Unity or Diversity in Similar Narrations: A Comparative Study of the Function of Wasāil al-Shia and Jāmi Ahādith al-Shia

The narrations of the Immaculate, peace be upon them, in the process of transmission come in different manuscripts and various narrations. Sometimes one narration in one book or some books have been transmitted repeatedly and in some cases the different transmissions of one narration differ from each other in text or documents. Although the secondary sources of Shii hadith (unlike the primary sources) have tried much to find these united narrations, unfortunately they never discussed their theoretical principles or their problems and questions. This article is an attempt to introduce briefly questions such as the definition of unity and diversity in narrations, the benefits of knowing the united narrations, the criteria of knowing the united narrations and the problems that exist in this way. Moreover, the function of the two books, Wasāil al-Shia and Jāmi Ahādith al-Shia in this regard have been discussed and compared with each other.