wikishia:Featured Article/2014/35

Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAli b. al-Ḥasan (محمد بن الحسن بن علي بن الحسن) (b. 385/995 in Tus, d. 460/1066 in Najaf), better known as al-Shaykh al- Ṭūsī, was one of the greatest Shi'a jurists and compilers of hadith. He has written many works in the fields of theology and tafsir. For his great contributions and tremendous influence, he received the honourable title of Shaykh al-Ta'ifah (the chief or head of the Shi'a).

Al-Shaykh al-Tusi spent the first part of his life in Khorasan, and moved to Baghdad at the age of 23. In Baghdad, he studied under leading Shi'a scholars such as al-Shaykh al-Mufid, al-Sharif al-Murtada, and Ibn al-Ghada'iri. The Abbasid caliph of the time eventually appointed him to the principal chair of theology in Baghdad, where nearly three-hundred students would attend his classes.

Following the demise of al-Sharif al-Murtada, al-Shaykh al-Tusi took over the leadership of the Shi'a.continue...