You may have noticed that all three authors of these four...

You may have noticed that all three authors of these four books were named "Muhammad" and all had the KUNYAH of "ABU JA'FAR". In 448 AH, the SUNNIS of Baghdad attacked the SHI'AS and burned the house of SHAYKH AT-TUSI and his library, which contained many unique manuscripts. Disheartened, he left Baghdad and went to Najaf. His disciples and seeders of knowledge followed him: this was the beginning of the town and the religious university of Najaf.

Many other collections of AHADITH were written in the period under review, but only these four became popular and famous. There was another collection, MADINATU 'L-ILM, by SHAYKH AS-SADUQ which would have formed, in view of SHI'A scholars, as the fifth of the "Early Books", if it would not have been lost. A point, which students of HADITH must bear in mind, is that if a HADITH is found in any of the above-mentioned four books, it does not necessarily follow that that "HADITH" is authentic.

On the other hand, if a HADITH is found in other collections and fulfils all the required conditions, then it will be accepted as authentic even if it is not found in the four books. THE THREE LATER BOOKS In later period the following collections of AHADITH became very popular: MUHAMMAD IBN MURTADA IBN MAHMUD, popularly known as MULLA MUHSIN FAYD AL-KASHANI (d. 1091 AH/1680 CE) wrote AL-WAFI. SHAYKH MUHAMMAD IBN HASAN AL-HURR AL-'AMILI (d. 1104 AH/1692 CE) wrote WASA'ILU'SH-SHI'A.

its new edition has been printed in 20 volumes; and contains 35850 AHADITH. MUHAMMAD BAQIR IBN MUHAMMAD TAQI, popularly known as ALLAMAH MAJLISI (d. 1111 AH/1700 CE) wrote BIHARU 'L-ANWAR in 26 bulky volumes. Its new edition in typescript has been published in 110 volumes. It is interesting to note that these three traditionalists were also named Muhammad. They are called "the later three MUHAMMADS". In the 14th century, SHAYKH HUSAYN NURI (1254-1320 AH) wrote MUSTADRAKU 'L-WASA'IL in 1319 AH.

It contains 23,000 AHADITH. With the exception of AL-KAFI and BIHARU'L-ANWAR, the other six collections are confined to the AHADITH related to the SHARI'AH laws. Among them, AL-WAFI is considered the best in style, classification and other distinctions. In our times, a new collection, known as JAMI'U AHADITHI'SH-SHI'AH, is being prepared and published which is sure to eclipse all the above-mentioned six collections.

This work began by order and under patronage of the late AYATULLAH SAYYID HUSAYN AL-BURUJARDI (d. 1380 AH) in QUM.