Background
Muhaqqiq was born in the city of al-Hilla, Iraq, where he would spend most of his life, to a family of prominent Shi'i jurists. He studied theology, fiqh and usul al-fiqh under his father.
Muhaqqiq was born in the city of al-Hilla, Iraq, where he would spend most of his life, to a family of prominent Shi'i jurists. He studied theology, fiqh and usul al-fiqh under his father.
Muhaqqiq later became the leader of the Shi'i seminary there. When Nasruddin Tusi visited the town as the representative of Hulagu, he addressed Muhaqqiq as the representative of the city's scholarly elite. Muhaqqiq produced an impressive scholarly corpus during his life, treating subjects ranging from fiqh and usul al-fiqh to ethics, theology, philology and even a few volumes of poetry.
It is arguably one of the most important Shi'i legal works ever written, as shown by the large number (more than thirty) of commentaries written on it by later scholars. In the Shara'i, he divides the law into four distinct categories: acts of devotion (eg prayer, fasting), bilateral legal acts (eg marriage), unilateral legal acts (eg divorce) and rules (eg of inheritance). This classification was followed by later jurists.
Another important work of his is Ma'arij ul-Usul, written in the field of usul al-fiqh (jurisprudential methodology). In it, he stresses the centrality of the Shi'i jurist (mujtahid) during the time of the Occultation in deriving a proper understanding of the Shari'ah from the Qur'an, Hadith and statements of the Twelve Imams. Whereas before him, it was the authority of the Hadith and not of the Mujtahid that was obeyed.
Al-Nafi' fi mukhtasar al-sharayi'
Al-Mu'tabar fi sharh mukhtasar al-nafi'
Al-Ma'arij fi usul al-fiqh
Nahj al-wusul ila ma'rifat 'ilm al-usul
Talkhis al-fihrist, which is an abridged edition of al-Fihrist, by al-Shaykh al-Tusi. Istihbab al-tayasur li-'Ahl al-Iraq
Sharh nukat al-nihaya
Al-Kuhna fi al-mantiq
Mukhtasar al-marasim, which is an abridged edition of al-Marasim, by Sallar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Daylami.
Al-Masa'il al-Qarya
Al-Masa'il al-misriyya
Al-Maslak fi usul al-din
Nukat al-nihaya.