Bihar al-Anwar

Posted on March 12, 2014 by editor

Biḥār al-Anwār al-Jāmiʿatu li Durari Akhbāri al-Aʾimmat al-Aṭhār (Oceans of light: A Compendium of the Exalted Traditions of the Pure Imāms) by ʿAllāmah Muḥammad al-Bāqir ibn Muḥammad al-Taqī al-Majlisī (d. 1111 A.H.) is an encyclopedic compilation of aḥādīth. This work, which occupied al-Majlisī for most of his scholarly life, grew from a more modest work known as Fihrist Biḥār al-Anwār (or Fihrist Muṣannafāt al-Asḥāb) which was published in 1070 A.H. and consists of a table of contents that corresponds roughly to that of the final version as well as traditions taken from ten early works, six of which are by Shaykh al-Ṣadūq. A few years later, al-Majlisī began collecting practically the entire corpus of Imāmī ḥadīth. In his introduction to Biḥār, he describes his aim of collecting the available ḥadīth literature, including texts thought to be lost, and arranging its contents subject-wise.

al-Majlisī was able to draw on the help of such luminaries as Niʿmatullāh Jazāʾirī (d. 1112) and Mīrzā ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿĪsā Afandī (d. between 1130 and 1140 A.H.), both of whom were among his pupils. He would occasionally also obtain financial assistance from the Safavid court, as when attempting (unsuccessfully) to obtain Shaykh al-Ṣadūq’s manuscript of Madīnat al-ʿIlm from Yemen. He would often have scribes do the actual copying of passages, though he also wrote a considerable portion of the text himself.

al-Majlisī did not live to see the Biḥār through to completion. At his death, he left only preliminary drafts of the later volumes. Particularly noticeable is the absence of his explicatory comments from these drafts. Instead, we find occasional brief notes, probably written by his pupil and grandson Muḥammad Ḥusayn Khātūnābādī (d. 1151 A.H.), whose Ḥadāʾiq al-Muqarrabīn is one of the earliest sources on the history of the Biḥār. One of the first scholars to take note of the Biḥār was al-Majlisī’s contemporary Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī (d. 1104 A.H.).

The first complete edition of Biḥār, dedicated to Nāṣir al-Dīn Shāh and to his son and successor Muẓaffar al-Dīn, was lithographed in Tehrān and Tabrīz between 1303 and 1315 A.H. A useful index entitled Safīnat al-Biḥār wa Madīnat al-Ḥikam wal-Āthār was compiled by Shaykh ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad Riḍā al-Qummī (d. 1359 A.H.), who also included in it some traditions not found in the Biḥār itself. A supplement (mustadrak) to the Safīna was written by ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Shāhrūdī. Of its projected 110 volumes, three (54-56) are taken up by an index.

It is noteworthy that al-Majlisī himself made use of the Biḥār in his Persian works, some of which are abridged or extracted from volumes of his magnum opus. In his introduction to Ḥayāt al-Qulūb, for example, al-Majlisī speaks of the need to make the material in the Biḥār accessible to those with no knowledge of Arabic. Indeed, the three volumes of the Ḥayāt are abridged Persian translations of such material.

Biḥār al-Anwār reflects the accumulated knowledge of a millennium of Shiʿī ḥadīth scholarship, and covers most aspects of Imamī religious thought such as: the concept of knowledge (ʿilm); tawḥīd and the divine attributes; free will and predestination, death and the after-life; arguments (iḥtijājāt), mainly of the Imāms (a); stories of the Prophets; biographies of the Prophet and his forebears; biographies of Fāṭima and the first eleven Imams; the twelfth Imam and issues related to his occultation and many other important subjects.

While most of the works on which al-Majlisī drew are available today in printed editions, some are still known chiefly through quotations in the Biḥār. al-Majlisī always identifies the source of each passage in his work, whether it was written by himself or copied from an earlier authority. Although al-Majlisī tried to be comprehensive, there are some texts which he was able to use only partially or not at all, as he had obtained them while the work was already in progress. He intended to incorporate the missing material in a supplement (to be entitled Mustadrak al-Biḥār), but he did not live to write it. Furthermore, in conformity with his stated views, al-Majlisī refrained from using texts with a Sufi or a philosophical bias, thus excluding from the Biḥār a major component of the Shiʿī literary tradition. He did however, cite Sunni sources for lexicographical or polemical purposes.

