Abi Jumhur al-Ahsa’i in ‘Awali al-la’ali and also Qadi Nur...

Abi Jumhur al-Ahsa’i in ‘Awali al-la’ali and also Qadi Nur Allah al-Shushtari in Majalis al-mu’minin .” Reason for Writing In the introduction of the book, al-Tabrisi writes: “What made me to write such a book, was that some Shi’a have desisted from argument and debate with the opponents of Shi’a and say ‘we are not allowed to do this, because the Prophet (s) and the Imams (a) never debated and argued and did not allow Shi’a to do so’ therefore, I decided to collect the arguments of great Shi’a figures against their opponents in the roots and branches of the religion.” In the following, he mentions that the prohibition of Imams (a) form arguing and debating only meant those who are weak in defending the religion and Shi’a beliefs, not those eminent and strong ones in proving the right and refuting the wrong.

Reliability of Its Hadiths Al-Ihtijaj is one of the reliable books among Shi’a scholars. The only problem of the book is that most of the hadiths in it are narrated as al-hadith al-Mursal and there is no chain of transmitters for them in the book.

In the introduction of the book the author writes: “Except for those hadiths that I have narrated from Tafsir al-Imam al-‘Askari (a) , I mentioned all hadiths in the book without their chain of transmitters, because whether they are unanimously accepted or agree with our beliefs or are narrated in ours and the opponents’ books. I narrated the hadiths of the ascribed exegesis to Imam al-‘Askari (a) by its chain of narrators: because these hadiths are not as famous as the other hadiths in the book.

According to this paragraph, Shi’a scholars have relied on and accepted the hadiths in the book, although they do not have chain of narrators. Scholar’s Perspective Many of great Shi’a scholars, such as al-Shaykh al-Hurr al-‘Amili in Amal al-amil , Khwansari in Rawdat al-jannat and al-Khoei in Mu’jam Rijal al-Hadith , regarded this book as precious, good and very useful.

Content Introduction: contains hadiths about prohibition of arguing and debating, and condemning them, and the cause of the writing the book; Arguments and debates from the Prophet (s) and the Imams (s) about the roots and branches of faith; The Event of Ghadir al-Khumm and Fadak and the arguments presented by Imam Ali (a), lady Fatima (a), other Imams (a) and other companions about these two event.