Mohammad Baqir bin Mohammad Taqi Majlisi
Muhammad-Baqer bin Muhammad-Taqi Majlisi (1037 AH/1627 CE – 1110AH/1699CE) was a Persian Shia jurist, clergyman, and scholar.
Biography
Muhammad-Baqer bin Muhammad-Taqi, aka Allamah Majlisi, was a Twelver Shia scholar popularly known for compiling the book Bihar ul-Anwar, a collection of Hadiths from the Shia Imams. Allamah Majlisi was born in 1617 in Isfahan where his father, Muhammad-Taqi Majlisi sometimes called ‘Majlisi ye Awwal’ or ‘Majlisi the first’, was also a cleric and had been a student of scholars such as Abdullah al-Shustari, Mirdamad, and Baha’ ul-Din Amili. Muhammad-Taqi’s ancestors included the writer of Zikr-e-Akhbar-e-Isfahan (History of Isfahan) and Abu Noaym Ahamad bin Abdullah Isfahani. Allamah Majlisi’s mother also belonged to a virtuous family and was the daughter of Sadr ad-Din Muhammad Qummi.
Allamah Majlisi was taught by his father in his childhood. Later, he studied under various scholars. According to some, he studied under 21 scholars, many of whom taught him Hadiths that they had heard, and scholars such as Mulla Salih Mazandarani, Mulla Muhsin Fayd Kashani, and Shaykh Hurr al-Amili granted him permission to narrate Hadiths. Allamah Majlisi also taught 181 students who went on to become great scholars and teachers in the next generation including Sayyid Ne’mat-Allah Jaza'iri, Muhammad bin Ali Ardabili, Mirza Abdullah Afandi Isfahani, Shaykh Abdullah Bahrani. He died on the 27th of Ramadan, 1110 AH/29th of March, 1699, and was buried in the Grand Mosque of Isfahan.
Honor
- Appointed as ‘Sheikh ul-Islam, Isfahan, during the reign of the Safavid King Sultan Husayn, 1687 - 1699
Books
- Mir’at al Uqul, The Mirror of Intellects, 25 volumes
- Haqq al Yaqeen, Reality of Certainty
- Hayat ul Quloob, Stories of the Heart, 3 volumes
- Hilyat ul Muttaqeen, Ornament of the God-Wary, 1 volume
- Ayn Al Hayat, The Essence of Life