Yusuf Al Bahrani
Encyclopedia
Yusuf ibn Ahmed al-Bahrani (1695–1772) was a Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...

i theologian and a key figure in the intellectual development of Twelver Shia Islam.

Al-Bahrani grew up in Safavid-ruled Bahrain, at a time of intellectual ferment between Akhbari
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...

 and Usuli Shi'ah Islam. His family were Usuli clerics who also worked as pearl merchants. The 1717 Omani invasion of Bahrain
1717 Omani invasion of Bahrain
In 1717 the Sultanate of Oman invaded Bahrain bringing an end to a 115 year rulership by the eroding Safavid dynasty. Following the Afghan invasion of Iran at the beginning of the eighteenth century which weakened the stronghold of the Safavids, the Omani forces were able to undermine Bahrain and...

 forced him and his family to flee, first to Qatif
Qatif
Qatif or Al-Qatif is a governorate and urban area located in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. It extends from Ras Tanura and Jubail in the north to Dammam in the south, and from the Persian Gulf in the east to King Fahd International Airport in the west...

, then to Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...

 and then Shiraz
Shiraz
Shiraz may refer to:* Shiraz, Iran, a city in Iran* Shiraz County, an administrative subdivision of Iran* Vosketap, Armenia, formerly called ShirazPeople:* Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet* Ara Shiraz, Armenian sculptor...

, before he eventually settled in Karbala
Karbala
Karbala is a city in Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governorate, and has an estimated population of 572,300 people ....

. In Karbala he became the prestigious dean of the Shi'i scholarship and as such presided over the religious establishment.

Al-Bahrani adopted the Akbhari school, rejecting his early usuli schooling in Bahrain. Al-Bahrani’s thought evolved from a strict Akhbarism to a position that adopted some Usuli elements; he became his generation's chief proponent of the neo-Akhbari creed. Nevertheless, he rejected Usuli principles of legal reasoning, the syllogistic logic Usulis allowed in interpreting the law, and the legitimacy of holy war during the Occultation of the Imam. Historian Juan Cole
Juan Cole
John Ricardo I. "Juan" Cole is an American scholar, public intellectual, and historian of the modern Middle East and South Asia. He is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. As a commentator on Middle Eastern affairs, he has appeared in print and on...

 summarises al-Bahrani's thought as:It has been proposed by that al-Bahrani may have found the state-centric Usulism less appealing given the political turmoil he had experienced throughout his life: first as a refugee from his homeland and then again when the Safavids were deposed by Afghan invaders.

Cole gives three reasons for the triumph of Akhbarism in Bahrain over the Usulis: the invasions of Bahrain and Safavid Iran by Omanis and Afghans respectively, which undermined the state centric Usulism; a generational gap that appeared at the end of the seventeenth century in strict Usuli families with sons disappointed at the Usuli clerics' failure to meet the Omani and Afghan challenges; and geographical divisions emerged between Diraz
Diraz
Diraz is a village on the north west coast of Bahrain. It lies to the east of Budaiya, west of Bar-bar and north of Bani Jamra. It is a predominantly Shia village....

 where al-Bahrani's influence was strongest and the old Safavid Usuli centre of Bilad Al Qadeem
Bilad Al Qadeem
Bilad Al Qadeem is a town in Bahrain. It has now been incorporated into a suburb of Manama and is situated next to Zinj. Prior to the Portuguese invasion in 1519 it served as the capital of Bahrain and did so again later during Safavid rule in the seventeenth century...

.

In Karbala, al-Bahrani and his followers continued the intellectual debate with Usulism that has spurred Bahrain's intellectual vitality. Al-Bahrani's neo-Akhbari followers considered Usulis to be ritually impure, and would only touch Usuli works with handkerchiefs to shield their fingers from any polluting effects. And there are claims that Usuli followers sometimes faced intimidation. Under al-Bahrani's influence Karbala was dominated by Arab ulema-merchants, although the first Usuli cell was founded by Iranian cleric Muhammad Baqir Behbahani
Muhammad Baqir Behbahani
Muhammad Baqir ibn Muhammad Akmal al-Wahid Bihbahani, also Vahid Behbahani , was a Twelver Shia Islamic scholar. He is widely regarded as the founder or restorer of the Usuli school of Twelver Shi'a Islam and as playing a vital role in narrowing the field of orthodoxy in Twelver Shi'a Islam by...

 in the 1760s. Behbahani gradually became more confident, and with a growing number of students as well as wealth from relatives in Iran and India, he began to challenge al-Bahrani, eventually succeeding him as the dominant intellectual in Karbala when al-Bahrani died in 1772.

Al-Bahrani edited numerous books, including Lu’lu’at al-Baḥrayn "The Pearl of Bahrain", a biographical dictionary of Shia scholars, the last chapter of which was his autobiography.

See also

  • Usfurids
    Usfurids
    The Usfurids were an Arab dynasty that in 1253 gained control of eastern Arabia, including the islands of Bahrain, They were a branch of the Banu Uqayl tribe of the Banu Amir group, and are named after the dynasty’s founder, Usfur ibn Rashid. They were initially allies of the Qarmatians and their...

  • History of Bahrain
    History of Bahrain
    Bahrain is a island country in the Persian Gulf. Although Bahrain became an independent country in 1971, the history of these islands starts from ancient times...

  • Maitham Al Bahrani
    Maitham Al Bahrani
    Sheikh Maytham bin Ali Al Bahrani was a leading 13th Century Twelver Shi'a Islamic theologian who lived in Bahrain. Al Bahrani wrote on Twelver doctrine, affirmed free will, the infallibility of prophets and imams, the appointed imamate of `Ali, and the occultation of the Twelfth Imam...

  • Salih Al-Karzakani
    Salih Al-Karzakani
    Sheikh Salih Al-Karzakani was a seventeenth century Bahraini theologian who was appointed by the Safavid empire as a religious court judge in Shiraz. Al Karzakani left Bahrain along with his friend and fellow cleric Sheikh Ja`far bin Kamal al-Din Sheikh Salih Al-Karzakani was a seventeenth...

  • Abdullah al Samahiji
    Abdullah al Samahiji
    Abdullah bin Saleh al Samahiji was a Bahraini Shia Islamic scholar who lived during the Safavid period. He was born in the village of Samaheej on Muharraq Island, and like many of his Bahraini contemporaries, he was a follower of the Akhbari theological school—although his father was a pure...


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