THE SHOCK EXPERIENCED BY 'ILMUL USUL
After the demise of the author of "Ma'ālimuddin", Usulul Fiqh experienced a shock that thwarted its growth and development and exposed it to severe attack. The attack was the result of the emergence of the movement of the Akhbāris (exponents of the traditions exclusively) in the beginning of the eleventh century (A.H.) at the hands of Mirza Muhammad Amin Istirābadi (d. 1021 A.H.) and the grave situation which developed after the demise of the founder especially during the latter part of the eleventh and the twelfth centuries. This attack had psychological motives which prompted the Akhbāris from among our scholars led by the Muhaddith Istirābadi to oppose 'Ilmul Fiqh and rendered help in the relative success of their opponents. Among those motives we may mention the following:
1. The lack of comprehension of the concept of common elements in the process of deduction on the part of the Akhbāris. This caused them to think that attributing the process of deduction to the common elements and to the laws of 'Ilmul Usul, results in disregarding the authentic texts of the Shari'ah and in lowering the importance of such texts.
Had they only grasped the concept of common elements in the process of deduction in the manner taught by the Usuliyin (the specialists in 'Ilmul Usul) they would have come to know that both the common and the particular elements have their own fundamental role and importance and that 'Ilmul Usul does not aim at replacing the particular elements by the common elements. On the contrary, it lays down the necessary laws for making deduction to derive the laws from those very particular elements.
2. Historically the Sunnis had before that pursued research in 'Ilmul Usul and produced rich literature on it. Thus, in the minds of those opposing it, 'Ilmul Usul had acquired the stigma of Sunnism, and they began to consider it to be a result of the Sunni school of thought. Previously we mentioned the historical priority of Sunni Fiqh in pursuing research on 'Ilmul Usul did not result from any special link between 'Ilmul Usul and the Sunni school of thought. On the contrary, it is related to the extent of the distance in time of the thinking on 'Ilmul Fiqh from the age of the promulgation of the authentic texts it believed in. The Sunnis believed that this age came to an end with the demise of the Holy Prophet (p). Thus they found themselves, at the end of the second century, far removed from the age of the promulgation of the authentic texts to such an extent that it set them thinking on establishing 'Ilmul Usul. However at that time the Shi'ahs were still living in the period of the promulgation of the authentic texts, which in their view, extends up to the Occultation period. We find this notion clearly and explicitly in the following quotation from al-Wasā'il by the jurist, Muhaqqiq Sayyid Muhsin A'raji (d. 1227 A.H.) refuting the Akhbāris: "Our opponents, as they needed to give consideration to these matters before we did so, preceded us in the collection and compilation of traditions, as they were far removed in time from the companions of the Holy Prophet (p) and the rightly guided Imams (a). They then opened anew field for the deduction of laws, covering many subjects abstruse in nature and of copious details, i.e. al-Qiyās (analogy). They were forced towards the compilation and collection of traditions because of great urgency, while at that time we were satisfied with living in the age of the promulgators of the Shari'ah (the rightly guided Imams), taking the laws from them verbally and coming to know what they desired directly. This continued up to the occurrence of the Occultation, when there was separation between the Imam of the age and us. Then we became in need of those subjects and our predecessors wrote on them. Those scholars included like Ibn Junayd and Ibn Abi Aqil, and those after them like Sayyid, the two Shaykhs, Abu Salāh; Abu Makarim, Ibn Idris, the two Fazils and the two Shahids (shahid awwal and shahid thani), and others right up to the present day. Do you think we should avoid those subjects in spite of the pressing need that we experience, just because our opponents have preceded us in that field? The Holy Prophet (p) had said, 'Wisdom is the lost property of the believer!' we did not enter those fields as followers, but we set about making the most careful research and investigation and did not give a ruling on any question until after we had advanced valid proofs arid after we had made our method clear".
