Journal Of Islamic Denominations

Journal Of Islamic Denominations

The Methodology of ʿAllāma Mīr Ḥāmid Ḥusayn in Responding to Critics of Shiite Beliefs, with Emphasis on the Books Istiṣqāʾ al-Ifhām and ʿAbaqāt al-Anwār

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Abdolvahed Bameri 1
Sadegh poorheidar 2
1 Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Studies, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
2 Researcher, Seminary of Qom, Qom, Iran
10.22034/jid.2025.483401.2526
Abstract
Mīr Ḥāmid Ḥusayn is regarded as one of the prominent scholarly figures whose approach to Islamic studies has made him a model for many scholars, particularly in the field of Imamate studies. His contributions have been discussed in numerous books and articles, particularly focusing on his methodology in hadith, the criteria for evaluating mutawātir (frequently transmitted) hadiths, and his bibliographic work. This study aims to analyze his methodology by examining two of his prominent works, ʿAbaqāt al-anwār and Istiṣqā’ al-ifhām. Mīr Ḥāmid possessed several distinctive qualities, such as comprehensive vision, practical efficiency, high ambition, commitment to truth, devotion to religion, Shariah, the Quran, and the Ahl al-Bayt (the Prophet's Household), bravery, guidance, and a genuine defense of Islam and the Muslim community. These characteristics led him to adopt a unique research methodology, some aspects of which are highlighted in the present article. The results of this research suggest that by understanding Mīr Ḥāmid Ḥusayn’s academic method, one can appreciate that his broad intellectual vision in responding to critics of the pure teachings of the Prophet's Household and his "mastery of sources from both Sunni and Shiite traditions, as well as his understanding of the priorities in defending the life-giving teachings of the Muhammadan Shari'ah, are among his greatest contributions to Islamic scholarship.
Keywords
methodology
Mīr Ḥāmid Ḥusayn
ʿAbaqāt al-anwār
Istiṣqā’ al-ifhām
intellectual breadth
Subjects
The Noble Quran.
Al-Ṣaḥīfat al-Sajjādiyya.
Amīnī, ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn. 1416 AH. Al-Ghadīr. Qom: Dār al-Dirāsāt al-Islāmiyya.
Bameri, Abdolvahed, Abolhasan Barani, and Sadegh Pourheyadri. 1403 Sh. "Naqsh-i Mīr Ḥāmid Ḥusayn dar tabyīn-i mabānī-yi iʿtiqādī madhhab-i Imāmiyya dar Shibh-i Qārra-yi Hind." Mutālaʿāt-i Shibh-i Qārra.
Chehrenama, Saeed. 1396 Sh. "Vākāvī manhaj-i Mīr Ḥāmid Ḥusayn dar naqd va barrasī-yi tawātur-i ḥadīth fī Kitāb ʿAbaqāt al-anwār." Imāmat-Pazhūhī, no. 22: 177–214.
Fakhr al-Rāzī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar. n.d. Nihāyah al-ʿuqūl. Qom: Maktabah Ayatollh Mar'ashi Najafi Library.
Fakhrosharia, Hassan and Rezvanshahri, Abu-Hassan. n.d. "Nāmih-ʾī az Muḥaddith Nūrī ba Mīr Ḥāmid Ḥusayn." Nūr al-ʿilm, no. 48: 86–108.
Fayz-Ābādī, Ḥaydar-ʿAlī. n.d. Muntahā al-kalām. N.p.
Kashmīrī, Mīrzā Muḥammad Mahdī. n.d. Takmila nujūm al-samāʾ. Qom: Intishārāt-i Baṣīratī.
Mahallati, Zabihollah. 1361 Sh. Akhtarān-ī tābnāk. Tehran: Kitābfurūshī Islāmiyya.
Milani, Sayyed Ali. 1382 Sh. Istikhrāj al-marām. Qom: Bunyād-i Farhangī Imāmat.
Mīr Sayyid Ḥāmid Ḥusayn, Sayyid Mahdī Abū Ẓafar. 1276 AH. Istiṣqā’ al-ifhām wa-istifāʾ al-intiqām fī naqd muntahā al-kalām. Lucknow: Iʿjāz Muḥammadī.
Mīr Sayyid Ḥāmid Ḥusayn, Sayyid Mahdī Abū Ẓafar. 1306 AH. ʿAbaqāt al-anwār fī Imāma al-Aʾimma al-aṭhār. Isfahan: Amīr al-Muʾminīn Library.
Qummī, ʿAbbās. n.d. Fawāʾid al-Raẓawiyya. Tehran: Islāmiyya
Ṣadr al-Āfādil, Murtazā Ḥusayn Ṣadr. 1374 Sh. Maṭlaʿ anwār dānishvarān Shīʿa-yi Pākistān va Hind. Mashhad: Astan Quds Razavi, Islamic Research Foundation.
Sayyid al-Murtadā, ʿAlī b. Ḥusayn b. Mūsā ak-. 1410 AH. Al-Shāfī fī al-Imāma. Tehran: Muʾassasa al-Ṣādiq.
Sayyid Ibn Ṭāwūs, ʿAlī b. Mūsā. 1376 Sh. Al-Iqbāl bi-ṣāliḥ al-aʿmāl. Qom: Islamic Propagation Office.
Shaykh al-Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. Ḥasan al-. 1382 Sh. Talkhīṣ al-shāfī. Qom: Intishārāt al-Muḥibbīn.
Shobeiri Zanjani, Sayyed Mousa. 1390 Sh. Jurʿa-ʾī az daryā. Qom: Muʾassasah Kitābshināsī Shīʿa.
Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn al-. 1404 AH. Al-Durr al-manthūr fī al-tafsīr bi-l-maʾthūr. Qom: Ayatollah Mar'ashi Najafi Library.
Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn al-. 1420 AH. Tadrīb al-rāwī fī sharḥ taqrīb al-nawawī. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr.