Kamal al-Deen Maitham bin Ali bin Maitham al-Bahrani ( ar, الشيخ ميثم البحراني, 1238 – 1299), commonly known as Sheikh Maitham Al Bahrani (also spelt Maytham al-Bahrani) was a leading 13th Century

Twelver Twelver Shīʿīsm ( ar, ٱثْنَا عَشَرِيَّة; '), also known as Imāmīyyah ( ar, إِمَامِيَّة), is the largest branch of Shīʿa Islam, comprising about 85 percent of all Shīʿa Muslims. The term ''Twelver'' refers t ...

Eastern Arabian theologian, author and philosopher. Al Bahrani wrote on

doctrine, affirmed free will, the infallibility of prophets and imams, the appointed imamate of `Ali, and the occultation of the Twelfth Imam. Along with Kamal al-Din Ibn Sa’adah al Bahrani, Jamal al-Din ‘Ali ibn Sulayman al-Bahrani, Maytham Al Bahrani was part of a 13th-century Bahrain school of theology that emphasised

rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification".Lacey, A.R. (1996), ''A Dictionary of Philosophy' ...

. At the same time, Maytham Al Bahrani was profoundly influenced by the disciplines of philosophy and mysticism. He wrote widely on such theology related philosophical issues as epistemology and ontology. Al Bahrani's scholarship took in both Imami and Sunni sources; according to

University of Bahrain The University of Bahrain ( ar, جامعة البحرين , informally Bahrain University, abbreviated as UOB) is the largest public university in the Kingdom of Bahrain with campuses in Sakhir, Isa Town and Manama, the university has more than ...

academic, Ali Al Oraibi: In the 13th Century, Twelvers - particularly mystics. - were a growing influence in Bahrain, which had previously been dominated by the

Ismaili Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-Sa ...

Qarmatian The Qarmatians ( ar, قرامطة, Qarāmiṭa; ) were a militant Isma'ili Shia movement centred in al-Hasa in Eastern Arabia, where they established a religious-utopian socialist state in 899 CE. Its members were part of a movement that adh ...

sect. The Bahrain school of thought's integration of philosophy and mysticism into Imami Shi'ism had an enduring legacy, influencing fourteenth century theologians such as Ibn Abi Jumhur al-Ahsai'i. Politically, the intellectual vitality of al-Bahrani and his contemporaries is credited with converting the

Ilkhanid The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate ( fa, ایل خانان, ''Ilxānān''), known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (, ''Qulug-un Ulus''), was a khanate established from the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanid realm, ...

monarch, Mohammed Khudabandeh, to convert to Shi'ism and announce a Shia state.Ali Al Oraibi, Rationalism in the school of Bahrain: a historical perspective, in Shīʻite Heritage: Essays on Classical and Modern Traditions By Lynda Clarke, Global Academic Publishing 2001 p336 He is buried in Mahooz,

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

, where a shrine and mosque have been constructed.

References

Rival Empires of Trade and Imami Shiism in Eastern Arabia, 1300-1800

Juan Cole John Ricardo Irfan "Juan" Cole (born October 23, 1952) is an American academic and commentator on the modern Middle East and South Asia. Dead link; no archive located. He is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University ...

International Journal of Middle East Studies The ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'' is a scholarly journal published by the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA), a learned society. See also * Middle East Research and Information Project * Association for ...

, Vol. 19, No. 2, (May, 1987), pp. 177–203

External links

Ibn Maisam Bahrani

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bahrani, Maitham Al 1280 deaths Year of birth unknown Bahraini Shia clerics Twelvers Medieval Bahraini people Bahraini Shia Muslims Bahraini ayatollahs 1238 births