Muhammad Amin al-Astarabadi

Who was Muhammad Amin al-Astarabadi?

Muhammad Amin al-Astarabadi was an Iranian theologian and founder or proponent of the conservative strand in Twelver Shi'a Islamic belief, that is, those who favor hadith over fatwās.

Astarabadi saw himself as a "reviver" of a lost tradition. He was followed by a number of scholars who explicitly identified themselves with the akhbari. These scholars called for the return to the hadith sources, in a belief that the words and actions of the imams were readily seen, but had been corrupted by centuries of excessive commentary.