Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī (1547–1621)
Born 1547 CE, died 1621 CE.
Baha al-Din al-Amili (Arabic: بهاء الدين العاملي; Persian: بهاءالدین عاملی: 18 February 1547 – 1 September 1621), commonly known as Sheikh Bahāʾī, was a Twelver Shia Muslim scholar and polymath in Safavid Iran, who composed various works in Arabic and Persian. Closely tied to the court of Shah Abbas the Great, he became known for his role in the intellectual sphere of Isfahan and is seen as a leading figure in his field, with seventy-seven scholars counted among his students. An ethnic Arab, he was originally from Jabal Amil (present-day south Lebanon) in Ottoman Syria. During his childhood, his family moved to Iran, where his father Husayn ibn Abd al-Samad became the shaykh al-Islam in Herat under Tahmasp I. He stands out as one of the most influential Arab figures, and figures generally, in shaping the scientific, cultural, urban, and intellectual identity of Safavid Iran. He was the principal planner and architectural mind behind the transformation of Safavid Isfahan, credited with devising the overall spatial logic and ceremonial symbolism of the imperial capital.
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