The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (141 page)

(the Mahdi of the Sudan).

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(1628–99 (AH 1038–1111)).
Leading
Shi‘ite
theologian (‘alim, see ‘ulam
), whose opinions became a formative influence on the development of Twelver Shi‘ite (
Ithna ‘Ashariyya
) practice and organization. He was strongly opposed to the rationalizing of religion through philosophy, to the
S
f
s
and to the Sunnis, whom he saw as intransigent competitors, and whom he succeeded in persuading the Shah to have banned from Isfahan. His major work was
Bi
r al-anw
r
(The Ocean of Lights), a many-volumed work assembling
ad
th
. His opposition to the Sunnis may have induced the Afghan invasion of 1722, but this in turn opened the way to the reconquest by the Qajars: they established a dynasty in 1794 (AH 1209) which endorsed the programme of al-Majlis
, making Teheran the capital. They in turn were overthrown by Reza Khan, whose short-lived Pahlavi dynasty could not possibly capture the Shi‘ite devotion of the old order, still less displace the authority of the Hidden Im
m exercised through the
mullas
as al-Majlis
had established it.