3. What served to support the stamp of Sunnism on 'Ilmul Usul in the minds of these Akhbāris is that Ibn Junayd one of the pioneers of Ijtihad and of those who planted the seeds of 'Ilmul Usul in Shi'ite Fiqh, was in agreement with most of the Sunni schools of thought in advocating al-Qiyās (analogy). But the fact that some ideas from the Sunni schools of thought were adopted by a person like Ibn Junayd does not mean that 'Ilmul Usul, is intrinsically something like Sunnism. It is only a case of a later intellectual endeavour being influenced by earlier experiences in its field. Since the Sunnis had prior experience in research on 'Ilmul Usul, it is but natural that we find the influence of this in some later researches. Sometimes this influence reaches the degree of adoption of some previous views, ignoring factual evidence. However this does not necessarily mean that the Shi'ahs acquired 'Ilmul Usul from Sunni thinking or that it was imposed upon them from that source. On the contrary it was a necessity that the process of deduction and the needs of this process, imposed on Ja'fari jurisprudence.
4. The belief of the Akhbāris that 'Ilmul Usul had a Sunni framework was supported by the spread of terminology from the Sunni researches on 'Ilmul Usul to the Shi'ite specialists on this subject, and their acceptance of that terminology after it had developed and become delineated to devote concepts which were in agreement with the Shi'ah point of view. An example of this is the term 'Ijtihad' which we have previously discussed. Our Shi'ah scholars took this term from Sunni Fiqh and developed its meaning. This caused the Akhbāris among our scholars, who did not perceive the fundamental change in the usage of this term to feel that 'Ilmul Usul of our scholars had adopted the same general trends present in the intellectual thinking of the Sunnis. That is why they sharply criticized 'Ijtihad' and opposed the research scholars among our companions regarding its permissibility.
5. The role played by reason in 'Ilmul Usul was another thing which provoked the Akhbāris against this branch of knowledge, owing to their extremist view regarding reason, as we have seen in a previous discussion.
6. Perhaps the most successful tactics employed by Muhaddith Istirābadi and his colleagues to arouse the general Shi'ah view in regard to 'Ilmul Usul was the exploitation of the modernity of the founding of 'Ilmul Usul. It was a branch of knowledge that did not develop in the Shi'ite outlook until after the Occultation.
This means that the companions of the Imams and the jurists of their school of thought passed their lives without 'Ilmul Usul and did not feel any need for it. The jurists among the students of the Imams like Zurarah ibn A'yun, Muhammad ibn Muslim, Muhammad ibn Abi Umayr, Yunus ibn Abdur Rahman, etc. were not in need of 'Ilmul Usul in their Fiqh. Thus, there is no need to get entangled in that in which they did not involve themselves, and to say that deduction and Fiqh are dependent on 'Ilmul Usul is meaningless.
We can realize the error in the light of the fact that the need for 'Ilmul Usul was a historical one. Thus if the narrators of traditions and the jurists living in the age of the promulgation of the authentic texts of the Shari'ah felt the need to found 'Ilmul Usul, it does not mean that the thinking on Fiqh would have no need to be removed in time from the contexts of the texts of the Shari'ah, particularly when this distance in time is daily increasing. This is because this great distance in time brings the gaps in the process of deduction and it then becomes obligatory on the jurist to formulate general laws of 'Ilmul Usul to deal with those gaps.

THE ALLEGED ROOTS OF THE MOVEMENT OF THE AKHBĀRIS
Despite the fact that Muhaddith Istirabadi was the leader of this movement, he tried in his book Fawā'idul Madaniyyah to trace the history of the movement back to the age of the Imams and to prove that it has deep roots in Shi'ite jurisprudence, so that it might acquire the stamp of legality and respect. Thus, he would say that the Akhbāri trend was the prevalent one among the Shi'ite jurists up to the age of Kulayni and Saduq and others who in Istirabādi's opinion, are among the representatives of this trend) but this trend did not make its presence definitely felt until the latter part of the fourth century and even afterwards when a group of Shi'ite scholars began to deviate from the lines of the Akhbāris and to rely on reason in making deduction and to relate researches in Fiqh to 'Ilmul Usul, having been influenced by the Sunni method of deduction. Thenceforth, this deviation began to expand and spread. In this context Istirabādi quotes a statement of Allamah Hilli (who had lived three centuries before the former) in which a group of Shi'ite scholars is referred to as "the Akhbāris". He used this statement to show the historical antiquity of the Akhbāri trend. However, the fact is that in using the word 'Akhbāris' in his statement, Allamah Hilli was referring to one of the stages of the thinking on Fiqh, and not to a movement advocating a limited trend in deduction. From the earliest ages there were Akhbāris among the Shi'ah jurists representing the initial stages of the thinking on Fiqh. Whereas these other Akhbāris are those who have been discussed by Shaykh Tusi in "al-Mabsut" about the narrowness of their horizons and their confirming their legal researches to the underlying principles (Usul) of the problems and avoiding the branches and extensions as far as application is concerned. In tough opposition to them are the jurists specializing in 'Ilmul Usul who think with its principles and apply themselves to the branches of Fiqh in an extensive sphere. The use of the word, "Akhbāris" in the olden days was only an expression to devote one of the levels of legal thinking and not one of the schools of thought.
