The Fiight against Akhbarism

By: Muhammad Jawad Sahibi

Wahid Bahbahani severely criticized their beliefs and how they would take traditions without any pretext. He stated: “The Akhbaris hard-headiness reaches such a level that if, for instance, a sick person approached an Imam and the Imam told him to drink cold water, the Akhbari would say this to any sick person in the world. Whenever someone would become sick his medicine would be water. They do not think that maybe that command was special to the state of that sick person and not all sick people.” Wahid Bahbahani was in Karbala at the same time that the author of Hada’iq, an Akhbari, was. Both of them had religious seminaries. Wahid took the course of ijtihad and the author of Hada’iq took the course of Akhbarism. A huge fight took place between them and in the end Wahid Bahbahani defeated the author of Hada’iq. It was said that the students of Mirza Wahid Bahbahani, such as Kashif al-Ghita, Bahr al-‘Ulum, and Sayyid Mahdi Shahrastani were all former students of the author of Hada’iq. Later, they transferred to Wahid’s classes. The author of Hada’iq was a mild Akhbari. He claimed that his ideology was the same as the late Majlisi’s – a middle point between the Akhbaris and the principligists. In addition, he was a pious man. But, Wahid severely fought against him and forbid praying in congregation with him. Oppositely, the author of Hada’iq said: “Congregational prayer with Agha Wahid is correct.” It was said that when he passed away he left a will for Wahid Bahbahani to perform his funeral prayers.

The struggle of Shaykh Ansari was in the form of creating the groundwork for a field of knowledge called the principles of jurisprudence to be formed. In this regard he said: “If Amin Astarabadi was alive he would have accepted my principles.”

Despite the fact that Akhbarism became defeated as a result of these struggles and to the present does not have any followers except a few people in the corners and in the shadows, but the effects of their ideology still remains in the opinions of many Islamic scholars.

This movement, because of rejecting the Quran, intellect, and consensus as being a proof and because of their fight against ijtihad, was unable to give answers about new events. Therefore, it must be called an anti-reformist movement. In opposition to all Islamic reformist movements, Akhbarism tried to take the Quran away from the Muslims leaving it as a holy scripture that cannot be understood. This was a huge strike to the Muslim body. If it wasn’t for the reform movements of Wahid and the rest of the Islamic jurists, Islam and Shiaism would be filled with superstition.