Shaikh al-Hur al-Aamili
Encyclopedia
Muhammad bin al-Ḥassan b. Ali b. al-Ḥusayn al-ʿĀmili al-Mashghari (Arabic: محمد بن الحسن بن علي بن الحسين العاملي المشغري), commonly known as Al-Ḥurr Al-ʿĀmili (1033/1624 - 1104/1693), was a muhaddith and a prominent Twelver Shi’a scholar of the Akhbari
school of thought. He is best known for his comprehensive hadith compilation known as Wasael ush-Shia
(also known as Wasa’il ush-Shi’a) and as the second of the “Three Great Muhammads” in later Shi’a Islamic history.
, a center of shi’i Lebanese Arabs in the region. His early education began with a family of teachers that included his father, his paternal uncle, his maternal grandfather (shaykh ʿAbd Salām b. Muḥammad), and one of his father's maternal uncles (shaykh ʿAlī b. Maḥmūd; at Ḏj̲abʿ). He also studied under Ḥusayn b. Hasan b. Yunus Ẓahīr and Ḥasan b. Zayn al-Dīn ʿĀmili (d.1011/1602), who was the great-grandson of al-Shahid al-Thani, in al-Jaba, a nearby village. Ḥusayn Zahir was the first to give al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmili ijaza, a license to teach and transmit ahadeeth.
twice and went on ziyarat
, visiting of holy Shi’a shrines, in Iraq
. Other than these trips, he remained in the jabal ʿĀmil for the first forty years of his life. He lived during the era of the Safavid Empire, which at the time was pushing Imami Shi’ism upon the people of Iran. When Sunni ulama fled from the Safavid Empire, specifically the religious centers of Iran, the empire brought in many Shi’i scholars to replace them, a large amount coming from jabal ʿĀmil.
Al-Ḥurr Al-ʿĀmili was just one of the many scholars that migrated to take religious leadership positions in Iran at the time, eventually journeying to Mashhad
, Iran and settling there in 1073/1663 where he became shaykh al-Islam in the shrine of the 8th Imam, Ali al-Ridha. He settled after traveling first to to Isfahan, Persia where he became acquainted with Muhammad Baqir Majlisi, the third of the Great Muḥammads (the first of the Three Great Muḥammads of later centuries is Muhammad Kashani, also known as Muhsin al-Fayz). The meeting between these two scholars left an impression on them both and they mutually granted each other ijāza to transmit ahadeeth. Majlisi also introduced al-ʿĀmili to Shah Sulayman of the Safavid Empire.
Al-ʿĀmili died in Mashhad on the 21st of Ramadhan 1104 AH / 26th May 1693 CE and is buried there. He was succeeded by his brother Ahmad (d. 1120/1708-9) as shaykh al-Islam in Mashhad. Some have claimed that al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmili actually died in Yemen
in 1079/1669, but there is no evidence in support of this.
scholars who have a stronger focus on aql
(logic) in determining Islamic law. He is credited with many works of religious literature, particularly in ahadeeth and fiqh
(jurisprudence), and is known to adamantly argue against Sufism
.
Al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmili was not only known as a scholar, but also as a poet. He is credited with a diwān of approximately 20,000 verses, which includes several didactic poems (manẓumas), most of which constitute panegyrics to the Prophet Muḥammad
and to his descendants. However, in two verses, he also expressed his inner struggle between his poetic and scholarly leanings: “My scholarship and my poetry fought one another, then were reconciled / poetry reluctantly surrendering to scholarship” (ʿelmi wa-šeʿri qatalā wa-ṣṭalaḥā / fa-ḵażaʿa al-šeʿro le-ʿelmi rāḡemā); “My scholarship objected to my being considered a poet / poetry, however, conceded that I be regarded as a scholar” (fa-l-ʿelmo yaʾbā an oʿadda šāʿeran / wa’l-šeʿro yarżā an oʿadda ʿālemā). The above lines suggest that poetry and scholarship were at odds in terms of the ideal of knowledge and in the degree of piety assigned to them. Judging by the vast amount of literary work he completed, it is clear that his scholarly work had precedence over his non-scholarly works of poetry.
Akhbari
The Akhbārīs are Twelver Shī‘a Muslims who reject the use of reasoning in deriving verdicts, and believe only the Qur'an, aḥadīth, and consensus should be used as sources to derive verdicts . The term Akhbārī is used in contrast to Usūlī...
school of thought. He is best known for his comprehensive hadith compilation known as Wasael ush-Shia
Wasael ush-Shia
Wasā'il al-Shīʿa is a reputable book of hadith in Shia Islam, compiled in the 17th century by Shaikh al-Hur al-Aamili. It is a 20-volume collection, meant to include all 'authentic' Hadith from the available Shia hadith books, checking their authenticity on the strict principles of...
