Sheikh Abu Abdullah Muhammad Jamal Ad-Deen Al-Makki Al-Amili Al-Jizzeeni (1334–1385), better known as ash-Shahid al-Awwal ( ar, ٱلشَّهِيد ٱلْأَوَّل, ' "The First Martyr") or Shams Ad-Deen (), was a
Shi'a
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 ...
scholar and the author of Al-Lum'ah Ad-Dimashqiyah () and. Although he is neither the first Muslim nor the first Shi'a to die for his religion, he became known as "Shahid al-Awwal" because he was probably the first Shia scholar of such stature to have been killed in a brutal manner.
Life
He was born in 734 AH (c. 1334) in
Jabal 'Amel. His nisbah Al-Jizzeeni indicates that his family was also from
Jizzeen in modern-day Lebanon. When Muhammad Al-Amili was 16 years old he went to study at the city of
Hilla
Hillah ( ar, ٱلْحِلَّة ''al-Ḥillah''), also spelled Hilla, is a city in central Iraq on the Hilla branch of the Euphrates River, south of Baghdad. The population is estimated at 364,700 in 1998. It is the capital of Babylon Province ...
in modern-day Iraq. He returned home when he was 21. He used
taqiyya
In Shi'ism, ''Taqiya'' or ''Taqiyya'' ( ar, تقیة ', literally "prudence, fear")R. STROTHMANN, MOKTAR DJEBLI. Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed, Brill. "TAKIYYA", vol. 10, p. 134. Quote: "TAKIYYA "prudence, fear" ..denotes dispensing with th ...
to establish himself as one of the religious scholars of Damascus, using Sunni law to judge Sunnis, while covertly judging the Shia using Shia law.
Death
He was killed on Thursday the ninth of
Jumada al-awwal
Jumada al-Awwal ( ar, جُمَادَىٰ ٱلْأَوَّل, Jumādā al-ʾAwwal, lit=The initial Jumada), also known as Jumada al-Ula ( ar, جُمَادَىٰ ٱلْأُولَىٰ, Jumādā al-ʾŪlā, lit=The first Jumada), or Jumada I, is the ...
, 786 A.H. (ca. 1385) during the reign of Sultan
Barquq
Al-Malik Az-Zahir Sayf ad-Din Barquq ( Circassian: Бэркъукъу аз-Захьир Сэфудин; ar, الملك الظاهر سيف الدين برقوق; ruled 1382–1389 and 1390–1399; born in Circassia) was the first Sultan of the ...
. His death was in accordance with the
fatwa
A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...
of a jurist from the
Maliki
The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary ...
madhab
A ( ar, مذهب ', , "way to act". pl. مَذَاهِب , ) is a school of thought within ''fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence).
The major Sunni Mathhab are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali.
They emerged in the ninth and tenth centuries CE a ...
, which was endorsed by a jurisprudent of the
Shaf'i
Shafi ( fa, شفيع, also Romanized as Shafī‘ and Shaf‘i) is a village in Dughayi Rural District, in the Central District of Quchan County, Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and ...
madhab. Accusations against him included
rafd, defamation of senior Islamic personages, the companions and family of Muhammad,
Aisha
Aisha ( ar, , translit=ʿĀʾisha bint Abī Bakr; , also , ; ) was Muhammad's third and youngest wife. In Islamic writings, her name is thus often prefixed by the title "Mother of the Believers" ( ar, links=no, , ʾumm al-mu'min, muʾminīn), ...
,
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honor ...
and
Umar
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate o ...
, following the
Nusayri
The Alawis, Alawites ( ar, علوية ''Alawīyah''), or pejoratively Nusayris ( ar, نصيرية ''Nuṣayrīyah'') are an ethnoreligious group that lives primarily in Levant and follows Alawism, a sect of Islam that originated from Shia Isla ...
faith, and permitting the drinking of wine.
These accusations were first brought against him by two of his former students from Jabal Amil, who were also former Twelver Shiites. One of them, Yusuf ibn Yahya, submitted a report (which included the signatures of 70 former Shiites from Jabal Amil) to the authorities detailing al-Amili's "vile doctrines and abominable beliefs."
However, according to Shia biographer
al-Khwansari, al-Amili denied these charges in a letter to the governor of Damascus, protesting his love for "the Prophet and all who loved him, all the Companions without exception."
He was imprisoned for one year, then beheaded by sword. His corpse was then
crucified
Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...
and stoned in
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
whereby it was burned and the ashes were discarded into the air.
See also
*
The Five Martyrs
References
External links
* http://www.annabaa.org/nba48/aalamshia.htm and references therein.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammad Jamaluddin Al-Makki al-Amili
Lebanese Shia clerics
People from Hillah
Lebanese Shia Muslims
1334 births
1385 deaths
Muslim martyrs
14th-century Arabs