Shaykh Tabarsi

Shaykh Ahmad ibn Abi Talib Tabarsi¹ known as Shaykh Tabarsi (Persian/Arabic: شيخ طبرسى), was a 12th-century Shia Muslim scholar, exegete, lexicologist, hadith scholar and theologian of Persian descent.²³

Life

Tabarsi was born in the year 1073 AD in Tabaristan province or some scholars said in Tafresh a city which was named at those days Tabres, Iran.⁴ He lived and taught in Mashhad until the year 1128 AD. He wrote a number of books on doctrine, theology, ethics and grammar. He wrote his famous work, a commentary on the Quran, when he was over the age of sixty, living in Sabzawar.⁵

He had many students, most famous are his son Radhi ad-Din Tabarsi, author of the book Makarim al-Akhlaq, and Ibn Shahr-e Ashub. He was killed in the Oghuz invasion to Khorasan.⁶ The location of his grave is disputed as to it being within the Imām Ridhā Shrine complex³⁷ or whether it lies in . The shrine located in Mazandaran was the location of the between the forces of the of and the , followers of the , over the period October 10, 1848 to May 10, 1849.