Allama Mohammed Baqir Majlisi was a scion of a very erudite family. His ancestor was Maqsood Ali Majlisi who migrated from Jabl Aamil to Isfahan city in Iran. He had two sons, Mohammed Taqi and Mohammed Sadiq. Both of them received instruction in Islamic Studies from allama Abdallah Shustari. Allama Mohammed Taqi Majlisi, himself an erudite Islamic Scholar, was the father of Allama Mohammed Baqir Majlisi. Al- lama Baqir was born in the year 1037 H (1616 AD). He opened his eyes in a scholarly atmosphere. His two elder brothers, Mulla Azizullah and Mulla Abdallah were scholars of high repute and his sisters too were ladies of high learning. Within no time, the young Mohammed Baqir ac- quired mastery in logic, philosophy, mathematics, hadith, fiqh, literature and Quranic commentary.
Allama Mohammed Baqir Majlisi’s tutors too were of very high re- pute. Among them were Hassan Ali bin Abdallah, Sayed Mohammed Haidar Tabatabai, Mir Mohammed Momin and Allama Muhsin Fa- iz.When the scholarly atmosphere honed his capabilities, Mohammed Baqir commenced his authorship. The work that the erudite scholars did in a millennium, Allama Majlisi achieved in a short span of 77 years. It is a fact that what Allama Mohammed Yaqub kulaini commenced, Allama Majlisi took up capably as a rennaisance to his efforts. Bihar Al Anwaar is Allama Majlisi’s monumental work consisting of 25 volumes. Mirat al Uqool fi Shara al Kaafi is a commentary on authentic and weak hadiths.
Allama Majlisi had hundreds of disciples studying under him. His prominent students were Allama Sayed Nematullah jazairi, Mirza Ab- dallah Effendi, Mulla Abdallah Ardbeli, Mulla Mohammed Fazil, Mulla Mohammed bin Hassan Isfahani and Mulla Mohammed Hussain bin Yahya Noori.
This great luminary of Islamic learning passed away at the age of 77 years in 1111H (1690 A.D.).