Born in Boroujerd, Lorestan Province, Iran, Shahidi dedicated his life to Persian studies, acting as the director of the Dehkhoda Dictionary Institute and International Center for Persian Studies (ICPS), serving as the Dean of the Faculty of Literature and Humanities at the University of Tehran (UT), and mastering the fields of jurisprudence and Islamic history.

He served as a seminary in Qom and Najaf under notable figures such as Tabatabaei, Seyed Hossein Boroujerdi, S. Khoi A., under whom he attained his degree in ijtihad.

In 1941, he moved to the town of Najaf, Iraq to pursue his studies in the field of Islamic jurisprudence and successfully surpassed the highest levels of education to receive the title of mujtahid.

From there onward, Shahidi moved to Qom, Iran, where he was mentored by the leading scholars, most notably Ayatollah Boroujerdi.

Falling ill, Shahidi resorted to the translation of Arabic in Iran alongside Doctor Sanjabi (the then Minister of Culture).