Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Mohammad-Baqer Maljesi | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 1627 |
| Died | 29 March 1699(1699-03-29) (aged 71–72) Isfahan, Safavid Iran |
| Main interest(s) | Hadith,Fiqh |
| Notable work(s) | Bihar al-Anwar |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Shi'ism |
| Denomination | Shia |
| Jurisprudence | Ja'fari |
| Creed | Twelver |
| Profession | Clergyman,jurist |
| Senior posting | |
| Post | Shaykh al-Islām ofIsfahan |
| Period in office | 1687 - 1699 |
| Successor | Muhammad Salih Khatunabadi |
Mohammad Baqer Majlesi (c. 1627 – 29 March 1699) (Persian:علامه مجلسیAllameh Majlesi; alsoRomanized as:Majlessi,Majlisi,Madjlessi), known asAllamah Majlesi orMajlesi Al-Thani (Majlesi the Second), was an influential IranianAkhbariTwelverShia scholar and thinker during theSafavid era. He has been described as "one of the most powerful and influential Shi'aulema of all time", whose "policies and actions reoriented Twelver Shia'ism in the direction that it was to develop from his day on."[1]
He was buried next to his father in a family mausoleum located next to theJamé Mosque of Isfahan.
Born inIsfahan in 1627, his father, MullaMohammad Taqi Majlesi (Majlesi-ye Awwal—Majlesi the First, 1594 -1660), was a cleric ofIslamic 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, ofLebanese 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 twonisbas, that is, Natanzi ("fromNatanz") and Esfahani ("from Isfahan"). Majlesi himself also used these nisbas and even signed some of hisejazat 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" fromMulla 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.
In 1687, the Safavid king,Sultan Husayn, appointed Majlesi as "Sheikh ul-Islam" (Chief Religious Leader of the Land) inIsfahan, the capital of thePersian Empire. In this influential position, he was given a free hand by the Sultan to encourage and to punish as he saw fit. "The three inter-related areas in which Majlisi exerted his efforts were": the suppression ofSufism mystical philosophies, philosophic views known asFalsafah that he claimed were contrary to Islam and "the suppression ofSunnism 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]
He also reestablished clerical authority under his leadership, "and renewed the impetus for conversion from Sunni to Shi'a school."[5] Majlesi is "credited with propagating numerous Shi'a rituals that Iranians regularly practice", such asmourning ceremonies for the fallenTwelve Imams, particularly the martyrdom ofHusayn 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 providefatwa (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, secureayat; of the religious duties and obligations which God has fixed in His Justice; and of the Prophetic Traditions (Hadith), which are valid until theday of Resurrection." Beyond this, he warned, the seeking of knowledge is "a waste of one's life," and worse would "generally lead toapostasy andheresy, in which case the likelihood of salvation is remote."[7] He opposed the school of mystical philosophy developed byMir Damad andMulla Sadra, who argued that theQuran was always open to reinterpretation, and valued insights that came from intuition and ecstasy rather than reason.[9]
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 inArabic andPersian. Some of his more famous works are:
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