Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi

Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi (born 1037 AH / 1627 CE, died 1110 AH / 1699 CE), often called "al-'Allama al-Majlisi" ("the most learned") or the "Second Majlisi," was one of the most influential scholars of Twelver Shia Islam — the branch that holds religious authority passed through twelve Imams descended from the Prophet Muhammad. He spent his entire life in Isfahan, then the capital of Safavid Persia, where his father Muhammad Taqi al-Majlisi was also a noted scholar.

His best-known work is Bihar al-Anwar ("Seas of Light"), an enormous compilation of Shia hadith — reports of the words and deeds of the Prophet and Imams — running to scores of volumes and gathering well over 100,000 traditions with his own commentary. Reflecting a hadith-centred (broadly Akhbari) approach, he tended to include weak as well as sound reports, flagging their reliability rather than discarding them; scholars classify his method variously, and later Shia thinkers such as 'Allama Tabataba'i criticised some of his interpretations.

From around 1098 AH / 1687 CE, under Shah Sulayman, he held the post of Shaykh al-Islam (chief religious official) of Isfahan, continuing under Shah Sultan Husayn. In that role he is reported to have promoted Twelver Shia practice and pressed against Sufism and philosophy — positions that admirers and critics judge very differently. He also wrote many accessible Persian works to bring religious learning to ordinary believers. He was buried beside his father near Isfahan's Jameh Mosque.