ABSTRACT
The aim of Chapter 7 is to critically assess the basic tenets of a powerful anti-intellectual trend in modern Shi‘i thought known as the Tafkiki School. Following a short introduction to some anti-rational trends in the history of Islamic thought, and a brief historical background on the emergence of the Tafkiki School, the main epistemic claims made by the best and most articulate expositor of the School, Ustad Mohammad Reza Hakimi are critically discussed. In the next section of the chapter possible socio-political consequences of the wider promulgation of the views of the Tafkikis among the younger generations of the Shi‘a Muslims are explored. The basic argument of the chapter is that while the Tafkiki School offers a powerful anti-intellectual model which appeals to the religious sensibilities of the faithful, it operates within a particularist and elitist methodological/epistemological framework which renders its epistemic claims either invalid or inaccessible to critical scrutiny in the public arena. In short, the epistemological model propagated by the Tafkikis is not conducive to a healthy growth of knowledge. Moreover, the School’s anti-rational teachings could encourage intolerance and aversion to the use of dialogue in dealing with others.