Historically, the earliest texts incorporated in the Biḥār go back to the pre-ghayba period (before 260 A.H.). Some consists of works written during the Lesser Occultation (260-329 A.H.) and the Buyid period. Particularly prominent are works by Shaykh al-Ṣadūq (d. 381 A.H.), Shaykh al-Mufīd (d. 413 A.H.), Sharīf Murtaḍā ʿAlam al-Hudā (d. 436 A.H.), and Shaykh al- Ṭūsī (d. 460 A.H.). The later ʿAbbasid period is represented by works of Ibn Shahrāshūb (d. 588 A.H.), Ibn Ṭāwūs (d. 664 A.H.), and others; while the period between the fall of Baghdad (in 656 A.H.) and the beginning of the 10th century, includes compositions by such masters as the ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī (d. 726 A.H.) and al-Shahīd al-Awwal (d. 786 A.H.). Finally, al-Majlisī also incorporated works written in the Safavid period by (among others) al-Shahīd al-Thānī (d. 965 A.H.) and Shaykh Bahāʾī (d. 1030 A.H.).

The Biḥār contains commentaries on the Koran, such as the tafsīrs of Furāt ibn Ibrāhīm (d. 300 A.H.), ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm al-Qummī (d. 307 A.H.), al-ʿAyyāshī (d. 320 A.H.), and the Majmaʿ al-Bayān of al-Ṭabarsī (d. 548 A.H.); biographies of the Imāms, such as the Irshād of Shaykh Mufīd and the Iʿlām al-Warā of al-Ṭabarsī; doctrinal and theological works expounding the major tenets of Imamī Shiʿism; legal texts; polemical writings; supererogatory prayers and supplications; collections of sayings and anecdotes. Most of this material consists of traditions from the Prophet and the Imāms, the significance of which was greatly enhanced by the growing influence of the Akhbārīs in the 11th century; and al-Majlisī, though not a declared Akhbārī, was in sympathy with some of their beliefs.

Being a compilation, the Biḥār does not present a uniform view on all issues; it contains both moderate and radical traditions. al-Majlisī was aware of various contradictions and inconsistencies, and on occasion attempted to resolve them. The radical traditions in the Biḥār are concerned with three major issues: (1) The integrity of the Qurʾān: certain phrases in the Qurʾān referring to ʿAlī’s rights are said to have been deliberately excised. (2) The status of the Prophet’s companions (ṣaḥāba). (3) The position of the imams: they are said to have possessed knowledge of the unseen (ghayb) and to have performed miracles.

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Which work did Shaykh al-Tusi write first – his Rijal or his Fihrist?

Posted on February 18, 2013 by editor

This is an interesting question and quite relevant to the understanding of the differences that are found in these two works of al-Shaykh. Many scholars think that the Fihrist was written before the Rijāl because: (a) Shaykh al- Ṭūsī refers to his Fihrist in his Rijāl 1 (b)He also asks the reader to look for more details in his forthcoming work al-Rijāl 2

There are some discrepancies between these two biographical works and it can be noted that at times al-Ṭūsī praises an individual in one of his works and dispraises him in the other. For this reason, some scholars have surmised that this indicates a change in Shaykh’s opinion about certain individuals. 3 Sayyid al-Khū’ī also says that the Rijāl was written after the Fihrist but does not draw the same conclusion (about his opinion changing) from this. 4

Other scholars have raised an objection to this conclusion and have presented two proofs against it: (a) In his Fihrist, in his autobiographical entry, Shaykh al-Ṭūsī mentions that he has written a biographical work about the narrators i.e. his Rijāl. How could he have mentioned this if his Rijāl was written after his Fihrist? (b) In the Fihrist, in his biographical entry for al-Sayyid al-Murtaḍā, he mentions the date of his death 5 whereas in his Rijāl, he prays for his long life. 6

Because of these apparent contradictions, a third possibility has been proposed and that is: Shaykh al-Ṭūsī wrote these two works simultaneously. This would explain the corresponding references and would solve the apparent contradictions. So for example, in the case of Zurārah’s biography, he wrote it in the Fihrist first and asked the reader to look for more details in his Rijāl, and in the case of ‘Allāmah ‘Alam al-Hudā, he wrote his biography in the Rijāl first and then in the Fihrist, hence his mentioning the date of his demise.

