Najm ul-Din Abul-Qasim Ja'far bin al-Hasan bin Yahya bin al-Hasan bin Sa'id, famous as ''al-Muhaqqiq al-Hilli'' and ''al-Muhaqqiq al-Awwal'' ( 1205 – 1277) was an influential Shi'i

Mujtahid ''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a l ...

born in the city of al-Hilla,

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. He played an important role in shaping Twelver Shi'ism's legal doctrines works. His legal manual, ''Shara'i ul-Islam'', has been particularly influential, attracting more than thirty commentaries.

Life

Muhaqqiq was born in the city of al-Hilla,

, where he would spend most of his life, to a family of prominent Shi'i jurists. He studied

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...

and

usul al-fiqh Principles of Islamic jurisprudence, also known as ''uṣūl al-fiqh'' ( ar, أصول الفقه, lit. roots of fiqh), are traditional methodological principles used in Islamic jurisprudence (''fiqh'') for deriving the rulings of Islamic law ('' ...

under his father. Muhaqqiq later became the leader of the Shi'i seminary there; when

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Tūsī ( fa, محمد ابن محمد ابن حسن طوسی 18 February 1201 – 26 June 1274), better known as Nasir al-Din al-Tusi ( fa, نصیر الدین طوسی, links=no; or simply Tusi in the West ...

visited the town as the representative of

Hulagu Hulagu Khan, also known as Hülegü or Hulegu ( mn, Хүлэгү/ , lit=Surplus, translit=Hu’legu’/Qülegü; chg, ; Arabic: fa, هولاکو خان, ''Holâku Khân;'' ; 8 February 1265), was a Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Мон� ...

, he addressed Muhaqqiq as the representative of the city's scholarly elite.

Intellectual Output

Muhaqqiq produced an impressive scholarly corpus during his life, treating subjects ranging from

and

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ...

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...

and even a few volumes of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...

. His most important work by far is Shara'i ul-Islam, a comprehensive manual of law. It is arguably one of the most important Shi'i legal works ever written, as shown by the large number (more than thirty) of commentaries written on it by later scholars. It has been translated into both Persian and Russian, and was used in British India as the standard statement of Shi'ite Muslim law. In the Shara'i, he divides the law into four distinct categories: acts of devotion (e.g. prayer, fasting), bilateral legal acts (e.g. marriage), unilateral legal acts (e.g. divorce) and rules (e.g. of inheritance). This classification was followed by later jurists. Another important work of his is ''Ma'arij ul-Usul'', written in the field of

(jurisprudential methodology). In it, he stresses the centrality of the Shi'i jurist (

mujtahid ''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a l ...

) during the time of the

Occultation An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden from the observer by another object that passes between them. The term is often used in astronomy, but can also refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground blocks ...

in deriving a proper understanding of the

Shari'ah Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...

from the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , si ...

Hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...

and statements of the

Twelve Imams The Twelve Imams ( ar, ٱلْأَئِمَّة ٱلْٱثْنَا عَشَر, '; fa, دوازده امام, ') are the spiritual and political successors to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Twelver branch of Islam, including that of the Al ...

. In this way, Muhaqqiq's legal theory is heavily indebted to the classical Sunni approach to legal methodology. Whereas before him, it was the authority of the Hadith and not of the Mujtahid that was obeyed. # ''Al-Nafi' fi mukhtasar al-sharayi # ''Al-Mu'tabar fi sharh mukhtasar al-nafi # ''Al-Ma'arij fi usul al-fiqh'' # ''Nahj al-wusul ila ma'rifat 'ilm al-usul'' # ''Talkhis al-fihrist'', which is an abridged edition of ''al-Fihrist'', by al-Shaykh al-Tusi. # ''Istihbab al-tayasur li-'Ahl al-Iraq'' # ''Sharh nukat al-nihaya'' # ''Al-Kuhna fi al-mantiq'' # ''Mukhtasar al-marasim'', which is an abridged edition of ''al-Marasim'', by Sallar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Daylami. # ''Al-Masa'il al-Qarya'' # ''Al-Masa'il al-misriyya'' # ''Al-Maslak fi usul al-din'' # ''Nukat al-nihaya''

Sources

* Calder et al. (2003) Classical Islam: A Sourcebook. London: Routledge. * Kohlberg, E. ḤELLI,NAJM-AL-DIN ABU’L-QĀSEM JAʿFAR. Encyclopædia Iranica. (http://www.iranica.com/ accessed 28.09.2009)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhaqqiq Al-Hilli 1200s births 1277 deaths Iraqi ayatollahs People from Hillah Iraqi Shia Muslims