This point has been emphasized by the eminent research scholar Shaykh Muhammad Taqi (d. 1248 A.H.) in his extensive commentary on "al-Ma'ālim". Referring to this matter he wrote, 'If you say, 'from the olden days the Shi'ah scholars were divided into two classes, Akhbāri and Usuli, as the Allamah has indicated in "an-Nihayah." and as others also have done then I would reply that even though our earlier scholars were divided in two classes and that the Akhbāris were one of them, yet their ways were not those as claimed by today's Akhbāris. Nay there were no differences between them and the Usuliyun, except in the extent of the scope of the branches of Fiqh and the extent of the importance given to the universal laws and to the power to derive branches from that. Among them was a group who were the preservers of the authentic texts of the Shari'ah and the narrators of traditions. However many of them did not possess insight and depth to tackle intellectual problems. They mostly did not undertake the branches not dealt with in the texts. These are the scholars known as the Akhbāris. Another group of scholars possessed insight, and, being inclined to research and deep study, investigated the problems to formulate the laws of the Shari'ah from the arguments available. They had the ability to formulate principles and universal laws from the proofs and arguments existing in the Shari'ah and to apply them to the branches from that and to derive the laws of the Shari'ah accordingly. These are the scholars known as the Usuliyun (the specialists in the principles of jurisprudence), like 'Umani, Iskāfi, Shaykh Mufid, Sayyid Murtaza, Shaykh Tusi and others who followed in their footsteps. If you consider for a while, you will not find any differences between the two groups except that the latter carry on the research on problems and possess great insight to make necessary deductions and to derive the branches from the various laws. For this reason their scope was more extensive in research and insight and they took upon themselves the task of explaining the branches and the legal problems, and went beyond the scope of the texts of the traditions. Those Muhaddithin (traditionalists) mostly did not have the ability to do so, nor had that mastery over the art. Hence, they confined themselves to the literal meanings of the traditions and in most cases did not go beyond their literal contents, nor was their scope for discussing the branches on the basis of the laws extensive. Since they lived at the beginning of the spread of Fiqh and of the emergence of the Shi'ite school of thought, they were concerned with checking the underlying principles of the laws that were based on the traditions narrated from the pious Ahlal Bayt (Progeny of the Holy Prophet). Thus they were not able to examine their contents more closely and to derive various branches from them. This was done in the later periods because of the continuous influx of ideas". The eminent jurist Shaykh Yusuf Bahrayni in his book "al-Hadā'iq", despite being in agreement with some of the views of the Muhaddith Istirābadi, accepts that the latter was the first to make the Akhbāri outlook a separate school of thought and to create differences in the ranks of the scholars on that basis. He wrote, "The fame of these differences did not arise nor did this deviation occur before the author of "al-Fawā 'idul Madaniyyah', (may Almighty pardon him and grant him mercy). He was the one to open his lips to denounce the companions in elaborate detail. He is noted for his bigotry and fanaticism which was not becoming of a noble scholar of his status".

TRENDS OF WRITING IN THAT PERIOD
If we study the intellectual achievements of that period, in which the Akhbāri movement expanded, in the latter part of the eleventh and during the twelfth centuries, we would find an active trend at that time, confined to the collection of traditions and to writing voluminous extensive works on the traditions and narrations. It was during that period that Shaykh Muhammad Baqir Majlisi (may Allah bless him, d. 1110 A.H.), wrote the book, "al-Bihār", which is the greatest of the extensive works on traditions with the Shi'ah. And Shaykh Muhammad ibn Hasan Hurr Āmili (may Allah bless him, d. 1104 A.H.) wrote the book "al-Wasā'il" in which he collected a large number of traditions related to Fiqh. Fayz Muhsin Kāshāni (d. 1091 A.H.) wrote "al-Wāfi" containing the traditions mentioned in al-Kutub al-Arba'ah (The Four Books on Traditions). And Sayyid Hashim Bahrāni (d. 1107 A.H. or thereabouts) wrote "al-Burhan", in which he collected the narrations relating to the interpretations of the Qur'an.