Notes:

  1. He has used the phrase ‘dhakarnāhu or dhakarnāhā fi al-Fihrist more than once in his Rijāl e.g. on pages 442, 450, 451, 452, 456 ↩
  2. For example in the case of Zurārah’s biography on page 134 of the Fihrist, he says that ‘we will mention these narration in the book of Rijāl God-willing.’ ↩
  3. Buḥūth fi Fiqh al-Rijāl, ‘Allamah al-Fāni, p. 175 ↩
  4. Mu‘jam Rijāl al-Ḥadīth vol. 9 p. 357 ↩
  5. al-Fihrist p.98 ↩
  6. Rijāl al-Ṭūsī p.458 ↩
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The General Attestation of Reliability (al-tawthiq al-‘am) of the Banu Faddal

Posted on January 31, 2013 by editor

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) replied: I say of them exactly what [my father] said about the books of Banī Faḍḍāl when asked about them. He (‘a) said: Take what they narrate and abandon what they interpret (khudhū mā rawau wa dharū mā ra’aw). 1

What is worthy of note about this narration is that no other erstwhile narrator or scholar has mentioned it and only during the twelfth century A.H. was it once again quoted by the likes of Ḥurr al-‘Āmilī and al-Majlisī – and that too, from al-Ṭūsī’s Kitāb al-Ghaybah. Some later scholars have understood this narration to mean that whatever is narrated by way of the Banū Faḍḍāl should be “taken” i.e. deemed authentic and accepted, regardless of whom they narrate from or even if their chains are incomplete (mursal). The first person to use this reasoning in the field of the Principles of Jurisprudence (uṣūl al-fiqh) was Muḥaqqiq Narāqi, and in the field of Jurisprudence (fiqh) it was most likely Muḥammad Ḥasan al-Najafī (ṣāḥib Jawāhir) who first employed this reasoning. Worthy of note, however, is that both these scholars were late, and for centuries, no other scholar had interpreted this narration in such a manner.

Upon examination of this narration, we find that there are a number of problems with it. Firstly, it has a weak chain or narrators because ‘Abdullāh al-Kūfī, who is one of its narrators, is unknown (majhūl). 2 Secondly, since this narration has not been mentioned in any other source, it is deemed to be from the munfaridāt of Shaykh al-Ṭūsī. Surprisingly, even Shaykh al-Ṭūsī does not mention this narration in any other of his works. Furthermore, the fact that none of the books of fihrist mention this narration even when discussing the works of the Banū Faḍḍāl is even more reason to question its authenticity, since this is what these works were written for in the first place. The narration itself seems dubious since the comparison made between Ibn Abī al-Ghazāqir and the Banū Faḍḍāl does not add up. The former was cursed while the latter were not; and the questioners about the former were his contemporaries whereas those who asked about the Banū Faḍḍāl lived decades after them.

Among the later scholars, those who interpreted this narration as being an injunction that obligates us to accept what comes from the Banū Faḍḍāl in the way of traditions, included Muḥaddith al-Nūrī and Shaykh al-Anṣārī. Sayyid al-Khūi argues that the Banū Faḍḍāl were not superior in status to some of the greatest companions like Zurārah and Muḥammad ibn Muslim, yet we do not accept narrations from the latter group if they contain weak or unknown narrators, so how can we accept such narrations from the former? Further, he says that before they deviated from the madhhab, their narrations were only accepted when they narrated from reliable people, so how can it be that after they deviated from our school of thought we should take all their narrations regardless of whom they narrate from? 3 Sayyid al-Khumayni says that if we reject the narrations of Banū Faḍḍāl because they narrated from weak narrators, our rejection is not of the Banī Faḍḍāl, but rather of the weak narrators they have narrated from. 4

In conclusion, we note that even if we were to accept this narration, its correct interpretation would not result in the wholesale acceptance of what the Banū Faḍḍāl have narrated. Rather, we would accept what they have narrated from reliable narrators. The only thing that we can then take from this narration is the permission to accept the narrations of the Banū Faḍḍāl (who had deviated from the right aqīdah) as long as their narrations meet all the necessary requirements. And Allāh knows best.

