The Life of Nasir al-Din al-Hilli al-Kashi, a Little-Known Commentator of the Tajrid al-Aqa'id Literature, His Academic Lineage, and His Works

Abstract

A leading commentary of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi's Tajrid al-'aqa'id is Shams al-Din al-Isfahani's commentary Tasdid al-qawa'id fi Sharh Tajrid al-'aqa'id . The first annotation (hashiya) of this commentary belongs to Nasir al-Din al-Hilli, who remains largely unknown even now. This book has another important distinction, namely, al-Sayyid al- Sharif al-Jurjani's annotation, the most famous and widespread annotation of Tasdid al-qawa'id, both benefited greatly from and frequently criticized it. The large number of al-Hilli'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-Hilli. Although he and al-Allama al-Hilli 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.