Muhammad Hasan Najafi

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.

Though the exact date of Muhammad Hasan's birth is unclear, Agha Bozorg Tehrani puts it at around 1212 lunar Hijri (1797 AD). His father, Shaykh Muhamad Baqir Najafi, was the nephew of Abd Al Rahim Sharif, who emigrated from Iran to Iraq. His family lineage includes numerous religious scholars and his brother, Muhammad Hossein, who was killed as a young man. Muhammad Hasan had eight sons, and several daughters.

The appearance of Muhammad Hasan was the result of a development in which some important persons contributed.Najaf seminary was the place where Akhbarism first appeared at the time when Mohammad Hasan lived in Najaf. In fact, after the period of the establishment of the Usuli school in shia thought, scholars such as Muhammad Baqir Behbahani, Moḥammad Mahdī Baḥr al-ʿUlūm, Shaykh Jafar Kashef Al Qata developed Usulism from those 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 his Excelency Agha Sayyed Ibrahim died. Muhammad Hasan then endorsed the injunctions of the late Ibrahim, and afterward became acquainted with the late Ibrahim's students. Shaykh Ansari also was the pupil of Muhammad Hasan and he followed what had been laid down by his master in managing the seminary.

It is said that the institution of Marjaiite in Shia was not centralized until the time of Muhammad Hasan. According to one of his students, during that time he developed the leadership of Imamis. Sayyed Muhammad Nasirabadi believes that Muhammad Hasan had an esoteric relationship with Shia's twelfth Imam.

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