“Dr. Sheikh” Arrives on the Book Market

According to the correspondent of Iran Book News Agency (IBNA) in Qom, the book “Dr. Sheikh: Life and Works of Mohammad Ali Sheikh, the Enduring Legacy of Allameh Shushtari,” was published in 490 pages by the Shia Bibliography Institute Publications in Qom.

The initial pages of this work are adorned with the publisher’s preface, the Allameh Sheikh Mohammad Taqi Shushtari Foundation, and the author’s foreword. This work is compiled and edited in eight chapters: Life and Education, Ministry of Culture, Education, Ministry of Science, Culture, and Higher Education, Representation in the Islamic Consultative Assembly and Responsibilities, Research and Scientific Works, Enduring Works of Sheikh and his Family in Shushtar, Moral and Scientific Virtues, and Articles on Sheikh’s Life, Thoughts, and Works. The documentation of information with images of documents and multiple indexes has enriched this work.

For the compilation of this work, over 2200 pages of documents and records available at Shahid Beheshti University, Islamic Azad University North Tehran Branch, Allameh Sheikh Mohammad Taqi Shushtari Library, the Library, Museum, and Document Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the National Archives and Library Organization (National Archive), Tehran University, Alborz High School, as well as personal family documents, friends’, and relatives’ records were studied and utilized.

In addition to the life and works of Mohammad Ali Sheikh, this work contains valuable documented information about the history, laws, and regulations of the Ministry of Culture (Education), Ministry of Science, Shahid Beheshti University (National University of Iran), the Cultural Revolution, the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the National Library of Iran, especially the history and culture of Dar al-Mu’minin Shushtar, and also serves as a complement to the life and works of Allameh Sheikh Mohammad Taqi Shushtari.

More than 40 books and 200 articles by the author of this work have been published to date. Recognition at the Book of the Year Festival of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1401), and also by the National Elites Foundation for authoring the valuable work “Mohaddesnameh,” being selected as the top researcher for four periods of the National Research and Technology Festival of the National Archives and Library Organization, exemplary librarian of the country, teaching specialized codicology courses at Imam Reza (AS) International University in Mashhad and Iranology Foundation, collaboration with the manuscript section of the Austrian National Library, presenting articles at national and international conferences and congresses in Iran, Iraq, Turkey, etc., are some of the achievements of the author of the book “Dr. Sheikh.”

Mohammad Ali Sheikh Shushtari, the legacy of Allameh Sheikh Mohammad Taqi Sheikh Shushtari, was born on September 6, 1929, in Shushtar. In 1935, in protest against Reza Shah’s unveiling decree, he migrated with his family from Shushtar to the holy shrines and completed his primary education from 1937 to 1941 at Hosseini Elementary School in Karbala. After the fall of Reza Shah, he returned to Iran and completed his primary education from 1941 to 1942 at Sepah Elementary School in Shushtar.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in 1953, Mohammad Ali Sheikh joined the Ministry of Culture as a teacher and taught for three years in Lahijan and Ramhormoz high schools. He was then transferred to the Ahvaz Culture Department and appointed head of the Ahvaz Art High School. Six years later, he took charge of the Shushtar Culture Department; but after a little over a year of managing the Shushtar Culture Department, in 1962, he moved to Tehran with his family to continue his studies and collaborated with Iraj Afshar and Seyed Abdullah Anvar at the National Library of Iran for about two years.

From July 1964, Mohammad Ali Sheikh worked as an employee in the General Inspection Department of the Ministry of Education, and on January 21, 1975, he retired from the Ministry of Education with 21 years of experience. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Dr. Sheikh served as the Director-General of the Legal Affairs Office of the Ministry of Education from October 1980 to April 1981, at the invitation of Martyr Mohammad Javad Bahonar.

Mohammad Ali Sheikh founded the Philosophy Department of Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch, in 1990. In 1995, he was selected as an exemplary professor nationwide. He retired from Shahid Beheshti University in February 2010 with over 50 years of government service; however, he continued teaching at Shahid Beheshti University and Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch, until 2016. He passed away on October 15, 2017, in Tehran, after approximately 60 years of cultural, scientific, and political services.

Mohammad Ali Sheikh (1929-2017), son of Allameh Sheikh Mohammad Taqi Shushtari, in addition to 60 years of enduring service as a teacher, university lecturer, and official, and three terms as a representative in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, also authored several exquisite works in the field of philosophy, which are foundational and influential books.