Quick Facts
Biography
Muhammad Hasan al-Najafi (Arabic: محمد حسن النجفي, translit. Muḥammad Ḥasan al-Najafī; 1788–1850 AD), author of Jawahir al-kalam fi sharh shara’i‘ al-islam, a 42-volume work on fiqh, was a Shia Marja' and jurist.
Birth
The exact time of Muhammad Hasan's birth is unclear. According to Agha Bozorg Tehrani, Muhammad Hasan might have been born around 1212 lunar Hijrah. His father, Shaykh Muhamad Baqir Najafi, was the nephew of Abd Al Rahim Sharif who emigrated from Iran to Iraq. Nearly all of his households were religious scholars. His brother, Muhammad Hossein, was also considered to be an eminent scholar. He was mistakenly killed when he was young. Muhammad Hasan had eight sons and some daughters. Shaykh Muhammad (known as Homayyed), Shaykh Abdul Hosein, Sheykh Hosein, and Sheykh Hasan were his children.
Scientific movement and Najaf seminary
The appearance of Muhammad Hasan was the result of the development in which important persons existed. Najaf seminary in was the place as for appearing of Akhbarism at the time Mohammad Hasan lived in Najaf. In fact, after that period with appearance of Usuli school in shia thought, scholars such as Muhammad Baqir Behbahani, Moḥammad Mahdī Baḥr al-ʿUlūm, Shaykh Jafar Kashef Al Qata developed the Usulism and its foundations. When Kashef Al Qata died, Muhammad Hasan was appointed as the chief of najaf seminary. Many of the scholars and Ulama supported him for this position. He became very famous after Agha sayyed Ibrahim, his Excellency, died. Muhammad Hasan then endorsed the injunctions of the late Ibrahim. However he became acquainted with students of the late Ibrahim. Shaykh Ansari also was the pupil of Muhammad Hasan. In other hand he followed what had been laid down by his master in managing the seminary.
It is said that the intuition of Marjaiite in shia was not centralized until the time of Muhammad Hasan. According to one of his students, in that time he could develop the leadership of Imamis. Sayyed Muhammad Nasirabadi believes that Muhammad Hasan had an esoteric relation with Shia twelfth Imam.
Opinions
Muhammad Hasan tried to continue the style of fiqh thought begun by Allameh Helli. According to that style, they tried to bring substantial changes in tradition but without breaking the tradition.
Works
- Al Risalah Al Amaliyah
- An essay on Alms and Khmos
- Najat Al Ibad fi Yaum Al Maaad
- Hidayat Al Nasekin
- Jawahir Al Kalam
- Gholamali Haddad Adel, Mohammad Jafar Elmi, Hassan Taromi-Rad (2012). Hawza-yi ‘Ilmiyya, Shi‘i Teaching Institution: An Entry from Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam. p. 290.
Pupils
- Mulla Zayn al-'Abidin al-Mazandarani
- Sayyid Husayn Kuhkamari'i
- Mull Ali Kani (the author of Idah al-mushtabahat wa tawdih al-maqal)
- Muhammad Irawani
- Shaykh Ja'far al-Shushtari
- Shaykh Jawad (the author of Sharh al-lum'atayn)
- Shaykh Muhsin Khanfar
- Shaykh Muhsin A'sam (the author of Kashf al-falam)
- Sayyid Asad Allah Isfahani
- Shaykh al-'Iraqiyyin
- Shaykh Hasan al-Mamaqani
- Sayyid Husayn Al Bahr al-'Ulum
- Sayyid Mahmud al-Burujirdi
- Mulla Ali al-Khalili
- Sayyid Ibrahim Shari'atmadar al-Sabziwari
- Shaykh Murtaza shushtari Ansari
- Hamid Algar (1980). Religion and State in Iran, 1785-1906: The Role of the Ulama in the Qajar Period. p. 163.
