Muhammad Baqir Majlisi

Mohammad Baqer Majlesi ( – 29 March 1699; ), also known as Allamah Majlesi or Majlesi Al-Thani (Majlesi the Second), was a major Iranian Twelver Shi'a Islamic scholar from the Safavid dynasty.

He is considered "one of the most powerful and influential Shi'a Ulama of all time," whose "policies and actions reoriented Twelver Shi'ism in the direction that it was to develop from his day on." He was buried next to his father in a family mausoleum located next to the Jameh Mosque of Isfahan.

Early life and education Born in Isfahan in 1627, his father, Mulla Mohammad Taqi Majlesi (Majlesi-ye Awwal—Majlesi the First, 1594-1660), was a cleric of the Ja'fari school.

The genealogy of his family can be traced back to Abu Noaym Ahmad ibn Abdallah Esfahani (d. 1038), the author, of a History of Isfahan, entitled Zikr-i akhbar-i Isfahan. His first definitive ancestor however, appears to be Kamal al-Din Darvish Mohammad ibn Hasan Ameli, who was of Lebanese origin and the first scholar to propagate the Usul of Shia Hadith in Isfahan, following the establishment and rise of the Safavids. Ameli later adopted two nisbas, that is, Natanzi ("from Natanz") and Esfahani ("from Isfahan").

Majlesi himself also used these nisbas and even signed some of his ijazat as "al-Esfahani al-Natanzi al-Ameli". Majlesi's father Mohammad Taqi was also the first of the line to bear the epithet "Majlesi".

By the age of 25, Baqer Majlesi gained certification of riwāyat from Mulla Sadra to teach. He is said to have completed studies under 21 masters. He is reported to have trained 181 students to become masters themselves.

Influence and beliefs In 1687, the Safavid emperor, Suleiman, appointed Majlesi as the Shaykh al-Islām (Chief Religious Leader) in Isfahan, the capital of the Safavid 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 of Sufism, philosophic views known as falsafah, which he claimed were contrary to Islam, and "the suppression of Sunnism and other religious groups."

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-Shia sentiment among the Sunnis. Even the most eminent members of the Shi'i ulama in the preceding centuries had come under the influence of Sufism."

After the death of Majlesi, "this process continued among the succeeding generations of ulama" so that Sufism became "divorced from Shiism and ceased to influence the mainstream of Shi'i development. Philosophy was also down-graded and ceased to be an important part of studies at the religious colleges."

Legalism He also re-established clerical authority under his leadership, "and renewed the impetus for conversion from Sunni to Shi'a school." Majlesi is "credited with propagating numerous Shi'a rituals that Iranians regularly practice," such as Azadari, Arba'in pilgrimage, Alam processions, Ta'ziyah and Latmiya.

Majlesi also "fervently upheld the concepts of 'enjoining the good' and 'prohibiting evil'," 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."

More controversially, Majlesi defined "science" very narrowly as "knowledge of the clear, secure ayat; of the religious duties and obligations which God has fixed in His Justice; and of the Prophetic Traditions (Hadith), which are valid until the day of Resurrection." Beyond this, he warned, the seeking of knowledge is "a waste of one's life," and worse would "generally lead to apostasy and heresy, in which case the likelihood of salvation is remote."

Work and contribution 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. Allamah Majlisi was also a very prolific writer. He wrote more than 100 books, both in Arabic and Persian. Some of his more famous works are:

Bihar al-Anwar ("Seas of Light") in 110 volumes. Reality of Certainty Mirror of Intellects, a 26-volume commentary. Shelter of the Upright People, a 16-volume commentary. Provisions for the Hereafter A Gift for the Pilgrims Essence of Life Adornment of the Pious Al-Fara'edh al-Tarifah Majmu'at Rasa'il I'tiqadi