Jamal al-Din Abu Mansur Hasan b. Yusuf b. Mutahhar al-Halabi al-Iraqi al-Shiʿi. He was the shaykh of the Rafidah in those regions. He studied knowledge in Baghdad and other towns. He took lessons from Nasir al-Tusi and others. He has numerous musannaf (authored) works. It is said that the number of his works is fifty-five, amounting to 120 volumes, some of which pertain to fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), some to nahw (grammar), some to usul (principles), some to philosophy, some to Rafidism, and some to other sciences. Some of his works are large, others small. Among his students, his most famous work is the commentary on Ibn Hajib concerning usul al-fiqh, which in fact is not such an important work. Ibn Mutahhar also has a two-volume work on usul al-fiqh, which can be considered good; this work contains many transmitted and sound rational proofs. The work Minhaj al-Istiqamah, concerning the proof of the imamate, is also his.
In this work, he confused rational and transmitted proofs. He did not know how to direct himself to the goal after deviating from the straight path. Shaykh al-Islam, the Imam, the scholar Taqi al-Din Abu al-Abbas Ibn Taymiyya wrote a refutation against him spanning several volumes, in which he presented excellent and sound proofs that stunned minds and dazzled eyes. This refutation is filled with immense knowledge. Ibn Mutahhar, whose morals were not pure and who was not cleansed from the impurities of Rafidism, was born on the night of Friday, the 27th of Ramadan in the year 648 AH and died on the night of Friday, the 20th of Muharram of the same year. Since he was a Rafidi, he gained status with the Tatar Ham Harbenda. Harbenda also granted him many towns as iqtaʿ (land grants).
Katib Shams Muhammad b. Asad al-Harrani
He was known by the name Najjar. He used to sit in the Kiliqiye Madrasa for people to learn writing from him. He died in the month of Rabiʿ al-Akhir of this year and was buried in the Bab al-Saghir Cemetery of Damascus.