Akhbari

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History Verse of purification Two things Mubahala Khumm Fatimah's house First Fitna Second Fitna Battle of Karbala Origin Persecution
Branches and sects Twelvers Ja'fari Akhbari Usuli Shaykhi Alawites Zaydi Shi'a Isma'ili Musta'li Tayyibi Alavi Dawoodi Sulaymani Hafizi Nizari Khoja Satpanth Batini Alevism Bektashi Bektashism and folk religion Qizilbash Alians Hurufism Extinct Shi'a sects
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Twelver Shi'ism
The Fourteen Infallibles Muhammad Fatimah The Twelve Imams Ali Hasan Husayn al-Sajjad al-Baqir al-Sadiq al-Kazim ar-Rida al-Taqi al-Naqi al-Askari al-Mahdi
Principles Monotheism Justice Prophethood Imamate Judgement Day
Other beliefs Imamate of the Family Angels Mourning of Muharram Intercession Occultation Wilayat al-Faqih Usul al-fiqh Ijtihad Taqlid Irfan
Practices Salat Sawm Hajj Zakat Khums Jihad Amr bi-l maʿrūf Nahy ani l-Munkar Tawalli Tabarri
Other practices Mourning of Muharram Arba'een Pilgrimage Intercession
Holy cities Mecca Medina Najaf Karbala Mashhad Jerusalem Samarra Kadhimiya Qom
Groups Ja'fari Usuli Akhbari Alevi Shaykhi
Other related sects and groups Alawites Sufism and Alevism Qizilbash Safaviyya Bektashism and folk religion Malamatiyya Qalandariyya Hurufism Bektashism Rifa`i Galibi Ni'matullāhī
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Hadith collections The Four Books Kitab al-Kafi Man La Yahduruhu al-Faqih Tahdhib al-Ahkam Al-Istibsar Other hadith collections Book of Sulaym ibn Qays Bihar al-Anwar Wasā'il al-Shīʿa Reality of Certainty Nahj al-Balagha Mafatih al-Jinan Al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya Al-Amali
Sources of ijtihad and jurisprudence Qur'an Hadiths of The Infallibles Consensus Reason
Related topics List of Twelver Shia books Criticism of Twelver Shi'ism
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The Akhbārīs (Arabic: أخباریون, Persian: اخباریان) are a minority school of Twelver Shia Islam. The term is usually used in contrast to the majority branch of Twelver Shia – the Usuli. Like the Usulis, they follow the Quran and Hadith, but unlike them, Akhbārī rejects the use of reasoning by trained Islamic jurisprudents (faqih) to derive verdicts in Islamic law,^[1] maintaining it is forbidden (haram) to follow the legal rulings of anyone but one of the "Fourteen Infallibles" of Twelver Islam.^[2]

The term Akhbārī comes from khabara'at, news or reports, while Usuli comes from Uṣūl al-fiqh, principles of Islamic jurisprudence. Akhbaris, unlike Usulis, do not accept Usul al-fiqh -- i.e. the attempt to draw up a coherent set of legal principles based on rulings made by the Imams prior to the Occultation (ghayba) of the last Imam, "married with other sources of revelation (such as the Quran)".^[3] Akhbārī also do not follow/imitate (taqleed) the teaching of a mujtahid, specifically a marja‘ (model for imitation) who practice a modern form of ijtihad (independent legal reasoning). Instead, Akhbaris imitate the Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi, (the Twelfth Akhbārī of Shia, who is believed by Shia to be in the Occultation), on the grounds that the Imam is infallible and the marja‘ -- however learned in jurisprudence -- are not.^[4] Knowledge of the religious rulings or Islamic jurisprudence used by Akhbaris is passed down by dead or living Muhaddith who have narrated the rulings hadith of The Fourteen Infallibles without interpreting them. Interpretation of the Quran, and complete in-depth gnostic knowledge (al-rāsikhūn fi al-ʿilm Arabic: الراسخون فی العلم) of revelation from the Imams is also passed down.

As of the twenty-first century, Akhbari form a tiny minority within Shia Islam, with Usulis making up the mainstream majority. Akhbarism started as a movement with the writings of Muhammad Amin al-Astarabadi (d. 1627) and achieved its greatest influence in the late Safavid (1501-1736) and early post-Safavid era. However, shortly thereafter Muhammad Baqir Behbahani (d. 1792), along with other Usuli mujtahids, crushed the Akhbari movement.^[5] Today it is found primarily in the Basra area of southern Iraq (where they form the majority in many districts) although no longer in the city. They are also found in the island nation of Bahrain, Hyderabad, India, Tanzania and different cities of Pakistan^[6] (Karachi, Sehwan, Hyderabad, Lahore, Faisalabad, Chakwaal, and Gojar Khan)^[7] with reportedly "only a handful of Shi'i ulama" remaining Akhbari "to the present day."^[8]