However, this general trend of writing on the traditions in that period does not mean that the Akhbāri movement was the reason for its coming into being, even though it was most probably a contributing factor, despite the fact that some of the most prominent authors in that trend were not Akhbāris. This trend was the result of a number of reasons, the most important of which was that a number of works on traditions were discovered during the century after the Shaykh and were not mentioned in al-Kutub al-Arba'ah. Hence it was necessary that extensive works might be composed encompassing those different books and containing all the investigation and thorough research in respect of traditions and books of traditions.
In the light of the above, we can consider the activity in writing those voluminous extensive works, which took place in that period, as one of the factors (in addition to the Akhbāri movement) which opposed the growth and development of research on 'Ilmul Usul. In any case this was an auspicious factor because the composition of those extensive works was useful in the process of deduction which 'Ilmul Usul served.

RESEARCH ON 'ILMUL USUL IN THAT PERIOD
In spite of the shock experienced by research on 'Ilmul Usul during that period, its flame was not extinguished nor did it come to a complete halt. Thus Mulla Abdullah Tuni (d. 1071 A.H.) wrote "al-Wāfiyah" on 'Ilmul Usul. After him there was the eminent research scholar Sayyid Husayn Khunsāri (d. 1098 A.H.) who was known for his immense knowledge and erudition. He imparted a new vigour to the thinking on 'Ilmul Usul as is evident from his ideas on that subject contained in his book on Fiqh, 'Mashariqush Shumus fi Sharhid Durus". As a result of his great work in philosophical colour in a manner unmatched before him we say that it took on a philosophical colour and not a philosophical outlook, because this illustrious scholar was an opponent of philosophy and had long conflicts with its exponents. So his thought was not philosophical in the form of taqlid which philosophy had developed, even though it bore a philosophical colour. Thus when he undertook research on 'Ilmul Usul this philosophical colour was represented in it and into 'Ilmul Usul flowed a philosophical trend in thinking with a spirit of freedom from the forms of Taqlid, which philosophy had adopted in its discussions and research. This spirit of freedom exercised a tremendous influence in the history of knowledge afterwards, as we shall see Inshā Allah.
It was in the time of Khunsāri that Muhaqqiq Muhammad ibn Hasan Sherwāni (d. 1098 A.H.) wrote his commentary on "al-Ma'ālim". After that we come across two works on 'Ilmul Usul. The first one was carried out by Jamaluddin ibn Khunsari, who wrote a commentary on "al-Mukhtasar". And Shaykh Ansari has confirmed in "al-Rasā'il " that Jamaluddin was the first to arrive at some of the concepts of 'Ilmul Usul. The second of those two works was by Sayyid Sadruddin Qummi (d. 1071 A.H.) who was a student of Jamaluddin and wrote a commentary on Tuni's "al-Wāfiyah". Ustad Wahid Bahbahāni was a student of Sayyid Sadruddin. The fact is that the elder Khunsāri, his contemporary Sherwāni, his son Jamaluddin, and his son's pupil Sadruddin, despite living in the period when the Akhbāri movement shook research on 'Ilmul Usul to its roots, and when work on the traditions was spreading despite all this, these were the factors in furthering the thinking on 'Ilmul Usul. They paved the way through their studies for the emergence of the school of Ustad Wahid Bahbahāni , which initiated a new era in the history of knowledge, as we shall see later. Hence, we can deem the studies carried out by the four scholars as the main seeds for the emergence of this school and the last laurels won by intellectual thinking, in the second era, as a preparation for the changeover to the third era.

