under al-bahrani, usuli scholarship was considered impure but bahrani was not politically influential, although his student, the famous sheikh al-hurr al-aamili in his book "amal al-amil" writes "he was a mountain and ocean of knowledge, no one from among the previous scholars preceded his knowledge or reached his status". {edit: this seems completely incorrect. the al-bahrani referred to in this quote is referring to sayyid hashim al-bahrani. however this article is relating it to another scholar; the previously mentioned yusuf bahraini, who died nearly a century after sheikh al-hurr aamili} it was muhammad baqir ibn muhammad akmal al-wahid bihbahani who challenged and defeated the akhbaris and eventually became the most politically influential cleric in karbala in 1772. bihbahani's theology was not welcomed by the akhbaris. although this controversy had begun as a minor disagreement on a few points, it eventually grew into a bitter, vituperative dispute culminating in bihbahani's declaration that the akhbārīs were infidels (kuffar). however, the dispute remained purely intellectual.