How one scholar saved Shia jurisprudence from the ashes of a burning Baghdad

Ideas & Philosophy · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: When sectarian violence destroyed his library and home in 1055, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Tusi did not retreat into obscurity. Instead, he fled to Najaf, where he founded a seminary that would define Twelver Shia Islam for centuries, cementing his legacy as the architect of modern Shia legal methodology.

Born in Tus in 995 AD, Tusi emerged as a towering intellectual figure during the Buyid era. His early education in his hometown was followed by a move to Baghdad, where he studied under the renowned al-Shaykh Al-Mufid. By his early twenties, Tusi was already a prolific writer, eventually mastering diverse fields ranging from theology and philosophy to hadith and historiography. His scholarly rigor was such that he even engaged with Sunni legal traditions, studying the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence to broaden his understanding of Islamic law.

The turning point of his life came in 1055, when the Seljuk entry into Baghdad triggered widespread sectarian conflict. As libraries and schools were razed, Tusi lost his home and many of his written works. Forced to relocate to Najaf, he transformed a small, quiet settlement into a vibrant center of learning. This migration marked the birth of the Hawza in Najaf, which remains one of the most significant Shia seminaries in the world today. During this period, Tusi refined his methodology, successfully codifying the process of ijtihad—independent legal reasoning—which allowed Shia clerics to take on roles previously reserved for imams, such as organizing Friday prayers and managing religious taxes.

Tusi’s intellectual impact was profound and long-lasting. He authored over fifty works, including two of the four canonical collections of hadith, Tahdhib al-Ahkam and Al-Istibsar. As a champion of the Usuli school, he argued that reason was essential to interpreting the shariah, famously asserting that religious knowledge remains incomplete without mastering the principles of jurisprudence. By emphasizing rational inquiry and validating consensus through the theological principle of lutf—the idea that God provides the necessary conditions for obedience—Tusi created a coherent, resilient framework for Shia law that dominated the field until the later critiques of Ibn Idris al-Hilli.

His legacy is not merely one of preservation but of active revival. By defending the rational dimension of religion and refuting the use of legal analogy, Tusi provided a structure that allowed Shia jurisprudence to flourish despite the political instability of the 11th century. His death in 1067 did not diminish his influence; rather, his methodology became the bedrock upon which generations of Shia scholars built their understanding of faith and law.

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