SHI(I JURISPRUDENCE, SUNNISM, AND THE TRADITIONIST THOUGHT (AKHBARI) OF MUHAMMAD AMIN ASTARABADI (D. 1626-27)

Abstract In the early 17th century, the Shi(i juristic tradition experienced the first coherent refutation of uá¹£uliyya, the ijtihÄdi rationalism used by the mujtahids, at the hands of Mulla Muhammad Amin Astarabadi (d. 1626-27). The latter rejected the efforts of leading Iraqi and Syrian jurists to apply ijtihÄd (rational legal inference), hadith categorization, and dirÄya (scrutiny and stratification of accounts) in deriving Shi(i law. The main studies on Astarabadi's akhbÄri (traditionist) movement treat it as a reaction to the "influence" of Sunnism on the mujtahids or to their excessive "borrowings" from it, and stress the traditionists' abhorrence of assimilating any aspect of Sunnism. Underlining the shortcomings of these explanations, this article presents Astarabadi's thought as a discursive development within the Shi(i juristic tradition, which is part of the grand Islamic tradition. Astarabadi became skeptical of the mujtahids' epistemology and methodology and was concerned that they jeopardized God's law and hence the believer's salvation. He protested the Safavid monarchs' legitimation of uá¹£uli legal authority, the latter's hierarchical features, and, ultimately, the sociopolitical domination of the (Amili mujtahids from Jabal (Amil in Syria (or modern-day South Lebanon), starting with al-Muhaqqiq al-Karaki (d. 1534).