بررسی احوال و آثار ادبی عباس شوشتری

A Study of the Life and Literary Works of Abbas Shushtari

Abstract

This article presents a documented and analytical study of the scholarly, ethical, spiritual and literary personality of Sayyed Mohammad Abbas Shushtari, a distinguished figure from the renowned scholarly family of Ni‘matullah al-Jaza’irī, whose lineage traces back to Imam Musa al-Kadhim (a). Born in Lucknow, he mastered Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, and excelled in both prose and poetry in all three languages, reflecting his broad literary and intellectual capacity. Recognized as a mujtahid in the Indian subcontinent, he was honored with the title “Shams al-‘Ulama” by Queen Victoria, and served in various administrative and judicial positions. Using a historical–analytical methodology, this study draws on primary sources and classical biographical records to explore Shushtari’s life and contributions. The article highlights his spiritual and moral virtues—such as devotion, piety, asceticism, humility, generosity, forbearance, repentance, and deep love for the Ahl al-Bayt (a)—while also emphasizing his extensive scholarly and literary output. His writings span ethics, history, hadith, theology, devotional literature and poetry, demonstrating a rare combination of juristic authority and literary refinement. The findings indicate that Sayyed Mohammad Abbas Shushtari was not only a prominent jurist and spiritual exemplar but also a multilingual poet and a cultured scholar whose intellectual legacy occupies a distinguished place in the religious and literary history of the Indian subcontinent.