ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books About Imam Reza (a.s) Shari'a (Islamic Legislative System) We do not attempt here to present the legislative heritage left us by Imam ar-Ridha’ (a.s.) or trace the ahadith which were reported about him in this regard, for this is the job of authors of books of hadith and fiqh .

What we would like to deal with here, rather, is to evaluate the knowledge which reached us from him and from other Imams of the (a.s.) in the area of legislation, and the safe route they took in providing us with a basis for deriving such legislative rules from their accurate source.

As we stated in the Introduction, what caused us to follow the creed of the (a.s.) and use their hadith as a source for legislation is due to the clear and unequivocal statements of the Prophet (S) regarding the necessity of upholding their way and following their guidance such as the tradition of the two weighty things ( hadith al-thaqalayn ) and of the ark of Noah (a.s.), and other ahadith which cannot be doubted in their authenticity, structure, or objective.

This is why any hadith reported by Imam ar-Ridha’ (a.s.) or by any other Imam is regarded as though it had been said by the Prophet (S) not because these Imams have the authority to initiate legislation, or be independent in enjoying the responsibility of inventing a legislative rule, but by considering it an extension of the pristine legislation brought forth by the Prophet (S) from his Lord, due to what they learned of the secrets of legislation and its fruits left for them as a legacy by the Prophet (S), after being made by the Almighty as custodians of the Message after the Prophet (S).

Their Hadith is Muhkam and Mutashabih The hadith narrated about them is, as is the case with the Holy Qur'an, both muhkam and mutashabih . The muhkam , as its name suggests, does not accept but one single meaning, while the mutashabih is on the contrary permitting many facets of interpretation, and its actual meaning is not known exactly. This is the meaning we accept for these two terms.