SHAYKH ABU JA'FER MUHAMMAD ibn HASAN TUSI (A.R.

) Shaykhu't T'i a
At the outset it must be noted that there are two great Ulema who bear the title TUSI. The other one is Khwaja Nasiruddin Al-Tusi (A.R.). They are unrelated but were both born in the Iranian city o Tus. There is a di erence o a!!ro". #$$ years between their eras. His name was Muhammad ibn Hasan ibn Ali ibn Hasan and he was born in Ramadhan 385 A.H. in Tus (Iran). His early years were spent in Tus where he was taught by his ather who was a great A!lim o his time. In "#8 A.H. ($#$% A.&.) he mo'ed to (aghdad to pursue urther studies and be)ame a student o *hay+h Mu eed. ,hen *hay+h Mu eed died he studied under *yed Murtadha (!Alamul Huda). He soon be)ame *yed Murtadha!s star student. A ter the death o *yed Murtadha in "3- A.H.. he be)ame the leading *hia !A!lim and a)+nowledged as the %arja& o the *hia world. In ""8 A.H. during the reign o /0im ibn Amr Allah1 the enemies o Ahlulbayt were 2ealous o the progress made by the *hia 3lema in parti)ular *hay+h Tusi. They started in luen)ing the 4hali a by saying that *hay+h Tusi was one o those who abused the irst three 4hali a!s 5 Abu (a+r. 3thman 6 3mar.. They produ)ed the boo+ o a&m'l )alled Al - Misbh and pi)+ed on (iyarat e Ashura whi)h says )...la&na on the irst* second third and ourth who committed injustices....) *hay+h Tusi was )alled to the )ourt and as+ed to e7plain. He said the irst was /abil. the se)ond the one who +illed the she5)amel o 8abi *alih. the third one being the +iller o 8abi 9ahya. and the ourth 5 Abdur Rahman ibn Mul2im (:ne who stru)+ Imam Ali (A.*.) on ;$st Ramadhan). The 4hali a was satis ied. *eeing that they were not su))ess ul they started )ausing ri ts within the general publi) )ausing *unni5 *hia riots in (aghdad 5 ""8 A.H. ($#5- A.&.). In these riots thousands o houses belonging to *hias were burnt down in)luding the house o *hay+h Tusi and his amous library whi)h is said to ha'e )ontained <#.### boo+s (8#.### gi'en to him by *hay+h Murtadha). The riots spread to 4adhmayn and *hay+h Tusi de)ided to mo'e to 8a2a with some o his students. His students in)luded his son 5 *yed Hasan. It is he who laid the oundation o Islami) +nowledge in 8a2a establishing madrasas and ma+ing it a lourishing learning )entre (albeit destroyed by *addam). Through him )ountless bene ited. rom whom 3## be)ame Mu2tahideen. He is the author o two o the our main boo+s o Ahadith = A!"I#tib#$ and A!"Tah%hib. The latter )ontains 3<3 )hapters with $3.5<# Ahadith. He wrote many other boo+s. His authority and impa)t was su)h that a ter his death or 8# years no A!lim ga'e any atawa whi)h were di erent rom *hay+h Tusi!s. :ne other reason was also that his boo+ A!"Nihaya was disputed by some 3lema rom (aghdad. They )ame to 8a2a to resol'e the dispute as+ing or help in the haram o Imam Ali (A.*.). All three saw Imam in their dream authorising the boo+. He had two daughters and one son. All be)ame Mu2tahideen. His son5 *yed Hasan was +nown as Mu eed the se)ond. His grand)hildren too be)ame eminent s)holars. 8o Aalim in either the *unni or *hia world )o'ered su)h wide ields o study as *hay+h Tusi. He died in 8a2a on the night o ;; Muharram "-# A.H. ($#-% A.&.) at the age o %5 years. He was buried in his home as per his wasiyya. The house was )on'erted into a mos>ue whi)h was later in)orporated with the haram o Imam Ali (A.*.) Today it is di i)ult to identi y the original mos>ue but there is a gate o the haram on the side +nown as +'b Al-Tusi. (Ref. mnet)