Narrators
Al-Rabbat’s Defense of Abū Hurayrah: Eloquent yet Unconvincing
In his rather long-winded presentation on the reliability of Abū Hurayrah, Abdullah Al-Rabbat tries to prove that he was a great companion and an unimpugnable source of Prophetic traditions who can undoubtedly be relied upon. The presentation (which can be seen in this youtube video) lasts just under four hours, and addresses some of the … Continue reading
The General Attestation of Reliability (al-tawthiq al-‘am) of the Banu Faddal
In his Kitāb al-Ghaybah, Shaykh al-Ṭūsī quotes a narration from one of the special deputies of the 12th Imam, al-Ḥusayn ibn Rūḥ, in which he says that the 12th Imām was asked about the books of Ibn Abī al-Ghazāqir after he had been censured and a malediction had been pronounced against him. The Imām (‘a) … Continue reading
Reconstructing the person of Ibn Shu‘ba al-Harrani
The author of the famous fourth century hadith compilation Tuḥaf al-‘Uqūl, Abu Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn ‘Ali ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Shu‘ba al-Ḥarrāni is an individual whose character remains elusive because nothing has been said about him in the early works of rijāl. Though more recent scholars have mentioned him with praise, the late Sayyid al-Khui (r) … Continue reading
