Jafar al-Muhajir

Researcher, Author, and Historian

He has written about his own life as follows: I was born in Baalbek on 28/3/1940 CE. My grandfather, Sheikh Habib (may God be pleased with him), recorded my birth date on the inner cover of the book al-Anwār al-Nuʿmāniyya by al-Jazāʾirī. He noted that at the moment of my birth he was reading in the book the accounts of the appearance of the Mahdi (may God hasten his relief), and he took that as a good omen. After completing some study at the local elementary school, my grandfather sent me in 1952 to Najaf Ashraf for study, where I joined its seminary. During nearly eleven years of residence there, I attended the classes of a number of its notable scholars. The most prominent in the higher stages were Sayyid Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei in jurisprudence and its principles, and Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr in jurisprudence. I received an ijaza from each of them. I then attended philosophy and theology under Sheikh Muhammad Reza al-Muzaffar; principles of jurisprudence under Sayyid Muhammad Taqi al-Hakim; and jurisprudence under Sheikh Muhammad Taqi al-Irvani. I also joined the College of Fiqh in its first cohort until I obtained its certificate in 1962. Immediately thereafter I returned to my homeland, where I was appointed to the Ja'fari sharia judiciary. Meanwhile, I joined a number of university colleges in Beirut. I studied languages and research methodology in history, until I obtained the master's degree in historical research for my book The Amili Migration to Iran in the Safavid Era: Its Political Causes and Cultural Consequences. Then I obtained the State Doctorate (first degree) for my book Jabal Amil between the Two Martyrs. After that I turned to authorship. I published, edited, and disseminated a number of books, all in Shi'i political and cultural history. We will discuss them below. In 2014 I founded in Baalbek the Bahāʾ al-Dīn al-ʿĀmilī Center for Research, Studies and Training, seeking blessing from that great scholar, on the occasion that he was born and lived a few years of his youth in this city. I set before my eyes the goal of training a number of researchers in the principles of scientific research in history and sociology, due to our severe local lack of this type of researchers. We continue to strive for this goal amid immense difficulties arising from the highly turbulent local political-economic situation, asking the Lord, glorified be He, for help and assistance.