Notes:

  1. Kitāb al-Ghaybah p. 389 ḥ. 355 ↩
  2. Mu‘jam Rijāl al-Ḥadīth vol. 1 p. 67 ↩
  3. Kitāb as-Ṣalāh vol. 1 p. 150-152 ↩
  4. al-Khalal fi as-Salāh p. 81 ↩
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The “difficult” narrations of the Ahl al-Bayt (‘a)

Posted on January 23, 2013 by editor

Kulayni reports the following in al-Kafi (vol. 1 p. 401)

قَالَ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ ع قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ص إِنَّ حَدِيثَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ صَعْبٌ مُسْتَصْعَبٌ لَا يُؤْمِنُ بِهِ إِلَّا مَلَكٌ مُقَرَّبٌ أَوْ نَبِيٌّ مُرْسَلٌ أَوْ عَبْدٌ امْتَحَنَ اللَّهُ قَلْبَهُ لِلْإِيمَانِ فَمَا وَرَدَ عَلَيْكُمْ مِنْ حَدِيثِ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ ص فَلَانَتْ لَهُ قُلُوبُكُمْ وَ عَرَفْتُمُوهُ فَاقْبَلُوهُ وَ مَا اشْمَأَزَّتْ مِنْهُ قُلُوبُكُمْ وَ أَنْكَرْتُمُوهُ فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَ إِلَى الرَّسُولِ وَ إِلَى الْعَالِمِ مِنْ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ إِنَّمَا الْهَالِكُ أَنْ يُحَدِّثَ أَحَدُكُمْ بِشَيْ‏ءٍ مِنْهُ لَا يَحْتَمِلُهُ فَيَقُولَ وَ اللَّهِ مَا كَانَ هَذَا وَ اللَّهِ مَا كَانَ هَذَا وَ الْإِنْكَارُ هُوَ الْكُفْرُ

Note that this narration, like many other similar narrations contains the phrase ṣa’bun mustaṣ‘ab which can be translated as difficult and hard to bear. In the above ḥadīth, we are told that the ‘narrations’ of Ahl al-Bayt are difficult to bear except for three categories, namely: the archangels, the messengers and the believers whose hearts have been tested for faith. So if you hear something from the Ahl al-Bayt (‘a) and it appeals to you, accept it and if it evokes a sense of distaste and you doubt it, then leave it to Allah and the Prophet for indeed it is wrong for anyone to deny something that they have no understanding of.

Scholars have interpreted the term ḥadīthanā in three ways:

1)      Some have taken the pronoun in ḥadīthanā to be an iḍāfah lāmiyyah meaning “our speech” or “our traditions” and as such the way they interprete this narration is that it is difficult to ‘understand’ the traditions of the Ahl al-Bayt (‘a) except for the three categories that have been mentioned.

2)      Others have taken the pronoun to be iḍāfah ẓarfiyyah meaning “speech pertaining to us” or “traditions about us” and have thus interpreted the narration to mean that it is difficult to ‘bear’ the traditions that mention the numerous virtues (faḍā’il) of the Ahl al-Bayt (‘a) except for the three groups that have been mentioned.

3)      Yet other scholars have interpreted the word ḥadīthanā to mean the wilāyah of the Ahl al-Bayt (‘a).

In order to understand this narration and arrive at its correct interpretation, we need to look at other narrations that are similar and this will give us a better idea of what meant by this ḥadīth. For example, two similar narrations are as follows:

a)      In Nahj al-Balāgha, Amīr al-Mu’minīn (‘a) says:

إِنَّ أَمْرَنَا صَعْبٌ مُسْتَصْعَبٌ لَا يَحْمِلُهُ إِلَّا عَبْدٌ مُؤْمِنٌ امْتَحَنَ اللَّهُ قَلْبَهُ لِلْإِيمَانِ وَ لَا يَعِي حَدِيثَنَا إِلَّا صُدُورٌ أَمِينَةٌ وَ أَحْلَامٌ رَزِينَةٌ

 

b)      In Baṣā’ir al-Darajāt there is a narration in which Imām al-Bāqir (‘a) says:

