Research Note

The Life of Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ḥillī al-Kāshī, a Little-Known Commentator of the Tajrīd al-‘Aqā’id Literature, His Academic Lineage, and His Works

Abstract

A leading commentary of Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī’s Tajrīd al-‘aqā’id is Shams al-Dīn al-Iṣfahānī’s commentary Tasdīd al-qawāʿid fī Sharḥ Tajrīd al-‘aqā’id . The first annotation (ḥāshiya) of this commentary belongs to Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ḥillī, who remains largely unknown even now. This book has another important distinction, namely, al-Sayyid al-Sharīf al-Jurjānī’s annotation, the most famous and widespread annotation of Tasdīd al-qawāʿid, both benefited greatly from and frequently criticized it. The large number of al-Ḥillī’s works found in Istanbul’s libraries also shows that he was a well-known figure among the city’s scholars. Nevertheless, this Imami Shiite scholar’s biography has been neglected until today.
This research note introduces an intellectual biography of al-Ḥillī. Although he and al-‘Allāma al-Ḥillī were fellow townsmen and contemporaries, the information about his life, teachers, and students is very limited. This article seeks to enrich this limited biographical information by providing information about his works.

Keywords

Kalām Nasīr al-Dīn al-Ḥillī Biography Ḥāshiya Ḥāshiyat al-Tajrīd