In the Beirut edition...

In the Beirut edition, the contents have been moved to volumes 108, 109 and 110, and a volume 0 was added in which there is an introduction to the author and the authors of his sources.[^2] We have used the new edition published in Tehran. Tuhaf al-’Uqul fi Ma Ja’a min al-Hikam wa al-Mawa’idh ‘an Al-Rasul by Abi Muhammad Hasan ibn ‘Ali ibn Husayn ibn Shu’bah Harrani Halabi is one of the most well known collections of Shi’i narrations.

The author was a contemporary of Shaykh Saduq and died in 381 A.H. (960 C.E.). Shaykh Mufid reports narrations from him, and he, in turn, reports traditions from Shaykh Abu ‘Ali Muhammad ibn Hammam, who died in 336 A.H. (1005 C.E.). The book contains narrations from the Prophet followed by narrations of the first eleven Imams (peace be upon all of them).

After this, there are four more parts to the book: (1) the whispered counsel (munajat) of God to Moses (peace be upon him); (2) the whispered counsel of God to Jesus (peace be upon him); (3) the advice of the Messiah (peace be upon him) in the gospel and other places; and (4) advice of Mufadhdhal ibn ‘Umar, one of the companions of Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), to the Shi’a.

In the introduction to this work, Ibn Shu’bah writes: “I did not mention the chains of transmission in order to reduce the volume of the book and keep it short. Most of the narrations in this book are ones I have heard. Most of them pertain to manners and wisdom which testify to their own validity and the correctness of their attribution.” Scholars in this field consider the work to be reliable and refer to it in support of their opinions about ahadith and fiqh.

The book was first published in 1303 A.H. (1883 C.E.) in Iran, and later in Iraq, Lebanon and Iran.[^3] The edition we have used is that of Qom, Mu’assasah al-Nashr al-Islami, 1416 A.H. (1996 C.E.).

The narrations we have translated from Tuhaf al-’Uqul are given without mention of a chain of transmission, although there is an indication in this work that they are reported by Imam Musa ibn Ja’far al-Kazim (peace be upon him).[^4] Part of the narration may also be found in al-Kafi, Volume 2, Page 319, attributed to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him). Al-Kafi is one of the four most authoritative sources of Shi’i narrations. It was written by Muhammad ibn Ya’qub ibn Ishaq al-Kulayni al-Razi (d.

328 A.H.) and contains six thousand narrations divided into thirty-four sections.