BAYŻĀWĪ, NĀṢER-AL-DĪN ABU’L-ḴAYR (or ABŪ SAʿĪD) ʿABD-ALLĀH B. ʿOMAR B. MOḤAMMAD, Shafeʿite jurist, Asḥʿarite theologian, and renowned Koran commentator. Information…

BARĀʾA, an Imami theological term denoting dissociation from the enemies of the imams. During the conflict between ʿAlī and Moʿāwīa,…

BALĀḠĪ, MOḤAMMAD-JAWĀD B. ḤASAN B. ṬĀLEB B. ʿABBĀS RABAʿĪ NAJAFĪ, Imami author, poet, and polemicist. Born in Najaf in 1282/1865-66…

BAḤRĀNĪ, YŪSOF B. AḤMAD B. EBRĀHĪM DERĀZĪ, Imami author and jurisprudent. He was born in 1107/1695-96 to a merchant family…

BAḤRĀNĪ, AḤMAD B. MOḤAMMAD B. YŪSOF B. ṢĀLEḤ, described as the leading representative in his generation of Imami Shiʿite scholarship…

BAHĀʾ-AL-DĪN ʿĀMELĪ, SHAIKH MOḤAMMAD B. ḤOSAYN BAHĀʾĪ, also known as Shaikh Bahāʾī, Imami scholar and author born near Baalbek on…

ASTARĀBĀDĪ, MOLLĀ MOḤAMMAD AMĪN B. MOḤAMMAD ŠARĪF AL-AḴBĀRĪ, founder of the 17th-century Aḵbārī school. His first teacher of Hadith was…

ĀMOLĪ, SAYYED BAHĀʾ-AL-DĪN ḤAYDAR B. ʿALĪ B. ḤAYDAR AL- ʿOBAYDĪ AL-ḤOSAYNĪ, early representative of Imamite theosophy (b. 720/1320, or perhaps…

ʿĀMMA (pl. ʿawāmm), a common Emāmī Shiʿite appellation for the Sunnites. Roughly equivalent to ahl al-ḵelāf, al-moḵālefūn, al-ḵaṣm, or al-ǰomhūr,…

ĀMEDĪ, ABU’L-FATḤ NĀṢEḤ-AL-DĪN ʿABD-AL-WĀḤED B. MOḤAMMAD (B. MAḤFŪẒ) B. ʿABD-AL-WĀḤED TAMĪMĪ, 6th/12th century traditionist and author of a well-known collection…

AʿMAŠ, ABŪ MOḤAMMAD SOLAYMĀN B. MEḤRĀN ASADĪ (in some sources, erroneously, Azdī) KĀHELĪ KŪFĪ, 1st-2nd/7th-8th century Shiʿite scholar, traditionist, and…

ʿALĪ B. ABĪ ṬĀLEB (b. ca. 600, d. 40/661), cousin and son-in-law of the prophet Moḥammad, first Shiʿite Imam, father…

AḴBĀRĪYA, a school in Imamite Shiʿism which maintains that the traditions (aḵbār) of the Imams are the main source of…