the modern spiritual crisis and neglecting the sacredness of nature, and the only way we can actually "solve" the environmental crisis is to reconnect with our spiritual essence and to rebuild our connection with nature.
beghol ali asghare haghdar inja nasr be mohmtarin masaleye iraniyan ke hamun peyambar baziye mipardaze va khodeshe mesle 1 mosleh va mobara az khata neshun mide