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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Sciences of Hadith Chapter 8 : Meeting 7 the Science of Knowing the Refferences (e'lm Ma'refatel-masader( Part II: A Glance at the Main Shi'a Books of Hadith Abstract The Four Books (al-Kotobul-Arba'a( The first and the most reliable Shi'a books of Hadith are four books: al-Kaafi, Man La Yahzorohul-Faqih, Tahzibul-Ahkam and al-Estebsar. In short they are referred to as 'al-Kotobol-Arba'a: (the Four Books(.

Al-Kaafi (the sufficer( Al-Kaafi is the first and the most ancient Shi'a Hadith collection. It was compiled during the period of minor occultation. Al-Kaafi is written by Muhammad Ibn Ya'qoub known as Sheikh Kolayni [^68]. He died in 328 or according to Najashi in 329 A.H; i.e. the last year of minor occultation. The numbers of its Ahadith according to the present published copy- is 15176 Hadith which is more than the Ahadith of all the Six Authentic Sunni books of Hadith.

Annotations and Commentaries More than fifty commentaries and annotations are written on al-Kaafi. The followings are some of the most famous ones: Meraatul-Oqool (the mirror of intellects) written by the late al-Allama al-Majlesi (died in 1111 A.H(. Sharhe Osool al-Kaafi: written by the late Mulla Sadra (died in 1050 A.H(. Sharhe Osool and Roudha al-Kaafi by the late Mulla Saleh Mazandarani; the teacher of al-Allama al-Majlesi al-Wafi (sufficient) by the late Faydh Kashani (died in 1091 A.H(.

Different views on al-Kaafi al-Kaafi; the next book after the Quran The Shi'a Traditionalists (al-Akhbariyyoun) and even many jurists hold an extra ordinary position for al-Kaafi. They regard all its Ahadith authentic and assert that all its words are the words of the Imams of Ahlul-Bayt (a.s).

The followers of this opinion supported their view by the following reasons: Firstly, Kolaini was living in Baghdad during the time of the minor occultation and hence, he should have been in communication with the special ambassadors of Imam Mahdi (a.j). Surely the Ambassadors must have approved his book. Secondly, al Kaafi was presented to Imam Mahdi (a.j) and he was pleased with it and said about it, "al Kaafi is sufficient for our followers." [^69] 2.

al-Kaafi is not a significant book Unlike the first group a margin group of the Shia' scholars who have perhaps been influenced by Sunni thoughts do not hold much value for al-Kaafi. They regard most of its Ahadith non-authentic.