Allāmah Hillī

Birth

Hasan, son of Yūsuf, son of Ali, son of Mutahhar-e Hillī, known as Allāmah Hillī, was born on Ramadhān 29^th, 648 Hegira in the city of Hillah.

Education

He was born in a clerical and knowledgeable family. He started studying and completing his knowledge from his early childhood. He was taught Arabic literature as well as ordinary fundamental studies in Hillah by his sage father and other great scholars such as his honorable uncle, Muhaqqiq Hillī, and his mother’s cousin, Sheikh Najībiddīn Yahyā son of Sa’īd, and a number of Islamic dignitaries, such as Sayyid Ahmad son of Tāwūs, Radhīeddīn Alī son of Tāwūs, and the famous sage Ibn-e Maytham Bahrānī, the compiler of ‘Sharh-e Nahj-ul-Balāghah’ (An explication to Nahj-ul-Balāghah).

Allāmah Hillī completed his fundamental studies before reaching his adolescence, and was honored by the high rank of Ijtihād (religious authority for Islamic jurisprudence). From the same days his reputation for virtuousness, genius, and intelligence began to echo throughout the Islamic lands and disclosed a promising future for him.

Political Situation of his Era

          Allāmah Hillī grew up and continued his studies in his hometown. At that time Iran was under the savage attack of descendants of Genghis Khan, the Mongol tyrant, and their troops. 

Scientific Position

He was a prodigy of his time. He wrote books in various fields such as: Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence), Usūl (Principles of Fiqh), Kalām (theology), logics, philosophy, Rijāl (biography of Islamic narrators and scholars of Hadīth), etc.

Around 100 books, either manuscripts or printed copies of his works are recognized, and some of them such as ‘Tadhkirat-ul-Fuqahā’ would be sufficient by itself to demonstrate his genius.

Allāmah Hillī took Fiqh from his uncle Muhaqqiq Hillī, and philosophy and logics from Khājeh Nasīreddīn Tūsī. He also took Fiqh of Sunni sect from Sunni scholars.

Teachers

1-   Khājeh Nasīreddīn Tūsī

2-   Muhaqqiq Hillī

3-   Sheikh Sadīdeddīn Yūsuf (his honorable father)

4-   Sayyid Ahmad Ibn-e Tawūs

5-   Sayyid Alī Ibn-e Tawūs

6-   Ibn-e Maytham Bahrānī

7-   Sheikh Najībeddīn Yahyā Ibn-e Sa’īd

8-   Sheikh Taqīeddīn Abdullāh, son of Ja’far, son of Alī Sabbāgh Hanafī

Puplis 

1-   His respectable son Fakhruddīn Muhammad

2-   Sheikh Abul-Hasan Mazīdī

3-   Qutbuddīn Rāzī, the explicator of book ‘Shamsīyyah’

4-   Sayyid Ahmad Ibn-e Ibrāhīm, son of Zuhreh

Compilations

As mentioned earlier, Allāmah Hillī wrote around a hundred valuable books, some of them are listed below:

1-   Al-Irshād

2-   Tabsarat-ul-Muta’allimīn

3-   Al-Qawāid

4-   At-Tahrīr

5-   Tadhkarat-ul-Fuqahā

6-   Mukhtalaf-ush-Shī’a

7-   Al-Muntahā

8-   Sharh-ut-Tajrīd

9-   Minhāj-ul-Istiqāmah

10-Talkhīs-ul-Kashshāf

Death

After a noble life full of efforts and endeavors in the way of restoration and promulgation of Islamic Sharī’ah (prescripts), Allāmah Hillī finally passed away on Muharram 11^th or 21^st, 726 Hegira.