فصلنامه علوم حدیث
سال چهاردهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 51، بهار 1388)

According to the author of the article, this study has been organized by comprehensive reference to indexes and the sources of authorities [of Hadīth] and intends to prove the hypothesis that there existed collections of Hadīth on all the various subject matters before the [compilation of] the Four Books of Hadīth and to briefly mention the authors of collections of Hadīth on all the various subject matters before Kulayni. A logical classification of traditions on the basis of themes is one of the best ways of [attaining] accurate understanding of Hadīths, [a method] which has been the focus of perennial attention of jurists and scholars of Hadīth since a long time ago. On this basis, collections containing Hadīths arranged on theme basis on all the various subject matters had been gradually written until the circumstances for compiling the Four Books of Hadīth were made ready at the start of the first half of the fourth century AH. In this paper, the author gives an account of hadith collections such as: al-Jami` fi al-Fiqh, al-Jami` fi Sa’ir Abwab al-Haram wa al-Halal, Kitab Mubawab fi al-Haram wa al-Halal, al-Jami` al-Kabir fi al-Fiqh, Kitab Mubawab fi al-Fara’id, and etc.

The author of the present paper, as part of reconstruction project of Halabi’s book, tries to investigate `ubaydullah and Muhammad Halabi’s hadiths in al-Kafi and make a comparison between them and chain of authorities in other sources in order to determine who is meant by Halabi: `Ubaydullah or Muhammad. The author first gives an account of Halabi’s family and then speaks of these two brothers and finaly deals with their hadiths in al-Kafi

The great book al-Kafi has been written by the late Kulayni, classified into three sections, and printed in eight volumes: two volumes Usul al-Kafi, five volumes Furu al-Kafi, and its last volume Rawza al-Kafi sometime is called the same as previous volumes: Furu al-Kafi.Some argue that the last volume has not been written by this great Twelver Shiite traditionist. Comparing Rawza al-Kafi with previous volumes, the author of the present paper tries to remove any doubt concerning Rawza to be written by someone else. To prove this, he views Kulayni\s approach to chain of authorities from different perspectives.

Due to prevalence of writing and its basic role in recording Shiite hadith and transmitting it to next generations and authors of the four books, this important question is raised that how one can find the sources of compiling book al-Kafi, the most important book of the four books.it can be followed by knowing Kulayni’s teachers who have given licence to him to relate hadith and their role in the chain of authorities of al-Kafi. To know his teachers first a survey of their hadiths in the chain of documents of al-Kafi should be done. Likely teachers are found. Then compare different chain of authorities in al-Kafi with other sources and demonstrate their authority to give licenses for relating hadith.

There is dispute among those who are expert in the number of the holy Quran over its extent. They all consent that number of the holy Quran is less than 6240 verses while Hisham’s Sahiha says that it contains seventeen thousand verses. In spite of its rare appearance, this hadith has brought about many problems and misunderstandings. To solve these problems, the author of the present paper studies the content of this hadith and presents his findings in two chapters. Chapter one deals with Hisham’s Sahiha while chapter two surveys the solution to Hisham’s hadith.

The Holy Quran speaks of Jesus as a great prophet of God and emphasizes on confirming him by the Holy Spirit and plainly calls him word and spirit of God. In Islamic hadiths he is also regarded as the Spirit of Allah. However Jesus in the holy Quran is a humble servant on whom God has bestowed a special gift. In hadith books, Christianity is called Nasraniyyat and Christians are called Nasara. More information is found in hadith books about life and personality of Jesus. Christians accept only some of these hadiths and reject the others. In fact Christian theology has depicted a fully exceptional picture of Jesus and even has changed the picture of theology from God-centeredness to Jesus-centeredness. Christians regard Islamic hadiths as mystical reports which are deprived of reality. Reporting the most important passages of al-Kafi about Jesus, peace be upon him, and comparing them with Christian current views, the author rejects the above mentioned claims and concludes that Islamic discourse is based on historical realities and rational theology more than what Christian discourse is and this fact is also accepted by some christions like John Hick.

This paper is concerned with utilizing hadith in Iranian culture and faith studies. Choosing al-Kafi as his reference, the author of the present paper has collected hadiths concerning Iranian faith and made an analysis of them.

Mulla Saalih Mazandarani is one of the famous scholars of 11th century. His commentary on al-Kafi is the best commentary in this field. It is concerned with Usul and Rawza.The author of the present paper describes Mulla Saalih Mazandarani’s method based on his commentary on al-Kafi. Then he explains about Allama Sharani’s methodological criticism of some views of Mulla Saalih Mazandarani. His method of evaluating hadith is based on investigating the chain of documents and interpreting the text. His approach to text analysis is based on terminology, semantics, verses of the Holy Quran, and utilizing other hadiths to prove hadith reliability.

In a chapter of miscellaneous traditions (nawadir) near the end of the “book of prayer” (kitab al-salat) of his Kafi, Kulayni has the following tradition:‘Ali ibn Muhammad rafa‘ahu qala: qila li-Abi ‘Abdi ’llah ‘alayhi ’l-salam: lima sara ’l-rajul yanharifu fi ’l-salat ila ’l-yasar? fa-qala: li-anna lil-Ka‘ba sittat hudud, arba‘a minha ‘an yasarika, wa-’thnan minha ‘ala yaminika, fa-min ajl dhalika waqa‘a ’l-tahrif ila ’-yasar.‘Ali ibn Muhammad, without a (full) chain of transmission, said: Abu ‘Abdallah [Ja‘far al-Sadiq] was asked: “How does it come about that a man inclines to the left in prayer?” He answered: “Because the Ka‘ba has six boundaries, four of them on your left, and two on your right; it is on account of this that the inclination is to the left.”The wording is obscure, but the tradition can be better understood in the light of a parallel tradition found in other collections. However, the author of the Bihar states that both traditions are very weak in their isnads (al-riwayatan da`ifatan’l-sanad jiddan). These traditions are clearly related to two legal doctrines found in early Imami fiqh: that the entire Meccan sanctuary (haram) constitutes the qibla for those outside it, and that the people of Iraq should incline slightly to the left of the sanctuary when praying----a practice known as tayasur. Though it ceased to be a living practice, tayasur gave rise to considerable among the scholars down the centuries. In the Safawid period this discussion took a particularly interesting turn. First was printed out that the explanation of tayasur was proposed. The most interesting feature of this new explanation is that the evidence on which it was based was archaeological.