Sheikh Salih Al-Karzakani ( ar, صالح الكرزكاني) was a seventeenth-century

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 ...

theologian 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 the ...

who was appointed by 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 ...

empire as a religious court judge in

Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As o ...

. Al Karzakani left Bahrain along with his friend and fellow cleric Sheikh Ja`far bin Kamal al-Din (d. 1677) because they fell upon hard times and like many Bahraini clerics at the time went to

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

in the Shia-ruled

Golkonda Fort (Telugu: గోల్కొండ, romanized: ''Gōlkōnḍa'') is a historic fortress and ruined city located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was originally called Mankal. The fort was originally built by Kakatiya ruler Pratāparud ...

Kingdom in South India. The two had made a pact that whichever of them first struck it rich through patronage abroad would help the other. Later in his life Al-Karzakani was invested with the robe of honour by the Safavid Shah when he was appointed to Shiraz as court judge. Al-Karzakani, like other prominent Bahrain scholars such as

Yusuf Al Bahrani Yūsuf ibn ʾAḥmad (1695–1772) ( ar, يوسف البحراني) was a Bahraini theologian and a key figure in the intellectual development of Twelver Shia Islam. Yusuf grew up in Safavid-ruled Bahrain, at a time of intellectual ferment betwee ...

, 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 ...

tradition within Shia thought and was initially inclined to reject the appointment – the Akhbaris being traditional wary of state power, unlike most Persian clerics who followed the less conservative

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 ...

school. Al Karzakani was eventually prevailed upon to accept by friends and notables who implored him not to incur the Shah's wrath.Juan Cole, Sacred Space and Holy War, IB Tauris, 2007 p48 He hailed from the village of

Karzakan Karzakan ( ar, كرزكان) is a village in Bahrain. It lies along the western coast of Bahrain Island. The seventeenth-century theologian Salih Al-Karzakani Sheikh Salih Al-Karzakani ( ar, صالح الكرزكاني) was a seventeenth-century ...

in Bahrain.

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 Year of birth missing Year of death missing Bahraini Shia clerics Twelvers Bahraini Shia Muslims Bahraini ayatollahs Indian Shia clerics Bahraini expatriates in India {{shia-stub