Interview with Ayatollah Rida Ustadi

Ayatollah Rida Ustadi is one of the scholars of the Qum Religious Academy. He served as the academic secretary of the Congress on the Commemoration of Aqa Husayn Khunsari (and his learned sons Aqa Jamal al-Din and Aqa Radi). The first section of the interview concerns hadith studies issues, among them, the place of the hadith in the elucidation of Islamic knowledge; the relation of the hadith in the with the Quran; problems in understanding the meanings of hadiths; the necessity of translating hadiths into other languages; and a discussion on the history of textual scholarship. He believes that the forging of hadiths was not very widespread (especially in Shiite communities), for which he cites some evidence. In the second section of the interview, he made some statements about the academic personality and the contributions of the Khunsari family. He, too, made some remarks concerning the aims of the Congress mentioned above.

Key Words: Aqa Husayn Khunsari, Hadith, the Holy Quran, Translation, Congress.

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