Religious Developments of Iran under Safavids and the Role of Emigrant Ulamā: a Case Study on Muhaghigh Karakī and Shahīd-e Sani

So far, religious developments of Iran during Safavid period and the role of the emigrant ulamā of Jabal ‘Amil in these developments, has attracted a considerable scholarly attention. But there are still serious controversies on the importance of this emigration. The present paper aims to examine this subject from a rather different point of view, i.e. the role of ‘Amili ulamā in changes of religious discourse of safavid Iran. To come up with this, it draws on two prominent ‘Amili shi’ite scholar, Muhaghigh-e Karakī and Shahid –i Sānī-‘s jurisprudential ideas to re-evaluate the aforementioned change and the emigrant ulamā’s role in this process. It also claims an efficacious role for these emigrant ulamā in shifting the innate character of religious discourse of safavid Iran from a philosophical to a rather jurisprudential one.