(also known as Wasa’il ush-Shi’a) and as the second of the “Three Great Muhammads” in later Shi’a Islamic history.
Early Life and Education
He was born on Friday, 8th of Raj̲ab 1033AH/26th April 1624 CE in the village of Mashghar in the ʿĀmil mountains of southern LebanonLebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, a center of shi’i Lebanese Arabs in the region. His early education began with a family of teachers that included his father, his paternal uncle, his maternal grandfather (shaykh ʿAbd Salām b. Muḥammad), and one of his father's maternal uncles (shaykh ʿAlī b. Maḥmūd; at Ḏj̲abʿ). He also studied under Ḥusayn b. Hasan b. Yunus Ẓahīr and Ḥasan b. Zayn al-Dīn ʿĀmili (d.1011/1602), who was the great-grandson of al-Shahid al-Thani, in al-Jaba, a nearby village. Ḥusayn Zahir was the first to give al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmili ijaza, a license to teach and transmit ahadeeth.
Later Life and Travels
Al-Ḥurr Al-ʿĀmili performed the hajjHajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
twice and went on ziyarat
Ziyarat
Ziyārah is an Arabic term literally means "visit", used to refer to a pilgrimage to sites associated with Muhammad, his family members and descendants , his companions, or other venerated figures in Islām, such as the Prophets, Sufi saints and Islāmic scholars...
, visiting of holy Shi’a shrines, in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. Other than these trips, he remained in the jabal ʿĀmil for the first forty years of his life. He lived during the era of the Safavid Empire, which at the time was pushing Imami Shi’ism upon the people of Iran. When Sunni ulama fled from the Safavid Empire, specifically the religious centers of Iran, the empire brought in many Shi’i scholars to replace them, a large amount coming from jabal ʿĀmil.
Al-Ḥurr Al-ʿĀmili was just one of the many scholars that migrated to take religious leadership positions in Iran at the time, eventually journeying to Mashhad
Mashhad
Mashhad , is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia Muslim world. It is also the only major Iranian city with an Arabic name. It is located east of Tehran, at the center of the Razavi Khorasan Province close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its...
, Iran and settling there in 1073/1663 where he became shaykh al-Islam in the shrine of the 8th Imam, Ali al-Ridha. He settled after traveling first to to Isfahan, Persia where he became acquainted with Muhammad Baqir Majlisi, the third of the Great Muḥammads (the first of the Three Great Muḥammads of later centuries is Muhammad Kashani, also known as Muhsin al-Fayz). The meeting between these two scholars left an impression on them both and they mutually granted each other ijāza to transmit ahadeeth. Majlisi also introduced al-ʿĀmili to Shah Sulayman of the Safavid Empire.
Al-ʿĀmili died in Mashhad on the 21st of Ramadhan 1104 AH / 26th May 1693 CE and is buried there. He was succeeded by his brother Ahmad (d. 1120/1708-9) as shaykh al-Islam in Mashhad. Some have claimed that al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmili actually died in Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
in 1079/1669, but there is no evidence in support of this.
Religious Beliefs
Al-Ḥurr Al-ʿĀmili was among the Ak̲h̲bāriyyūn, a Shi’i group that derives Islamic verdicts strictly using the Qur’an and ahadeeth, as contrasted with the UsooliUsooli
Usulis are the majority Twelver Shi'a Muslim group. They differ from their now much smaller rival Akhbari group in favoring the use of ijtihad i.e...
scholars who have a stronger focus on aql
Aql
Aql may refer to:* 'Aql, an Islamic term* Aquila, a constellation.AQL may refer to:* Acceptable Quality Limit, the worst-case quality level, expressed as a percentage of defects in a population, that is still considered acceptable....
(logic) in determining Islamic law. He is credited with many works of religious literature, particularly in ahadeeth and fiqh
Fiqh
Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
(jurisprudence), and is known to adamantly argue against Sufism
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
.
