Yūsuf ibn ʾAḥmad al-Baḥrānī (1695–1772)[1] (Arabic: يوسف البحراني) was a Bahraini muhaddith, faqīh and a key figure in the intellectual development of Twelver Shia Islam.
Specifically, al-Bahrani was a key figure in the eighteenth century Twelver Shia debates between Akhbaris and Usulis on the nature of ijtihad and jurisprudence.
[3] Al-Bahrani's scholarly influence extended beyond Bahrain through his relocation to Shiraz and Karbala, where he established significant intellectual networks that advanced Twelver Shia jurisprudence and theology.
[4] Fleeing the Omani invasion, al-Bahrani preserved his scholarly legacy and strengthened transnational Shia networks, which influenced later religious and political movements in the region.
[7] Historian Juan Cole summarises al-Bahrani's thought as:al Baḥrānī‘s neo-Akhbārism accepted only two sources for ʾImāmī jurisprudence, the Qurʾān and the oral reports from the ʾImāms.
He did not, however, go so far as to say that no verse in the Qurʾān could be understood without the interpretation of the Imams, a position held by the Safavid-era Akhbāri revivalist Astarābādī which Shaykh Yūsuf denounced as extremist.
[8] It has been proposed by that Yusuf may have found the state-centric Usulism less appealing given the political turmoil he had experienced throughout his life: first as a refugee from his homeland and then again when the Safavids were deposed by Afghan invaders.