Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: K. A. Nizami, Akbar and Religion

(New Delhi: Idarah-i-Adabiyat-i-Delli, 1989); John F. 

Richards,  The Mughal Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge 

University Press, 1993).

Akhbari School

The Akhbari School was an influential branch of 

Shii jurisprudence (

fiqh

) from the 17th century to 

the 19th century in i

ran

,  i

raq

, parts of the Ara-

bian Peninsula, and i

ndia

. Its name comes from 

the Arabic word akhbar, which means “reports” or 

“traditions,” especially traditions about the say-

ings and actions of any of the 12 Shii Imams (holy 

men descended from the house of the prophet 

m

Uhammad

). The Akhbaris, under the leader-

ship of Mulla Muhammad Amin al-Astarabadi (d. 

1623), advocated that the 

sharia

 must be based on 

the authentic traditions of these infallible Imams 

and the q

Uran

. The traditions are found in four 

books, which were assembled in the 10th and 

11th centuries. If there is no reliable or explicit 

tradition from the imams on a legal matter, then 

a ruling about that matter is not valid. The Akh-

baris rejected the U

sUli

  s

chool

 of jurists, who 

placed emphasis on independent legal reasoning 

(

ijtihad

); they did not require explicit reports from