Al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmili was not only known as a scholar, but also as a poet. He is credited with a diwān of approximately 20,000 verses, which includes several didactic poems (manẓumas), most of which constitute panegyrics to the Prophet Muḥammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
and to his descendants. However, in two verses, he also expressed his inner struggle between his poetic and scholarly leanings: “My scholarship and my poetry fought one another, then were reconciled / poetry reluctantly surrendering to scholarship” (ʿelmi wa-šeʿri qatalā wa-ṣṭalaḥā / fa-ḵażaʿa al-šeʿro le-ʿelmi rāḡemā); “My scholarship objected to my being considered a poet / poetry, however, conceded that I be regarded as a scholar” (fa-l-ʿelmo yaʾbā an oʿadda šāʿeran / wa’l-šeʿro yarżā an oʿadda ʿālemā). The above lines suggest that poetry and scholarship were at odds in terms of the ideal of knowledge and in the degree of piety assigned to them. Judging by the vast amount of literary work he completed, it is clear that his scholarly work had precedence over his non-scholarly works of poetry.
Works
- Wasael ush-ShiaWasael ush-ShiaWasā'il al-Shīʿa is a reputable book of hadith in Shia Islam, compiled in the 17th century by Shaikh al-Hur al-Aamili. It is a 20-volume collection, meant to include all 'authentic' Hadith from the available Shia hadith books, checking their authenticity on the strict principles of...
: a vast but concise compilation and classification of Hadith based on the Four BooksThe Four BooksThe Four Books is a Twelver Shiʿa term referring to their four best known hadith collections.The books are:Shi'a Muslims use different books of ahadith than Ahl al-Sunnah's Six major Hadith collections...
(al-Kafī, Man La Yahduruhu al-Faqih, al-Taththib, al-Istibrar) as well as on many later sources. It took 18 years to compose. - al-Jawāher al-saniya fī al-aḥādith al-qudsiya: considered the first collection exclusively devoted to Sacred Hadith, or aḥādith qudsiya.
- Isbāt al-Hudāt bin al-Noṣuṣ wa al-Muʿjizāt: describes the miracles of the 12 Imams and deals with the question of the divine right of the Imams to rule
- RisalaRisalaRisāla means "message" in Arabic. It is also an Islamic term that has a broader meaning.- Islamic term :The Message is sometimes a way to refer to Islam. In the Islamic context, ar-Risāla means scriptures revealed from God through a Messenger to the people...
fī Tawatur al-Qur’an - Risala fī Mas'ala al-Rija't
- Risala fī Khalq al-Kafir
- Risala ithnā ʿashariya fī al-radd ʿalā al-ṣufiya : an anti-Sufi treatise representing much of his literary activities regarding them.
- Fawaid al-Toosiya: a rejection of Usoolism
- Amal al-āmil fī ʿulamāʾ jabal ʿāmil: a biographical dictionary of Twelver Shi’i scholars who originated from jabal ʿĀmil in southern Lebanon.
See also
- Shia Islam
- Wasael ush-ShiaWasael ush-ShiaWasā'il al-Shīʿa is a reputable book of hadith in Shia Islam, compiled in the 17th century by Shaikh al-Hur al-Aamili. It is a 20-volume collection, meant to include all 'authentic' Hadith from the available Shia hadith books, checking their authenticity on the strict principles of...
- AkhbariAkhbariThe Akhbārīs are Twelver Shī‘a Muslims who reject the use of reasoning in deriving verdicts, and believe only the Qur'an, aḥadīth, and consensus should be used as sources to derive verdicts . The term Akhbārī is used in contrast to Usūlī...
- List of Ayatollahs
- List of Shi'a Muslim scholars of Islam
- List of Marjas
- List of Shi'a books
- The Four BooksThe Four BooksThe Four Books is a Twelver Shiʿa term referring to their four best known hadith collections.The books are:Shi'a Muslims use different books of ahadith than Ahl al-Sunnah's Six major Hadith collections...
- Sayyid MurtadhāSharif al-MurtazaAbu al-Qāsim ‘Alī ibn Husayn al-Sharīf al-Murtadhā was one of the greatest scholars of his time and was one of the students of Shaykh al-Mufīd...
- Sayyid Radhī
- Shaykh al-Mufīd
- Shaykh al-TūsīShaykh TusiShaykh Tusi , full name: Abu Jafar Muhammad Ibn Hassan Tusi , known as Shaykh al-Taʾifah was a prominent Persian scholar of the Shi'a Twelver Islamic belief.-Birth:...
- Shaykh al-SadūqAl-Shaykh al-SaduqAl-Shaykh al-Saduq is the title given to Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn Babawaih al-Qummi. He was the leading traditionist of his time and one of the most outstanding traditionists of Shi'ite Islam. He earned the title of al-Shaykh al-Saduq on account of his great learning and his reputation for...
- Muhammad al-Kulaynī
- Allāmah Majlisī