Muhammad Rida al-Muzaffar () was a

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...

Marja' Marji ( ar, مرجع, transliteration: ''marjiʿ''; plural: ''marājiʿ''), literally meaning "source to follow" or "religious reference", is a title given to the highest level of Twelver Shia authority, a Grand Ayatollah with the authority giv ...

, philosopher and jurist. His book in Islamic sciences is ''Usul al-Fiqh'' or the principles of jurisprudence written according to the thought school of Agha Shaykh Muhammad Hosein Isfahani, one of the

Introduction

His family by the name of Muzaffar counted as one of eminent families in

Najaf Najaf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف) or An-Najaf al-Ashraf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف ٱلْأَشْرَف), also known as Baniqia ( ar, بَانِيقِيَا), is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated popula ...

. His family includes many scholars and men of religious learning. Most of them are known as Muzaffar in that city since the twelfth century of the Hijrah. Some of his relatives are inhabitants of

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

and reside in al-Jaza’ir. His father, named Muhammad ibn Abdullah, a jurist and Mujtahid was a

taqlid. His father was also born and educated in

. He spent his youth in study, his only other activity being prayer and teaching until he had distinguished himself as a jurist. He wrote a very comprehensive commentary on the book of Shara’i al- Islam which he called ''Tawhid al-Kalam''. One of his achievements was establishment of "Montada Al Nashar" or publication of Montada to develop and publicize the most important Islamic books. He also founded the faculty of jurisprudence (

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...

) in

University which includes courses such as comparative

, Shia

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

etc. Eminent scholars like Muhammad Taqi Jafari sought an association with al-Muzaffar.

Early life

Muhammad Rida al-Muzaffar was born on the fifth of

Sha'ban Shaʽban ( ar, شَعْبَان, ') is the eighth month of the Islamic calendar. It is called as the month of "separation", as the word means "to disperse" or "to separate" because the pagan Arabs used to disperse in search of water. The fiftee ...

, 1322 AH (1904 AD). Since his father died before him, his brother Abdun-Nabi became responsible for raising him. Muhammad Rida grew up in the scholarly environment of

. Like many

ulama In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...

, he participated in a variety of courses and scholarly circles, leading to the completion of his advanced education in religious seminaries. His early teachers were his brothers Abdun-Nabi and Muhammad Hasan.

Scholarly opinions

He has many opinions in different domains of Islamic learning like usul al fiqh,

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premise ...

and

Usul al-fiqh

One of his innovations in the domain of usul is to present new divisions on the subjects of Usul. According to the school of thought of his master, Muhammad Husein Isfahani, Muzaffar believes in new orderness on the subjects. For instance, before him, the subject of Ishtighagh (derivatives) has to discuss in the partition of alfaz not introductions. As a result, he divided subjects into four categories: ''alfaz'', rational discussion (''mabahith aqliyyah''), ''hujjat'', ''usul Amaliyyah'' (practical principles).

Works

*''Usul Al-Fiqh'' *' *''Kefayat Al-Osul'' *''History of Islam'' *''Philosophy of Avicenna'' *''Saghifeh'' *''Philosophy of Imam Ali'' *''Shaykh Tousi, the establisher of

seminary'' *''Aqa’ed al-Imamiah’''

References

{{Authority control Islamic philosophers Iraqi ayatollahs Twelvers Logicians 1904 births 1964 deaths