Ahmad b. Mahdi Naraqi

Name: Ahmad b. Mahdi Naraqi 

Date and Place of Birth: 1771, Naraq, central Iran
Date of Death: 9281 

Education: 

Naraqi grew up in a family of eruditeness, knowledge, and letters.  He received his early and (most of his) further education in his hometown under his knowledgeable father, Mullah Mahdi Naraqi (d. 5971) who was considered as the greatest scholar of that territory. 

To complete his education he traveled to Najaf and Karbala, Iraq. 

When his father died in 4971, Mullah Ahmad came back to his hometown and undertook the responsibility of the religious authority of the Shiite community. 

He died in 9281 but his corpse was transferred to Najaf and was buried in the vicinity of Imam Ali's holy shrine. 

Teachers: 

Naraqi studied, in addition to his father, under Sayyid Mahdi Bahr al`Uloum (d. 8971), Shaykh Ja`far Kashif al-Ghita' (d. 3181) in Najaf; and Sayyid Mirza Mahdi Shahrestani (d. 1081) and Aqa Muhammad Baqir Wahid Behbahani (d. 3971) in Karbala. 

Students: Naraqi had many students; the most outstanding of them was Shaykh Murtada Ansari (d. 4681)

 Writings:

Naraqi has compiled more than twenty books in various subjects such as Islamic jurisprudence and its principles, ethics, astronomy, mathematics, theology and preaching. He was also interested in composing Farsi poems and used Safayee as his nickname. The following are some of his writings: 

• Awa'id al-Ayyam (on Islamic jurisprudence)
• Miftah al-Ahkam (on the principles of jurisprudence)
• Mi`raj al-Sa`adah (on ethics) 
• Sharh Kitab al-Hisab (on arithmetic) 
• Mathnawi Taqdis (a Farsi poem)