ভূমিকা

With my chain of transmission reaching up to the best and the earliest of traditionists, Muhammad ibn Ya’qub al-Kulayni (R) from Muhammad ibn al-Hasan and ‘Ali ibn Muhammad, from Sahl ibn Ziyad, from Muhammad ibn ‘Isa-, from ‘Ubayd Allah ibn ‘Abd Allah al Dihqan, from Durust al-Wasiti, from Ibrahim ibn ‘Abd al-Hamid, from Abu al-Hasan Musa (A) that he said: The Messenger of Allah (S) once entered the mosque where there were a group of people surrounding a man.

“Who is that?” inquired the Prophet (S). He was told, “He is an Allamah, (i.e. a very learned man).” “What is an Allamah?” asked the Prophet (S).

They told him, “He is the most learned of men regarding Arab genealogies, past episodes, the days of the Jahiliyyah and Arabic poetry.” The Prophet (S) said, “That is a knowledge whose ignorance does not harm one nor is its possession of any benefit to one.” Then the Prophet (S) declared, “Verily, knowledge consists of these three: the firm sign, the just duty and the established sunnah.

All else is superfluous.”[^1] Exposition There is مَن هَذَا (Who is he?) instead of مَا هَذَا (Who is that?) in some manuscripts. مَا هَذَا might have been said to express contempt. Allamah is a derivative ( sighah ) that expresses extremeness ( mubalaghah ) and its ta is for the sake of (further) exaggeration. It means ‘very very knowledgeable’.