THE VICTORY OF 'ILMUL USUL AND THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW SCHOOL
The Akhbāri trend was able, in the twelfth century, to take Karbala ( Iraq ) as its centre. Hence, it was contemporary to the birth of a new school in 'Ilmul Fiqh and 'Ilmul Usul, which arose in Karbala also at the hands of its leader, the great Mujaddid Muhammad Baqir Bahbahāni (d. 1206 A.H.). This new school set itself up to check the Akhbāri movement and to secure victory for 'Ilmul Usul, which it did until the Akhbāri trend declined and suffered defeat. In addition this school began to advance the cause of intellectual thinking and to raise 'Ilmul Usul to a very high standard, so that we can say that the emergence of this school and the co-operative efforts made by Bahbahāni and the students of his school (who were great research scholars) formed a distinct dividing line between two eras in the history of intellectual thinking on 'Ilmul Fiqh and 'Ilmul Usul.
The positive role played by this school and the opening by it of a new era in the history of knowledge were influenced by a number of factors, among which are:
(i) The reaction evoked by the Akhbāri movement, especially when its exponents assembled at the same place as the group advocating 'Ilmul Usul i.e. Karbala . This naturally led to an increase of tension and a multiplying of the strength of the reaction.
(ii) The need for producing new extensive works on the traditions had been sated and had ceased to exist, after the writing of "al-Wasā'il", "al-Wāfi" and "al-Bihār" except that the cause of knowledge should direct its intellectual vigour towards deriving benefit from those works in the process of deduction.
(iii) The philosophical trend in thinking, of which Khunsāri had established one of the main bases endowed intellectual thinking with anew strength for development and opened a new field for originality. The school of Bahbahāni was the heir to this trend.
(iv) The factor of place; the school of Ustad Wahid Bahbahāni developed not far from the main centre of the academic circle in Najaf, and this proximity to the centre was one reason for its permanence and continuity of existence through succeeding generations of teachers and students. This enabled it to continuously increase its knowledge of one generation of its scholars to be added to that of the succeeding generation, until it was able to make a great leap in advancing the cause of knowledge to the extent of giving it the feature of a new era. Thus Bahbahāni school is distinguished from so many other schools which arose here and there, far from the centre of the academic circle, and which disappeared with the death of their founders.

TEXT DEPICTING THE STRUGGLE WITH THE AKHBĀRI MOVEMENT
Muhaqqiq Bahbahāni, the founder of this school wrote a book on 'Ilmul Usul named "al-Fawā'id al-Hā'iriyah" from which we come to know the strong motive of the struggle he waged against the Akhbāri movement. Here we are selecting a passage from that book referring to some of the doubts of the Akhbāris and their arguments against 'Ilmul Usul. Our previous explanation that the need for 'Ilmul Usul was felt will become evident in refuting those arguments.
Bahbahāni wrote, "As the age of the Imams receded into history and the characteristics and proofs of Fiqh which had been laid down by the jurists and openly accepted by them, became vague and indistinct owing to their demise, the centres of learning became empty, so much so, that most of their works became extinct, as was the case with previous nations and the fate of previous codes of law. When the age became more distant in time from the promulgator of its Shari'ah, the old concepts became vague and new ideas came into being until that Shari'ah disappeared altogether. Some imagine that Shaykh Mufid and the jurists after him up to the present day, were united in ruling that the original thinkers introducing new ideas were misguided that they were following the masses and opposing the way of the Imams and changing the latter's specific way in spite of their nearness [7] in time to the age of the Imams, of their utmost glory, justice and knowledge of Fiqh and of the traditions, of their profoundness, piety and godliness".
He goes on to present the extent of the insolence of his antagonists against those great scholars and calls them to account for that insolence. Then he goes on, "Another of their doubts is that the narrators of these traditions did not know the laws of the Mujtahids [8] (i.e. 'Ilmul Usul) although traditions formed a valid proof for them. So we also like them, do not stand in need of any of the conditions of (ijtihad) and our circumstances are exactly like theirs. They do not direct themselves to the fact that those narrators were fully aware that what they had heard were the words of their Imam and that they were able to understand those words by virtue of their belonging to the literatures of the age of the infallible ones and were not beset with any of the confusions which you feel and thus did not need any remedy for them".

SUMMARY
We are not in a position, at the level of this discussion to elaborate on the important role played by the teachers as well as the pupils of this school and the development and profoundity that it secured for the cause of knowledge. However, we can reiterate that what has preceded about the history of knowledge is that intellectual thinking passed through three eras:
1. The preparatory era -the age when the main seeds of 'Ilmul Usul were planted. This era began with Ibn Abi Aqil and Ibn Junayd and ended with the appearance of Shaykh Tusi.
