ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Event of Taff, The Earliest Historical Account of the Tragedy of Karbala’ Introduction Man learnt the art of writing, thus he recorded his actions and those of others. Accordingly, history took shape. At the rise of Islam, history was limited among the Arabs to those who knew the Arab lineage and the events of the days of ignorance ( jahiliyyah ) by heart.

These people were known as the ‘most learned’ ones.[^1] Al-Nadhr bin al-Harith bin Kaldah was among those considered as the learned ones. He used to travel to cities in Persia where he would purchase books on Persian tales such as those of Rustam and others. He would then use these tales to distract people from listening to the Holy Qur’an.

The following verse was revealed about him: “Among the people is he who buys diversionary talk that he may lead [people] astray from Allah’s way, without any knowledge, and he takes it in derision. For such there is a humiliating punishment. And when Our signs are recited to him he turns away disdainfully as if he had not heard them [at all], as if there were a deafness in his hears.

So inform him of a painful punishment.” [^2] Another one among those considered as learned was a man from Madinah called Suwaid bin al-Samit who used to take stories of the past prophets from the Jews. After the advent of the Holy Prophet (S) he had gone to Makkah either for hajj or ‘umrah . There he heard of the Prophet’s mission and went to see him.

The Holy Prophet (S) invited him to Allah upon which Suwaid said: “I have with me the code of Luqman.” The Prophet (S) asked him to show it to him and he did that.

The Prophet (S) then said: “Indeed this is a fine speech, but that which I have is better than this; the Qur’an revealed onto me by Allah; a guidance and a light.”[^3] Among such narrations are the pre-Islamic reports about the prophets and the past nations related by al-Tabari and Muhammad bin Ishaq, whose chains of transmission end up with the phrase: ‘some of the learned among the Jews’.

Islam rose and brought with it the Qur’an; a book and a reading recited during hours of the night and parts of the day. So the need arose for people to record it and for others to memorize it. Thus the Holy Qur’an was put on paper during the time of the Holy Prophet (S) as others committed it to memory. After the demise of the Prophet (S) a group of those who had submitted to him during his lifetime turned back from Islam.