عَنْ أَبِي بَصِيرٍ قَالَ قَالَ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ ع إِنَّ أَمْرَنَا صَعْبٌ مُسْتَصْعَبٌ عَلَى الْكَافِرِ لَا يُقِرُّ بِأَمْرِنَا إِلَّا نَبِيٌّ مُرْسَلٌ أَوْ مَلَكٌ مُقَرَّبٌ أَوْ عَبْدٌ مُؤْمِنٌ امْتَحَنَ اللَّهُ قَلْبَهُ لِلْإِيمَانِ

 

What we notice from these two similar narrations is that the word amranā has been used in place of ḥadīthanā in some and this gives the impression that the second or third interpretation mentioned above is correct. In the second narration (from Baṣā’ir al-Darajāt) we notice an addition i.e. …‘alā al-Kāfir, Lā yuqirru bihi illā… meaning that the affair or narration(s) about the Ahl al-Bayt (‘a) are difficult to bear for the disbelievers (not difficult to understand, because there is no difference between a believer and a disbeliever as far as the faculties of intelligence and understanding is concerned), and none but the three groups testify to it.

In conclusion therefore, we see that this narration is not talking about the aḥādīth of the Ahl al-Bayt (‘a) being difficult to understand. Rather, it is their virtues, the foremost of them being their wilāyah and divinely given authority, that are difficult for people to bear.

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Reconstructing the person of Ibn Shu‘ba al-Harrani

Posted on January 15, 2013 by editor

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) says that the opinions of later scholars are to be considered as their own ijtihād and are of little value if nothing has been mentioned by the earlier scholars of rijāl. 1 As such, attempts have been made to try and reconstruct the character of Ibn Shu‘ba from the contents of his famous compilation Tuḥaf al-‘Uqūl.

For example, one phrase that is found in Tuḥaf al-‘Uqūl is al-shī‘ah al-mustabīrīn [p. 490] which is an uncommon phrase and some theories have been put forward and debated in relation to what this could mean and how it may relate to the beliefs of Ibn Shu‘ba. Specifically, whether or not by this phrase Ibn Shu‘ba was actually hinting against the Muqaṣṣirah among the Shī‘ah. 2 Another interesting claim that has been made is that because Ibn Shu‘ba has included the testament (waṣiyya) of Mufaḍḍal ibn ‘Umar al-Ju‘fī al-Kūfī in his compilation, he must have been a Nuṣayri.

Some later scholars such as Shaykh Husayn al-Baḥrāni (in his work on ethics al-Ṭarīq ila Allāh) have evinced that he was one of the teachers of Shaykh al-Mufīd because of the fact that the latter has narrated some traditions from him. However, Shaykh Muḥsin Amīn says that even though Shaykh al-Mufīd has narrated from him, this is not sufficient to prove that he was one of Ibn Shu‘ba’s students. 3 Due to the dearth of information about al-Ḥarrāni, many things have been speculated about him and the above are some of the more well known examples. Whether he was the actual compiler of Tuḥaf al-‘Uqūl and al-Tamḥīṣ (the other work that has been attributed to him) has also been questioned.

What is fascinating to note is that attempts have been made to reconstruct the person of Ibn Shu‘ba through the contents of his work and to deduce what his beliefs were etc. This is not something new and can be seen in the cases of other authors and compilers as well. But, when biographical information is available in the sources, it is taken to be the sole source of information about the individuals, and scholars do not normally use the same methods of reconstruction to try and check whether the biographical information tallies with the contents of the works of these individuals. This type of analysis could yield some interesting results and might give us a sense of how accurate these biographies are in the first place.

Notes:

  1. Mu‘jamu Rijāl al-Ḥadīth wa Tafṣīlu Ṭabaqāt al-Ruwāt vol. 1 p. 42 ↩
  2. Ali Akbar Shayestenijād, Jayegāhe Tuḥaf al-‘Uqūl dar Manābi Riwāiye Shī’eh, Ulume Hadith 16 issue 1 & 2, p.249 ↩
  3. A‘yān al-Shī‘ah vol. 5 p. 185 ↩
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Rijal al-Barqi

Posted on May 7, 2012 by editor

This book is also known as Tabaqāt al-Rijāl. Its author believed to be Abu Ja‘far Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khālid al-Barqi (d. 275 or 280 AH) who was one of the great narrators of hadith in the third century after Hijra and was one of the companions of the Imams (‘a). Ahmad ibn Muhammad authored more than 100 books before his death, including the important work al-Mahāsin.

