Sharif al-Murtaza

Sharif al-Murtaza
الشريف المرتضى
TitleʿAlam al-Hudā
Personal life
BornAbū al-Qāsim ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā
355 AH/965 CE
Baghdad, Iraq
Died436 AH/1044 CE
Resting placeSharif al-Murtada Shrine in Baghdad, Iraq
NationalityAbbasid
Parent(s)Abu Ahmad al-Husayn ibn Musa (father), Fatima (mother)
EraIslamic Golden Age
Main interest(s)Theology, Jurisprudence, Hadith
Known forProminent Shia scholar, theologian, and jurist
OccupationScholar, Theologian, Jurist
RelativesAl-Sharif al-Radi (brother)
Religious life
ReligionIslam
DenominationShia
JurisprudenceJa'fari
CreedTwelver
Muslim leader
Influenced

Abū al-Qāsim ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā (Arabic: أبو القاسم علي بن الحسين الشريف المرتضى; 965–1044 CE) commonly known as Sharīf Murtaḍā or Sayyid Murtaḍā (Murtazā instead of Murtaḍā in non-Arabic languages) and also popular as ʿAlam al-Hudā (Arabic: علم الهدى), was a Shia Muslim scholar, jurist and theologian from Iraq, who was widely considered one of the foremost Shia scholars of his time. He was one of the students of Shaykh al-Mufīd, who taught in Baghdad and later in Najaf. His younger brother is al-Sharif al-Radi, the compiler of Nahj al-Balagha.

Al-Sharif al-Murtada lived during the era of the Shia Buyid dynasty of Daylamite origin, which came to rule over Iraq and parts of Iran in 934–1062, which also coincided with the golden age of Arabic literature, and great poets al-Ma'arri were among his contemporaries. His prominence as a Shiite authority is also evident in the outreach of his letters, which addressed inquiries of Shiite communities (masā'il) in Tiberias, Tripoli, Sidon, Mosul and Aleppo.