A glance at the title Sulaymān ibn Ja‘far in early rijal-oriented, tradition-oriented and historical sources

While investigating the isnads, 1) various titles of the same narrator and 2) the homonymous state of a name for different cases are among the obstacles against realizing the identity of the narrators. This study aims at knowing the title Sulaymān ibn Ja‘far. This name has been mentioned with different epithets in the isnad of traditions. Since only Sulaymān ibn Ja‘far al-Ja‘farī was mentioned and authenticated in the early rijal books, the unity (and homonymy) of other epithets with it will cause the authentication of them. According to investigations done in this essay, the epithets of al-Ju‘fī, al-Jawharī, al-Ḥimyarī are shared with Sulaymān ibn Ja‘far al-Ja‘fari. The absolute al-Ja‘farī (with no affix-like additions namely, neither preceded nor followed by something), when narrating from Imam Riḍā (the 8th Shi’a Imam) is this very same narrator. Sulaymān ibn Ja‘far al-Marwazī is a muṣaḥḥaf (misspelling, misreading, etc.) of Sulaymān ibn Ḥafṣ al-Marwazī. Therefore, the absolute version of Sulaymān ibn Ja‘far would be a narrator homonymous with al-Baṣrī and al-Ja‘farī. It seems, however, that Sulaymān ibn Ja‘far - when mentioned without an indication (qarīna) - naturally means al-Ja‘farī.