This work is one of the important Rijāl texts. It has been arranged according to the tiers (tabaqāt) of the narrators, beginning with the companions of the Prophet (s) followed by the companions of Amīr al-Mu’minīn (‘a) and then the companions of each of the other ten Imams – up to Imam Hasan al-‘Askari (‘a), and finally listing the women who have narrated traditions from the Prophet (s) and Imams (‘a). The book ends with the names of those who stood up against Abu Bakr for usurping the Caliphate and records their statements against him.

In every section, al-Barqi begins by listing those companions who were also companions of the previous Imams and then proceeds to name those individuals who were companions of only that particular Imam. The entire book, which is made up of some 66 pages in the edition printed by the University of Tehran (2004), contains a list of 1730 narrators but does not discuss the reliability of the narrators.

There has been some discussion among scholars about the author of Rijāl al-Barqi. This is because there are four individuals who are known as al-Barqi:

1)      Muhammad ibn Khālid al-Barqi

2)      His son, Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khālid al-Barqi (the author of al-Mahāsin)

3)      His grandson, ‘Abdullah ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khālid (one of the Shaykhs of al-Kulayni)

4)      His great-grandson, Ahmad ibn ‘Abdillah ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khālid al-Barqi

After further investigation, it seems that this work is most likely that of the great-grandson, Ahmad ibn ‘Abdillah ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khālid al-Barqi, for three reasons. Firstly, the author frequently narrates from the book of Sa‘d ibn ‘Abdillah and from ‘Abdullah ibn Ja‘far al-Himyari. Both these individuals were contemporaries of the third al-Barqi (‘Abdullah ibn Ahmad) and would narrate from his father’s al-Mahāsin. Secondly, when the author mentions Muhammad ibn Khālid, he does not state that he was his father. Thirdly, it has not been recorded anywhere that Ahmad ibn Muhammad had a book on rijāl.

For these three reasons, it is more likely that the great-grandson of Muhammad ibn Khālid al-Barqi was the author of Rijāl al-Barqi, rather than his son Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khālid al-Barqi. In conclusion, it is worth noting that since this work does not elaborate on the reliability or unreliability of the narrators, its sole benefit is distinguishing the tiers (tabaqāt) of the narrators.

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Books of Rijal

Posted on April 27, 2012 by editor

The books of Rijāl that are currently in our possession can be divided into three groups:

1) The main foundational books of Rijāl: These are the books that have been authored up until the time of Shaykh Tusi. These are known as the Kutub al-Qudamā’.

2) The books that were authored after the time of Shaykh Tusi – from the beginning of the sixth century A.H. until the ninth century. This era is referred to al-Fatrah al-Mutawassitah.

3) The books that were written in al-Fatrah al-Muta’akhirah i.e. from the beginning of the tenth century A.H. to the present.

 

The books of Rijāl that fall into the first category are:

(a) Rijāl al-Barqi

(b) Rijāl al-Kashshi

(c) Fihrist al-Najāshi (also known as Rijāl al-Najāshi)

(d) Fihrist al-Tusi

(e) Rijāl al-Tusi

(f) Rijāl Ibn Ghadhā’iri

 

Those that fall into the second category include:

(a) Ma’ālim al-‘Ulamā’

(b) Fihrist Muntajab al-Deen

(c) Rijāl Ibn Dāwud

(d) Khulāsat al-Aqwāl fi Ma’rifat al-Rijāl

(e) Hal al-Ishkāl fi Ma’rifat al-Rijāl

 

As for the books of the third category, they include:

(a) Mu’jam al-Rijāl

(b) Nahj al-Maqāl

(c) Jāmi’ al-Ruwāt

(d) Naqd al-Rijāl

(e) Amal al-Aāmil

(f) al-Khulāsah

(g) Rijāl al-Shaykh al-Ansāri

(h) Bahjat al-Aāmāl fi Sharhi Zubdat al-Maqāl

(i) Muntaha al-Maqāl

(j) Lu’lu’at al-Bahrayn

(k) Tanqih al-Maqāl fi ‘Ilm al-Rijāl

(l) Mu’jam Rijāl al-Hadith

(m) Qāmus al-Rijāl

(n) Usul ‘Ilm al-Rijāl

 

We will be looking at each of these books in more detail in the forthcoming posts inshaAllah.

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