However...
However, it is not surprising because there are instances of people mastering the religious sciences even at the age of as young as four years. An example is of Shaykh Taqiuddin Hasan ibn Dawood, a friend and classmate of Sayyid Ghayasuddin (Abdul Karim) Ibn Tawus, who had become needless of a teacher at the age of four. It is narrated from Ibrahim ibn Saeed Jauhari that he saw a four-year child being brought in arms to the court of caliph Mamun the Abbaside.
The child recited the Holy Quran and spoke about religious topics, and as his age demanded when he felt hungry he began to cry like ordinary children. Ibn Sina has also testified to this episode.
The famous jurist and intellectual Muhammad ibn Hasan Isfahani, known by the title of Fazil-e-Hindi writes in the beginning of Kashful Itham, which is a commentary on Allamah Hilli’s Qawaid quoting the words of Fakhrul Muhaqqiqin that, “It is possible that many people may be surprised how a ten-year-old lad could reach the level of jurisprudence. But I know that he was born in 682 A.H. and his father wrote in 692 or 693 A.H.
that Fakhrul Muhaqqiqin has at the age of ten already crossed the last step of Ijtihad. Then he writes that it is the grace of Allah. He bestows it to whomsoever He wishes; nothing is beyond His power. However, the most noteworthy point is that Allamah Hilli addresses Fakhrul Muhaqqiqin and says, “O my son! I have written in detail for you in this book all the Islamic laws and religious verdicts.” Thus in other words the text of this book is also very eloquent and very unambiguous.
As we have mentioned above, Fakhrul Muhaqqiqin accomplished the lofty levels of an intellectual and scholarly qualities while in his youth. The father and son were unique in their level of intellectual merits. When they reached Hilla from Iran they again focused their attention on the completion of their writings and immersed themselves in teaching and training students who went out to become famous scholars whose fame still endures in the world of knowledge.