This paper traces a transnational project of identity-formation undertaken by al-Sayyid Muhsin al-Amin al-Hussainy (1865-1952), a prominent Shi’i Scholar from Jabal Amil. He traveled from his hometown to Iraq and Iran in 1933 in order to visit the shrines of Shi’i Imams and find resources for writing his biographical dictionary about distinguished Shi’i figures, titled A’yan al-Shi’a. Shi’a religious scholars are usually seen within a sectarian framework, which assumes the purpose of their activities as being either in opposition to the mainstream (Sunni) Islamic norms or as trying to alleviate the “sectarian tensions” between Shi’is and Sunnis. By closely reading Muhsin al-Amin’s major writings, primarily focusing on A’yan al-Shi’a and his travelogue written during his trips to Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, this paper goes beyond the Shi’i/Sunni binary and sheds light on the social aspect of a seemingly theological “sectarian” effort. The primary question of this research is what Muhsin al-Amin’s writings tell us about the Shi’i experience of identity-formation in the early twentieth century. I first argue that Muhsin al-Amin’s works can be read as a project of knowledge production, which aimed to unify authoritative sources for Shi’i knowledge, thus producing modern rational Shi’i identity. This knowledge production was a response to an institutional threat that Muhsin al-Amin perceived against Shi’a communities in countries with growing nationalist and/or imperialist forces. The second part of my argument is about the details of this knowledge formation project. I discuss the way Muhsin al-Amin chose to present the Shi’is in the biographical dictionary and in the travelogue and I demonstrate how different processes of inclusion and exclusion emerge to help him in placing the Twelver Shi’i as part of the Muslim/Arab world. These rhetorical tools and processes also aided him in distinguishing the Twelver Shi’i community and its beliefs from 1) other non-acceptable Shi’i communities, 2) the wrong accusations historically attributed to them 3) the un-Islamic, baseless, and superstitions or irrational practices that are either harmful or have no use, with which the Twelver Shi’is, often lower class “lay” shi’is, might engage. Along the same line, I show how Muhsin al-Amin’s narration of writing A’yan al-Shi’a stands out as something in contrast to those irrational and useless behavior from which the Sh’i community should be distinguished. Therefore, this paper also demonstrates how making hierarchies between different types of practices and beliefs became a useful tool for preserving a religious community under threat.