First, the era preceding Ghaybat as-Sughra is an era during...

First, the era preceding Ghaybat as-Sughra is an era during which the holy Imams were present, and although there were many men of knowledge and accomplishments who were trained by the Imams themselves, people always tried their best to refer to the Imams rather then to the Ulama. Even the Ulama travelled far and wide to reach the Imams, so as to solve the problems they faced. Thus, in the era when Imams were present and accessible, other scholars were eclipsed.

Secondly, the literature we have at our disposal on Fiqh commences from the era of Ghaybat as-Sughra. We cannot trace, or rather are unable to trace, any literature compiled on the subject in the earlier era. However, many great fuqaha lived in the period of our holy Imams, and they are well known for their distinction and excellence when compared to their contemporaries from other schools of thought.

Ibn al­Nadeem in his famous al­fihrist has a complete chapter on the fuqaha of Shi’a, and mentions their works on Fiqh or Hadith with deep reverence. For example, for Husain b. Saeed Ahwazi, he says: "In his time, he had the widest knowledge of Fiqh, Islamic Traditions and Ethics". Similarly, he eulogises Ali b. Ibrahim Qummi by saying: "He is among the great scholars and fuqaha". Again, when mentioning Muhammad b. Hasan b. Ahmed b.

al­Waleed Qummi, he says: "To his credit is the great and comprehensive work on Fiqh". It must be known that the works on Fiqh to which reference has been made above were of a different nature. They were principally compilation of those Hadith which they believed to be sound and authentic and according to which they acted. So, they can safely be categorised as the books of Hadith bearing a stamp of the writers' considered opinions.

Muhaqqiq Hilli, the maternal uncle and teacher of Allama Hilli writes: "In view of the fact that we have a great number of fuqaha who have copiously written on the subject, it is not possible for me to quote all of them. I have selected from those who were best known for their research and scholarship, quoting their Ijtehad, and the opinions they adopted for action. From amongst the earlier ones, I have selected Hasan b. Mahboob, Ahmed b. Abi Nasr Bezanti, Husain b. Saeed Ahwazi, Fadhl b.

Shadhan Nisaburi, Yunus b. Abd al­Rahman. They lived during the presence of our Imams. From the later group, I quote Muhammad b. Babawayh Qummi (popularly known as Shaikh Sadooq) and Muhammad b. Yaqoob Kulaini.