Jafar Shahidi was a notable scholar of Persian language

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

 and literature

Literature

Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...

 and a renowned historian of Islam.

Shahidi was born in Boroujerd. He studied both in University and Seminary and held a PhD degree from Tehran University and Ijtihad

Ijtihad

Ijtihad is the making of a decision in Islamic law by personal effort , independently of any school of jurisprudence . as opposed to taqlid, copying or obeying without question....

 from Seminaries in Qom

Qom

Qom is a city in Iran. It lies by road southwest of Tehran and is the capital of Qom Province. At the 2006 census, its population was 957,496, in 241,827 families. It is situated on the banks of the Qom River....

 and Najaf

Najaf

Najaf is a city in Iraq about 160 km south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2008 is 560,000 people. It is the capital of Najaf Governorate...

. He is most notable for his works on Dehkhoda encyclopedic dictionary and Mohammad Moin

Mohammad Moin

Mohammad Moin was a prominent Iranian scholar of Persian literature and Iranian Studies....

 dictionary of Persian language.

He was President of Dehkhoda Institute and also President of the International Center of Teaching Persian Language.

Shahidi died in Tehran, Iran.

Awards

• Honorary professorship from the University of Peking
• Honorary president of International Society of Persian Language and Literature Professors
• Distinguished professor of The University of Tehran.
• The first class science insignia from the president of Iran
  President of Iran
  The President of Iran is the highest popularly elected official in, and the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Iran; although subordinate to the Supreme Leader of Iran, who functions as the country's head of state...
  
  
• First Rank Medal - Eminent Researcher of Tehran University.
• Member of Chehrehaye mandegar

See also

• Iranistics
• Academy of Persian Language and Literature
  Academy of Persian Language and Literature
  Iran's Academy of Persian Language and Literature is a body controlled by the Iranian government presiding over the use of the Persian language in Iran and other Persian speaking countries. The academy members are academics of Persian literature and linguistics from , , , and .- History :The...