Opposition to the Shia Legal Theory

Gleave stated that the work by Allamah Hilli (d. 1325)

• Made mujtahid’s opinions more authoritative
• Inspired many new textbooks on legal theory (e.g Ma’alim al-Deen)
• Used to train Shii scholars
• Subjected to extensive commentaries

The earliest opposition to Allamah Hilli legal theory was not very significant. The most significant Akhbari’s resistant/response to Shia Usul al-Fiqh was done by Mullah Muhammad Amin al-Astarabadi (d.1627, Iranian theologian and founder/proponent of Shia Akhbarism).

A few doubts on the origin/beginning of Akhbarism was presented, i.e.,

• No standard usage of the term Akhbari or a set of doctrines attributed to Akhbarism before Mullah al-Astarabadi
• Classical Shia or even the Sunni literature do not mention a definable group called the Akhbariya

And then Gleave said
No scholars are ever named as being members of the early Akhbariyya until much later (and such references are clearly back projections), and no distinctive doctrines are explicitly assigned to the group. In short, I argue that the Akhbari are best seen as starting with Muhammad Amin al-Astarabadi.