assalamu 'alaykum bros and sis' I have copied the extract below from Encyclopedia Iranica In its western written biography of the supposedly twelver Hilli, it mentions the incident of the Ilkhanate empire returning back to Sunni Islam after its brief conversion to shiism. If you also notice, it seems that Hilli's teachers were Sunnis, some had names as 'Omar'. This is not early times, it is the 1200s when shi'a hated to have the name 'Omar'. Nasiruddin Tusi was an ismaili, and I know that Ibn Batuta called the Bahrain region full of 'extremist rafidis' by which he meant the ismailis. Hilli had a teacher from there too. Ḥelli came from a well-established family of Shiʿite scholars. His father, Sadid-al-Din Yusof Moṭahhar (d. after 665/1267), was a respected jurisconsult and a leading figure in the local Shiʿite community. His mother was a descendant of the Banu Saʿid. His older brother, Rażi-al-Din ʿAli, also a scholar, died before him (Baḥ-rāni, p. 266; Ḵᵛānsāri, IV, pp. 344-45; al-Ḏariʿa I, p. 223; XV, p. 232). His sister was married to Majd-al-Din Fawāres (Baḥrāni, pp. 199-200); and two of their sons, ʿAmid-al-Din ʿAbd-Allāh Aʿraji Ḥosayni (681-754/1282-83-1353) and Żiāʾ-al-Din (683–after 740/1284-85–after 1339-40), became his students. Ḥelli’s son, Faḵr-al-Moḥaqqeqin (682-771/1283-1369), an outstanding scholar with a number of independent works, accompanied him throughout his life and wrote commentaries on some of his father’s works (Baḥrāni, pp. 190-94; Efendi, V, pp. 77 ff.; Ḵᵛānsāri, VI, pp. 330 ff.; Brockelmann, GAL II, p. 212; S II, p. 209; al-Ḏariʿa XIII, p. 169; XIV, p. 163; XVII, p. 250; Modarressi, pp. 76, 103, 119, 152, 163). Ḥelli began his studies in his hometown of Ḥella with his father, his maternal uncle, Moḥaqqeq-e Awwal, the brothers Jamāl-al-Din b. Ṭāwus (d. 673/1274) and Rażi-al-Din b. Ṭāwus (d. 664/1266), Mofid-al-Din Moḥammad b. Jahm (d. 680/1281-82), and Najib-al-Din Yaḥyā b. Yaḥyā b. Saʿid Huḏali (d. 689/1290 or 690/1291). As a young man, he spent some time at the Marāḡa observatory, founded by Naṣir-al-Din Ṭusi (d. 672/1274) in 657/1258-59 during the reign of the Ilkhan Hulāgu (q.v.). Here he read the Elāhiyāt section of the Šefāʾ by Ebn Sinā under the supervision of Ṭusi; and he studied with Najm-al-Din ʿAli b. ʿOmar Kātebi Qazwini (d. 675/1277), who introduced him to the works of Faḵr-al-Din Rāzi (d. 606/1209), Aṯir-al-Din Mofażżal b. ʿOmar Abhari (d. 663/1264), and Moḥammad b. Nāmāwar b. ʿAbd-al-Malek Ḵunji (d. 646/1248). Ḥelli also studied with the Shiʿite theologian, Kamāl-al-Din Mayṯam b. ʿAli Baḥrāni (d. after 681/1282-83). Having left the Marāḡa observatory for Baghdad, Ḥelli met the sufi Šams-al-Din Mo-ḥammad b. Moḥammad b. Aḥmad Kiši (d. 695/1296), who probably introduced him to the mysticism of Ebn al-ʿArabi (q.v.; d. 638/1240). In Baghdad, Ḥelli studied further with Borhān-al-Din Moḥammad b. Moḥammad Nasafi (d. 687/1288), Jamāl-al-Din b. Āyāz Naḥwi (d. 681/1282-83), Taqi-al-Din ʿAbd-Allāh b. Jaʿfar b. ʿAli Ṣabbāḡ Kufi, and ʿEzz-al-Din Abu’l-ʿAbbās b. Ebrāhim b. ʿOmar Fāruṯi Wāseṭi (d. 694/1292-93). Ḥelli stayed from around 709/1309-10 to 714/1314-15, or perhaps 716/1316-17, at the court of the Ilkhan Oljay-tu. The sources vary