''ʿAbdullāh ibn Ṣāliḥ as Samāhijī'' (1675–1722) ( ar, عبد الله بن صالح السماهيجي) was a

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...

Islamic scholar who lived during the

Safavid Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...

period. He was born in the village of

Samaheej Samaheej ( ar, سماهيج ''Samāhīj'') is a village in Bahrain on the northern coast of Muharraq Island. Al Dair village lies to its northwest, while Galali lies to its southeast. It is north of Bahrain International Airport. Samaheej ( ' ...

Muharraq Island Muharraq Island (), formerly known as Moharek, is the second largest island in the archipelago of Bahrain after Bahrain Island. It lies east of the capital, Manama, on Bahrain Island. History It is named after Muharraq City, the former capital ...

, and like many of his Bahraini contemporaries, he was a follower of the

Akhbari The ʾAkhbāri's ( ar, أخباریون, fa, ‌اخباریان) are a minority of Twelver Shia Muslims who reject the use of reasoning in deriving verdicts, and believe in Quran and Hadith. The term ʾAkhbāri's (from ''khabāra'', news or r ...

theological school—although his father was a pure

Usuli Usulis ( ar, اصولیون, fa, اصولیان) 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., reasoning) in the creation of new rules of ''fiq ...

who detested Akhbaris. Among his teachers was ''Sulaymān ibn ʿAbdullāh al Maḥūdhī''. After the 1717 Omani invasion of Bahrain, as Samāhijī fled to

Isfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...

where he briefly served as the Sheikh ul-Islam. Andrew J. Newman
The Nature of the Akhbārī/Uṣūlī Dispute in Late Ṣafawid Iran. Part 1: 'Abdallāh al-Samāhijī's "Munyat al-Mumārisīn
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 55, No. 1 (1992), pp. 22-51 He then settled in Behbehan where he died in 1722. Among his works is ''Munyat al Mumārisīn'' in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

, which includes an examination of the

dispute.

References

Rival Empires of Trade and Imami Shiism in Eastern Arabia, 1300-1800

Juan Cole John Ricardo Irfan "Juan" Cole (born October 23, 1952) is an American academic and commentator on the modern Middle East and South Asia. Dead link; no archive located. He is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University ...

International Journal of Middle East Studies The ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'' is a scholarly journal published by the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA), a learned society. See also * Middle East Research and Information Project * Association for th ...

, Vol. 19, No. 2, (May, 1987), pp. 177–203 Bahraini Shia clerics Twelvers Bahraini Shia Muslims 1675 births 1723 deaths Bahraini ayatollahs {{shia-stub