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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Questions On Titles Allamah (knowledgeable in Many Fields of Knowledge) Now what can I say about that! These guys are only trying to go one better than the Ulamas. Slightly more knowledge in a few more fields of knowledge, and hey presto! One is an Allamah. There are unknown number of sciences and branches of knowledge that cannot even be imagined.
Why do these guys think that they are knowledgeable in many fields of knowledge, when the total sum of their knowledge is not even a drop in the ocean? From history, this was first displayed from the School of the Holy Imam Ja'far Al Sadiq (a.s.). Numerous subjects were taught including mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy etc. Try questioning the Allamahs of today on any of these and see for yourself what answers you get.
The Holy Imam (a.s.) only displayed a drop of the knowledge that he (a.s.) had. These Allamahs only have a drop from this drop, and that is all they have. AL KAFI - H 44, Ch.
2, h1 Muhammad ibn al-Hassan has narrated from Ali ibn Muhammad from Sahl ibn Ziyad from Muhammad ibn 'Isa from 'Ubayd Allah al-Dihqan from Durust al Wasiti from Ibrahim ibn 'Abd al-Hamid from abu al-Hassan Musa , recipient of divine supreme covenant, who has said the following: "Once the Holy Prophet, recipient of divine supreme covenant, entered the Mosque and found a group of people gathered around a man. He asked, 'Who is he?' It was said that he was an Allama.
Then he asked, 'What is that?' They replied that he is an expert in genealogy, chronology, and the history of the pre-Islamic days of darkness and poetry of Arabs. The Holy Prophet, recipient of divine supreme covenant, then told them, 'There are only three kinds of Knowledge: A decisive Verse, a justly enjoined obligation or an established tradition. Other than these are only something extra.'" Historically there have been some good Mullahs who have been caught up in this name game.
One such example is the famous Mullah Muhammad Baqir Al Majlisi of the Bihar Ul Anwar fame. The reference of Allamah was allocated to him after his death. This is a very serious trend that has come up recently that all those Sheykhs and Mullahs of old are now being referred to with these titles in the new publications. Sheykh Kulayni, Sheykh Toosi, Sheykh Sadouq etc are now been referred to as Ayatullahs, whereas historically they have always been known simply as Sheykhs.