Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi

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Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi
Clergyman, jurist
PostShaykh al-Islām of Isfahan

Mohammad Baqer Majlesi (c. 1627 – 29 March 1699) (

ulema of all time", whose "policies and actions reoriented Twelver Shia'ism in the direction that it was to develop from his day on."[1]

Mohammad Baqer Majlesi's Tomb

He was buried next to his father in a family mausoleum located next to the

Jamé Mosque of Isfahan
.

Early life and education

Born in

Islamic jurisprudence. The genealogy of his family is at times traced back to Abu Noaym Ahmad ibn Abdallah Esfahani (d. 1038 AD), the author, inter alia, of a History of Isfahan, entitled Zikr-i akhbar-i Isfahan. However, his first definitive, attested ancestor appears to be Kamal al-Din Darvish Mohammad ibn Hasan Ameli. Ameli, of Lebanese extraction, was the first scholar to propagate the science of (Shi'ite) Hadith in Isfahan following the establishment and rise of the Safavids. Ameli later adopted two nisbas, that is, Natanzi ("from Natanz") and Esfahani ("from Isfahan"). Majlesi himself also used these nisbas and even signed some of his ejazat as "al-Esfahani al-Natanzi al-Ameli". Majlesi's father Mohammad Taqi was the first of the line to bear the epithet "Majlesi".[2]

By the age of 25, Baqer Majlesi gained certification of "riwāyat" from Mulla Sadra to teach. He is said to have completed studies under 21 masters (ustadh). He is reported to have trained 181 students to become masters themselves.

Influence and beliefs

In 1687, the Safavid King,

Falsafah that he claimed were contrary to Islam and "the suppression of Sunnism and other religious groups."[3]

According to scholar Moojan Momen, Majlisi's era marked a breaking point, as he successfully undercut the influence of Sufism and philosophic rationalism in Shiism. "Up to the time of Majlisi, Shiism and Sufism were closely linked and indeed Sufism had been a vehicle for pro-Shii sentiment among the Sunnis. Even the most eminent members of the Shii ulama in the preceding centuries had come under the influence of Sufiism." After the death of Majlisi, "this process continued among the succeeding generations of ulama" so that Sufism became "divorced from Shiism and ceased to influence the main stream of Shii development. Philosophy was also down-graded and ceased to be an important part of studies at the religious colleges."[4]

Legalism

He also reestablished clerical authority under his leadership, "and renewed the impetus for conversion from Sunni to Shi'a school."

Twelve Imams, particularly the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali at Karbala, and pilgrimages to shrines of imams and their families.[6]

Majlesi "fervently upheld the concepts of 'enjoining the good' and 'prohibiting evil'",[5] and in so doing endeavoured to provide fatwa (judgements) for "all of the hypothetical situations a true believer could or might face."[7] In one "exposition of virtues of proper behavior", he gave directions on everything from how to "wear clothes to sexual intercourse and association with females, clipping fingernails, sleeping, waking, urination and defecation, enemas, sneezing, entering and leaving a domicile, and treatments and cures for many illnesses and diseases."[8]

More controversially, Majlesi defined "science" very narrowly as "knowledge of the clear, secure

ayat; of the religious duties and obligations which God has fixed in His Justice; and of the Prophetic Traditions (Hadith), which are valid until the day of Resurrection." Beyond this, he warned, the seeking of knowledge is "a waste of one's life," and worse would "generally lead to apostasy and heresy, in which case the likelihood of salvation is remote."[7] He opposed the school of mystical philosophy developed by Mir Damad and Mulla Sadra, who argued that the Quran was always open to reinterpretation, and valued insights that came from intuition and ecstasy rather than reason.[9]

Work and contribution

Allamah Al-Majlisi's most important field of interest was the hadith. He popularized his teaching by writing numerous works in an easily understandable style, in which he summarized the essential doctrines for the common people.[10] Allamah Majlisi was also a very prolific writer. He wrote more than 100 books, both in Arabic and Persian. Some of his more famous works are:

See also

References

  1. ^ Moojan Momen, Introduction to Shi'i Islam (Yale University Press, 1985) (p.114) quoted in Soul of Iran, p.174
  2. ^ "Mohammad Taqi Majlesi" in Encyclopaedia Iranica
  3. ^ Moojan Momen, Introduction to Shi'i Islam (Yale University Press, 1985) (p.115)
  4. ^ Moojan Momen, Introduction to Shi'i Islam (Yale University Press, 1985) (p.116)
  5. ^ a b Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, (2004), p.425
  6. ISBN 978-0-393-05119-3
    .
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-0-393-05119-3
    .
  8. ISBN 978-0-393-05119-3
    .
  9. ^ Karen Armstong, The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism, Random House, 2001, p54-58.
  10. ISBN 978-0-415-96690-0
  11. ^ "Al Muntazar Magazine". www.almuntazar.com. Archived from the original on 13 July 2006. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  12. ^ The title has been translated in various forms. Different translations are Countenance of the Pure or The Adornment of the God-fearing or Ornament of the God-Wary

Further reading

  • Newman, Andrew J. (2012). "The Recovery of the Past: Ibn Bābawayh, Bāqir Al-Majlisī and Safawid Medical Discourse". Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies. 50 (1): 109–127.
    S2CID 194000805
    .

External links
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