about Ḥelli’s role in connection with Oljaytu’s conversion to Shiʿism in Šaʿbān 709/January-February 1310. Some biographical accounts attribute it to his influence, and offer differing versions of how he attracted the Ilkhan’s attention (Efendi, I, p. 361; Ḵᵛān-sāri, II, pp. 279 ff.; Aʿyān al-šiʿa XXIV, pp. 231 ff.; Ebn Baṭṭuṭa, II, p. 57; Ebn Kaṯir, XIV, p. 77). The historical sources of the period do not confirm these reports (Ḥāfeẓ-e Abru, p. 101; Mostawfi Qazwini, p. 608; see also ʿAzzāwi, I, p. 409; Parvisi-Berger, pp. 81 ff.). However, as there are strong indications that Ḥelli arrived at the court before the conversion (Majlesi, CVII, p. 142; Rašid-al-Din, 1978, p. 75), it seems likely that he had some influence on Oljaytu’s conversion. During their stay at court, Ḥelli and his son were frequently engaged in theological discussions with other scholars (van Ess, 1981, p. 44; Āmoli, II, p. 259). The Shiʿite biographical accounts of Ḥelli portray his superiority in this kind of debate over his Sunnite opponents (Šuštari, I, pp. 571-72; Ḥāfeẓ-e Abru, pp. 101 ff.). Ḥelli was on good terms with the vizier Rašid-al-Din (d. 718/1318), and his name appears on a list of proposed recipients of presents from Rašid-al-Din written in 712/1312-13 (Rašid-al-Din, 1364/1945, p. 61; van Ess, 1978, p. 267). His name also occurs several times in the lists of scholars with whom the vizier held discussions or exchanged letters (van Ess, 1981, p. 47). On one occasion, Ḥelli himself addressed Rašid-al-Din with two questions that he recorded, together with Rašid-al-Din’s answers (“Resāla fi soʾālayn saʾala ʿan-homā Ḵᵛāja Rašid-al-Din,” pp. 106-17). Ḥelli was also highly regarded by Oljaytu as a scholar. He frequently held conversations with Ḥelli who introduced him to Shiʿite theological dogmatics. Moreover, he appointed Ḥelli as a teacher in the mobile school, the madrasa sayyāra, which accompanied the Ilkhan wherever he went (Ḵᵛānsāri, II, p. 281). On several occasions, Oljaytu addressed a specific question to Ḥelli, who then responded with a treatise (van Ess, 1981, p. 42; Parvisi-Berger, pp. 93-96). There is no definite information on the date of Ḥelli’s departure from court. According to some sources, he and his son received permission to return to Ḥella during the lifetime of Oljaytu (Ḥāfeẓ-e Abru, p. 103). This agrees with reports that the Ilkhan rejoined Sunnite Islam during his lifetime (Ebn Baṭṭuṭa, II, pp. 58-61). According to other sources, however, it was only in the reign of his son, Abu Saʿid, that the Ilkhanate returned to Sunnite Islam (ʿAzzāwi, I, p. 409; Ebn Kaṯir, XIV, p. 77). There is firm evidence that Ḥelli and his son stayed in Solṭāniya during the first half of the year 715/1315 (al-Ḏariʿa XXI, p. 237). At some time between 3 Jomādā I 715/5 August 1315 and 14 Moḥarram 716/8 April 1316, Ḥelli apparently left Solṭāniya for Ḥella (Schmidtke, 1991, p. 32). It is not clear how long he stayed there; but for a while he must have returned to Solṭā-niya, where he is known to have been on 26 Jomādā I 716/16 August 1316, four months before the death of Oljaytu on 27 Ramażān 716/13 December 1316 (Schmidtke, 1991, p. 32). Ḥelli’s last years were spent teaching in Ḥella.
