Al-Sharif al-Radi
Iraqi poet and Shia Muslim scholar (970 – 1015)
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Abū al-Ḥasan Muḥammad bin al-Ḥusayn bin Mūsā al-Abrash al-Mūsawī al-Qurashi (Arabic: أبُو الحَسَنِ السَّيِّدُ مُحَمَّدٌ بنُ الحُسَيْنِ بنِ مُوْسَى الأبرش المُوسَوِيُّ الهَاشِمِيُّ القُرَشِيُّ; 970 – 1015), also known as al-Sharīf al-Raḍī (Arabic: الشَّرِيْفِ الرَّضِيِّ) was a Shia Muslim scholar and poet of Iraqi descent. Al-Radi wrote several books on Islamic issues and interpretation of the Quran. His most well-known book is Nahj al-Balagha.[1][2]
الشَّرِيْفِ الرَّضِيِّ
Muhammad bin al-Husayn bin Musa مُحَمَّدٌ بنُ الحُسَيْنِ بنِ مُوْسَى | |
|---|---|
الشَّرِيْفِ الرَّضِيِّ مُحَمَّدٌ بنُ الحُسَيْنِ بنِ مُوْسَى | |
 Tomb of Sayyid al-Radi in Baghdad | |
| Title | al-Sharif al-Radi الشَّرِيْفِ الرَّضِيِّ |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 970 Baghdad, Iraq |
| Died | 1015 (aged 44–45) |
| Era | Islamic golden age |
| Main interest(s) | Tafsir, Arabic literature |
| Notable work(s) | Peak of Eloquence (collection of Imam Ali quotations) |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
| Denomination | Shia |
| Jurisprudence | Ja'fari |
| Creed | Twelver |
| Muslim leader | |
Influenced by | |
His elder brother al-Sharif al-Murtada was also a theologian and poet. His work is still published in the universities of Cairo and Beirut, and is part of the course of Arabic literature.[3]
Pedigree
Al-Radi's father, Abu Ahmad al-Husayn ibn Musa, was a descendant of Ibrahim al-Asghar, the son of the seventh Shia imam, Musa al-Kazim. There are also claims that he is the descendant of Ibrahim al-Mujab, the grandson of al-Kazim. His mother was the granddaughter of Hasan al-Utrush, a descendant of the fourth Shia imam, Ali Zayn al-Abidin. For this reason, he was also known as thil hasabayn (the possessor of two lineages), since he relates back to the Ahl al-Bayt paternally and maternally.[citation needed]
Biography
Al-Radi was born in 970 in the Abbasid capital, Baghdad, and died in 1015 in his hometown. His grave is located in Kadhimiya, Baghdad. Al-Radi was the third of four children, having two sisters and a brother. After his father's death, he took the post.
Al-Radi's family was affluent, as his mother Fatima inherited a good fortune from her father. She sponsored the family when the property of her husband was confiscated by the Buyid prince 'Adud al-Dawla.
Education and teaching
Abu Ali al-Farisi taught Al-Redi.[4]
He also founded a school named Dar ul'Ilm (Arabic: دار العلم, literally House of knowledge) in which he trained many students.
Works
The book is a collection of sermons, precepts, prayers, epistles, and aphorisms of Ali and compiled by al-Radi in the tenth century.[5][6][7] A number of his contemporaries wrote commentaries on al-Radi's compilation.
Extent and scope of compilation
Ali's sermons were compiled, read, and taught before al-Radi was born.[8] The services of al-Radi are now regarded as significant in the philosophy of monotheism.[9]
Collected sermons in the Nahj al-Balagha cover Islam, theology and metaphysics; worship, wisdom, philosophy; piety and the afterlife.[10][11]
However, critics of the Nahj al-Balagha generally raise two objections: they claim that al-Murtada is one of the authors, and most of the contents are not by Ali.[12]