Baha al-Din al-Amili

Baha al-Din al-Amili
18th century copy of a miniature depicting Sheikh Baha'i, falsely attributed to Sadiqi Beg. This drawing is presumably a copy of a lost original by Sadiqi Beg
Born18 February 1547
Died1 September 1621(1621-09-01) (aged 74)
TitleSheikh
Academic background
InfluencesNimatullah Wali
Academic work
DisciplineShia Polymath, scholar, poet, philosopher, architect and mathematician
School or traditionIsfahan School
Main interestsMathematics, Architecture, Astronomy, Philosophy and Poetry
Notable worksTashrīḥ Al-Aflāk, Al-Khashkūl, Nān wa ḥalwā
InfluencedHaydar Amuli, Mir Damad, Mulla Sadra, Mohsen Fayz Kashani

Baha al-Din Muhammad ibn Husayn al-Amili (Arabic: بهاء الدين محمد بن عزالدين حسين بن عبد الصمد بن شمس الدين محمد بن حسن العاملي; Persian: بهاءالدین محمد بن عزالدین حسین بن عبدالصمد بن شمس الدین محمد بن حسن بن عاملی جبعی (جباعی); 18 February 1547 – 1 September 1621), also known as Bahāddīn ʿĀmilī, or just Sheikh Bahāʾi (Persian: شیخ بهایی) in Iran, was an originally Lebanese Iranian Shia Islamic scholar, poet, philosopher, architect, mathematician and astronomer, who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries in Safavid Iran. He was born in Baalbek, Ottoman Syria (present-day Lebanon) and immigrated in his childhood to Safavid Iran with the rest of his family. He was one of the earliest astronomers in the Islamic world to suggest the possibility of the Earth's movement prior to the spread of the Copernican theory.

He wrote over 100 treatises and books in different topics, in Arabic and Persian. A number of architectural and engineering designs are attributed to him, but none can be substantiated with sources. He is buried in Imam Reza shrine in Mashad in Iran.