2. The era of knowledge- the age of the germination of those seeds and their bearing fruit. During this period the outlines of thinking on 'Ilmul Usul became delineated and represented in the fields of research on Fiqh on a wide scale. The leader of this age was Shaykh Tusi and among its eminent scholars were Ibn Idris, Muhaqqiq Hilli, the Allamah, Shahid awwal and other illustrious scholars.
3. The era of perfection in knowledge- the age which was initiated in the history of knowledge by the new school which appeared in the latter part of the twelfth century at the hands of Ustad Wahid Bahbahāni and which began the third era for knowledge, through its co-operative efforts in the fields of 'Ilmul Usul and 'Ilmul Fiqh.
These efforts were expressed in the thoughts and researches of the leader of the school, Ustad Wahid, and of the prominent figures, who continued the work of their leader for nearly half a century until the general characteristics of the third era were completed, and this age reached its peak. In this period, three generations of illustrious scholars followed.
The first generation is represented by the great research scholars among the students of Ustad Wahid, like Sayyid Mahdi Bahrul 'Ulum (d. 1212 A.H.), Shaykh Ja'far Kāshiful Ghita' (d. 1227 A.H.), Mirza Abul Qāsim Qummi (d. 1227 A.H.), Sayyid A1i Tabatabā'i (d. 1121 A.H.) and Shaykh Asadullah Tustari (d.1234 A.H.).
Representing the second generation are those illustrious scholars trained by some of the above, like, Shaykh Muhammad Taqi ibn Abdur Rahim (d. 1248 A.H.), Shariful 'Ulama Muhammad Sharif ibn Hasan Ali (d. 1245 A.H.), Sayyid Muhsin A'raji (d. 1227 A.H.), Maula Ahmad Narāqi (d. 1245 A.H.), Shaykh Muhammad Hasan Najafi (d. 1266 A.H.) and others. As regards the third generation, at its head was a pupil of Shariful 'Ulema, the great research scholar Shaykh Murtaza Ansari who was born after the emergence of the new school in 1214 A.H. and whose level of education was contemporary to this school at the peak of its development and activity. He was able to rise together with the cause of knowledge in its third era to the height at which the new school was aiming. 'Ilmul Usul and intellectual thinking are still prevalent in the Imami academic circles which existed in this third era as initiated by the school of Ustad Wahid .
Our division of the history of knowledge into three eras does not preclude us from dividing each of these eras into various stages of growth, each stage having its own leader and director. On this basis, we deem Shaykh Ansari, (d. 1281 A.H., may Allah bless him), the supreme leader of one of the stages in the third era, i.e. the stage representing intellectual thinking from more than a hundred years ago to the present day.
NOTES:
[4] Among these are the reports transmitted about dealing with contradictory texts, about the validity of the narrations of trustworthy narrators as proofs, about the genuineness of al-Barā'at (exemption), about the permissibility of using Rā'y and Ijtihad and other such propositions.
[5] Viz. throwing light on the incorrectness of many of their views which are put forth and they try to prove these, as correct views.
[6] There is no harm in citing two or three instances wherein the view of Ibn Zuhrah differs from that of the Shaykh Tusi. Among them is the question of the imperative mood indicating immediacy (to perform an act at once). Shaykh Tusi had given the ruling that the imperative mood indicated immediacy, which was denied by Ibn Zuhrah who said, "The imperative mood is neutral, indicating neither immediacy nor non-immediacy". There is also the question that prohibition from a certain act necessarily indicates its being corrupt. Shaykh Tusi had given the ruling that its being corrupt was necessarily implied in a prohibition. This was denied by Ibn Zuhrah, who made a distinction between illegality (al-Hurmah) and being corrupt (al-Fasād), and denied that one necessarily implied the other. Later on Ibn Zuhrah, in his researches on generality (al-'Ām) and particularity (al-Khāss), raised the issue of the validity as proof of a specific generality, outside the source of its specification, whereas this issue had not been raised in the book "al-Iddah".
[7] They are blamed, for their (unbecoming) attitude, in spite of their nearness in time, to the age of the Imam (P). (page 56)
[8] 'Ilmul Usul is meant by the laws of the Mujtahids. (page 57)