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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Alone With the Beloved: the Words of ʿalī B. Al-Ḥusayn Inthe Ṣaḥīfa Sajjādiyya Chapter 4: The place of the Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya In Muslim Tradition: An Analysis Into Authenticity This chapter is divided into three sections. The first section deals with the Ṣaḥīfa as a textual production by focusing on the historical background of the Ṣaḥīfa, tracing its origins and transmissions.

The second section will undertake a critical study of the Ṣaḥīfa’s authenticity, attempting to apply both traditional Islamic and contemporary Western methods. Furthermore, this will entail a linguistic analysis of the Ṣaḥīfa, examining their forms and literary aspects, such as their styles, language and the use of intertextuality and allusion to other sources.

This will be done in order to evaluate whether the Ṣaḥīfa may or may not be placed within a specific time period and attributed to an author. The third section will be examining the text specifically through a traditional evaluation, also considering the matan and sanad, and opinions expressed concerning the Ṣaḥīfa. 1.1 Background of the Ṣaḥīfat al-Sajjādiyya93 According to Shīʿi tradition, ʿAlī b.

al-Ḥusayn had collected his supplications and taught them to his children, especially Muḥammad al-Bāqir (d. 120/738)94 and Zayd (d. 122/740). In later times the text became widely disseminated among the Shīʿa of all persuasions.

The specialists in the science of ḥadīth, such as Al-Najāshī and Al-Khū’i, maintain that the text is mutawātir;95 in other words, it was generally known from earliest times and has been handed down by numerous chains of transmission, while its authenticity has never been questioned. In fact, Ibn Shahrāshūb (d.588/1192) refers to the popular view according to Shīʿi belief that after the advent of Islam, the Ṣaḥīfa was amongst the earliest composed works, after the writings of ʿAlī b.

Abī Ṭālib and Salmān al-Fārsī, Abūdharr al-Ghaffārī, Asbagh b. Nabāta, ʿUbaydallāh b. Abī Rāfīʿ, all from the first/sixth century.96 Traditionally, in the opinion of the majority of Shīʿi scholars, from the early era to the contemporary, it has been upheld that the Ṣaḥīfa traces its roots back to ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn and has been known during the ages by the honorifics.