An Investigation of the Contradictory Approaches of Seyyed Abolfazl Borghiee

Sayyid Abolfazl Borghiee is a Shiite Iranian cleric who was born in 1287 SH and died in 1372 SH. Borghiee had certain reformist ideas. He has distanced himself from certain Shiite beliefs and refutes some traditions. Borghiee has published some of his books in Saudi Arabia. Some consider him to be one of the most radical people in the Shiite Qur’anic movement. His scientific life consists of two distinct parts. In the first part, he, like other Shiite scholars, defends theological issues, but in the second part he has criticized issues such as the establishment of the Imam, exclusiveness of Imamate, infallibility, intercession, etc. with a focus on Wahhabism. Such arguments, which have been proven in some of his books, have been rejected and invalidated in other works. The present article examines his contrasting approaches to these issues