Al-Sayyed Mohsen al-Amin (b.1284 A.H./1867 C.E. - d.1371 A.H. /1952 C.E.), also transliterated Muhsin al Amin, was a Shia scholar, biographer, traditionist, and jurist. He was born in Jabal Amil, Lebanon. His most important work is A'yan al-Shi'a.
Early life and education Family background Al-Amin was born in 1867 to a well-known Sayyid family in Jabal Amil, Lebanon. His father, Abdul al-Karim al-Amili, was a scholar of his time. His father died in Iraq was buried, when he had gone to pilgrimage in Iraq. His maternal grandfather was ′Shaykh Muhammad Hussein al Amili al Musawi, was one of the scholars who went to Najaf for education and died there.
Education Sayyed Mohsen began to study the Qur'an and elementary Arabic grammar at the age of seven under a village teacher. Four years later, he learned jurisprudence for three years under Shaykh Musa Sharara who returned to Iraq. In 1890, arrangements were made for him to study in Najaf, Iraq. Finally he was a learned Mujtahid.
Activity He was among the first Shi’i modernists and received widespread condemnation by the Shia community of Lebanon for his endeavours in attempting to change and reform the religion, particularly when it came to issues of tatbir, which he was against.
His children Hasan al-Amin Hashem Al-Amin Abd al-Muttalib Al-Amin Jafar Al-Amin Muhammad Baqir Al-Amin
Published works Ayan al-Shia (), is one of his works. This work the biographical encyclopedia book and consists of fifty-six volumes. Al-husun al-mani'a fi radd ma awradahu sahib al-manar fi haqq al-shia (), he explained some of the Shia views in this book. Risalat al-tanzih li-a'mal al-shabih (), that was al-Amin's reply to his critics-Sadiq. Al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya al-khamisa () is the longest version of the Sahifa of al-Sajjad has been published. Al-Majalis al-saniyya fi manaqib wa-masa'ib al-'itra al-nabawiyya () Iqna' al-la'im ala iqamat al-matam () Lawa'ij al-ashjan fi maqtal al-imam Abi Abd Allah al-Husayn () ()
See also Islamic scholars Islamization of knowledge Islamic philosophy Ayatollah al-Shirazi List of maraji Allameh Majlesi Hossein Nasr Musa al-Sadr
References
Sources Fouad Ajami. The Vanished Imam: Musa Al Sadr and the Shia of Lebanon. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1986.
External links The Shi'is in Lebanon: Between Communal 'Asabiyya and Arab Nationalism, 1908-21 by Kais M. Firro Lebanese Shiʿites and The Marja'iyya : Polemic in the Late Twentieth Century by RULA JURDI ABISAAB Lebanese Shiʿites and The Marja'iyya : Polemic in the Late Twentieth Century by Max Weiss