Abà « al-QÃÂsim ÿAlë ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Sharëf al-Murtaá¸Âà(; 965âÂÂ1044 CE) commonly known as Sharëf Murtaá¸Âàor Sayyid Murtaá¸Âà(Murtazàinstead of Murtaá¸Âàin non-Arabic languages) and also popular as ÿAlam al-Hudà(), was a Shia Muslim scholar, jurist and theologian from Iraq, who was widely considered one of the foremost Shia scholars of his time. He was one of the students of Shaykh al-Mufëd, who taught in Baghdad and later in Najaf. His younger brother is al-Sharif al-Radi, the compiler of Nahj al-Balagha.
Al-Sharif al-Murtada lived during the era of the Shia Buyid dynasty of Daylamite origin, which came to rule over Iraq and parts of Iran in 934âÂÂ1062, which also coincided with the golden age of Arabic literature, and great poets al-Ma'arri were among his contemporaries. His prominence as a Shiite authority is also evident in the outreach of his letters, which addressed inquiries of Shiite communities (masÃÂ'il) in Tiberias, Tripoli, Sidon, Mosul and Aleppo.
His full name was "Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Musa ibn Muhammad ibn Musa ibn Ibrahim ibn Musa al-Kazim" (Arabic: ùÃÂàèàçÃÂÃÂóÃÂàèààÃÂóàèààÃÂàï èààÃÂóàèàçèñçÃÂÃÂàèààÃÂóàçÃÂÃÂçøà).
Ali ibn al-Husayn was born in Baghdad in Rajab 355 AH (June/July 966 CE) to Abu Ahmad al-Husayn ibn Musa, a fifth generation descendant of seventh Twelver Shia Imam, Musa al-Kazim (745âÂÂ799). He was the naqib al-ashraf at his time. His mother was Fatima, the great-granddaughter of Zaydi Imam, Hasan al-Utrush, the ruler of Alavid Tabaristan (864âÂÂ928). She was a pious and noble lady, who was held in high esteem by scholars and other notables. At her request, the great scholar Shaykh al-Mufëd compiled the book "AhkÃÂm al-NisÃÂ'", which contains the fiqhi rules for women.
His father called him Ali, and his nickname was Murtada. His honorific title was 'Alam al-Huda (). He was reportedly called as such according to a popular narration by Muhammad ibn Makki, when an Abbasid vizier called Muhammad ibn al-Husayn was told in a dream by Imam Ali to seek 'Alam al-Huda, and when asked on his identity, informed him it's Sharif Murtada.
He is Sayyid Ali al-Sharif al-Murtada, son of:
Since he was the pupil of both Qadi Abd al-Jabbar the Mu'tazilite and al-Shaykh al-Mufid, he was influenced by both of them. He even criticised them.
According to Sharif al-Murtada, the first part of religious duty is the obligation to reason to the knowledge of God. The other duties are dependent on this first duty. Al-Murtada along with the Mu'tazilite starting-point is the claim that man's first duty is to use his reason to arrive at the knowledge of God. Also in Kalam there is proof of the existence of God, he defended the atomist' stance versus that of the Aristotelian notion of substantial change.
He believed that we must not limit our-selves to applying those names mentioned in Quran.
Sayyid Murtaá¸Âàacquired the epithet of: "ÿAlam al-HudÃÂ" ("The banner of guidance"), and died at the age of 81 years in 1044 (436 AH).
He was a multi-dimensional personality. All Shi'ite scholars acknowledge that Sayyid Murtaá¸Âàwas the greatest scholar of his era, and groomed many outstanding ulama (scholars), including the famous Shaykh al-Tà «së, the founder of the celebrated theological Center of Najaf. He served as "Naqëb al-NuqabÃÂ'" after the death of his brother.
Sayyid Murtaá¸Âàwas deeply interested in fiqh, unlike Sayyid Raá¸Âë, who was more inclined towards politics and literature,. He was considered a master of kalam, fiqh, usul al-fiqh, literature, grammar, poetry and other fields of knowledge. His divan or poetry collection has more than 20,000 verses.
Books authored by Sayyid Murtaá¸Âàinclude: