Abul Fath al-Karajiki

Another pupil of al-Sayyid al-Murtada and al-Shaykh al-Tusi, who also received instruction under al-Shaykh al-Mufid was Abu al-Fath Muhammad b. `Ali b. `Uthman al-Karajiki (d. 449/1057). Ibn Shahr Ashub, in Ma`alim al-`ulama' gives a list of fourteen books written by him, and al-Shaykh al-Hurr al-`Amili mentions eight of his works. Al-Karajiki is distinguished as a faqih, muhaddith, and mutakallim. `Allama Nuri in Mustadrak, gave a detailed account of his works. A selected list of his works is given below:
Kitab al-salat (in three parts), al-Risala al-Nasiriyya, Kitab al-talqin, Kitab al-minhaj (on manasik al-hajj), Kitab al-mawarith, Kitab al-muqni` wa-l-lajjaj, al-Mansak (on hajj for women), Nahj al-bayan (for ladies), Kitab al-istitraf (fi l-fiqh wa-l-insaf), al-Ikhtiyar min al-akhbar (summary of Da`a'im al-Islam), Kitab al-radd (refutation of Abu al-Mahasin al-Ma`arri's criticism of al-Sayyid al-Murtada), al-Bustan (in fiqh), Naqd Fardan al-Maruzi; Kitab ghayat al-insaf fi masa'il al-khilaf (concerning differences in fiqh between Abu Salah al-Halabi and al-Sayyid al-Murtada, in this controversy Abu al-Fath defended his teacher's position), Hujjat al-`alim fi hay'at al-`alam, al-Asbab al-sadda `an ma`rifat al-sawab, Damghat al-Nasara (refutation of Abu I-Haytham),
Kitab al-ghaya (concerning the contingency of the world), Riyadat al-`uqul fi muqaddamat al-'usul (incomplete), Kitab al-murshid (a selection of Ghurar aI-fawa'id), Risalat al-akhawayn, Kitab al-ta`ajjub fi l-umma min aghlat al-`amma, al-Istibsar, Kitab Mur`aradat al-addad bi-ttifaq al-a`dad, al-Mas'ala al-Qaysaraniyya, Tanzih al-anbiya', Kitab al-intiqam (in refutation of Ibn Shadhan al-Ash`ari), Kitab al-fadih (astronomy), Nazm al-durar fi mabna al-kawakib wa-l-suwar (astronomy),
Hisab al-Hindi, Ma`din al-jawahir wa-riyadat al-khawatir, Riyad al-hikam, Maw`izat al-`aql li-l-nafs, al-Ta`rif bi-wujub haqq al-walidayn, Adhkar al-ikhwan bi-wujub haqq al-iman, Fadihat al-ikhwan, Tuhfa, al-Risala al-`Alawiyya, Kitab al-jalis (in five volumes containing views on various branches of knowledge), Intifa` al-mu'min bima fi aydi al-salatin, Kitab al-anis (consisting of two thousand pages regarding various sciences and arts), Kitab al-zahid, Kitab al-ta'dib, al-Kifaya fi l-hidaya, al-Majalis (on the art of rhetoric), Kitab al-iqna` `inda ta`adhdhur al-ijma` (`ilm al-kalam), Kitab al-'usul fi madhhab Al al-Rasul, al-Risala al-Hazimiyya, al-Risala al-`Amiriyya, Mukhtasar al-qawl, Mukhtasar tabaqat al-warith, al-Risala al-sufiyya, Idah `an ahkam al-nikah,
Risalat al-tanbih (a critique of Abu al-Hasan al-Basri's views on the Imamate), Nasihat al-Shi`a, Kitab al-bahir, Mas'alat al-`adl fi l-muhakama ila l-`aql, Hidayat al-mustarshid, Kanz al-fawa'id (the most famous work of al-Karajiki), and al-Fihrist. Al-Fihrist of al-Karajiki has been referred by Sayyid Tawus, though the work has not survived to the present day. Kanz al-fawa'id has been published along with seven other treatises of al-Karajiki. This work is so renowned that often al-Karajiki is referred to as Sahib Kanz al-fawa'id. Besides Kanz al-fawa'id, only the following of his books have been published: al-Istibsar, al-Ta`ajjub, Tafdil Amir al-Mu'minin, and al-Ta`rif bi huquq al-walidayn (al-Karajiki's will addressed to his son).
Shaykh `Abd Allah al-Yafi`i, (d. 768/1366) in Mir'at al-jinan, giving the account of the year 449/1057, writes that Abu al-Fath al-Karkhi al-Khimi, a leading Shi`i scholar, author of many books, a grammarian, a lexicographer, an astrologer, a physician, a mutakallim, and one of the outstanding pupils of al-Sharif al-Murtada, died this year.
Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani (d. 852/1448) has also paid him tribute in Lisan al-Mizan, and says that Abu Salah died on the second day of Rabi` al-Akhir, 449/1057. Ibn `Imad al-Hanbali, in Shadharat al-dhahab, mentions the same date of death.
From the list of his books and the accounts of historians it is evident that al-Karajiki was a prolific writer and a scholar of varied interests, who excelled in fiqh, hadith, kalam, grammar, literature, astronomy, and mathematics. He travelled widely but lived most of his life in Egypt at Nazil al-Ramla. He trained and educated many outstanding scholars, particularly in Islamic sciences. Al-Karajiki is probably the first Shi`i scholar of Islamic sciences who while being an authority in fiqh combined his theological scholarship with his expert knowledge of physical sciences and mathematics.