He also attended the lectures of other scholars...

He also attended the lectures of other scholars, like Ibn Abi Junaid Baghdadi, Ibn Sult Ahwazi, Abdullah Ghazaeri and Ibn Abduh, from whom he learnt Islamic jurisprudence, science of narrators and traditions. However, the best training he received was from Shaykh Mufid, whose fame had spread all over the country. At the age of twenty-five Shaykh Tusi wrote a commentary of Shaykh Mufid’s Al-Muqna, a book of religious jurisprudence and Shaykh Mufid expired in 413 A.H.

During the lifetime of Shaykh Mufid itself, Shaykh Tusi had completed his book, Taharat and also concluded the commentary on The Book of Prayer . After the demise of his teacher this brilliant youth completed other commentaries and named the collection, Tahzibul Ahkam. At the age of twenty-five, he brought out the volumes of his book, Tahzib in which he had based his arguments on traditions and also explained the method through which he has arrived at a particular conclusion.

Tahzib is a collection of 13590 traditions. In the beginning of this book he writes about the conflicting traditions in Shia collections and goes on to state that Ahle Sunnat people had raised the objection that though Shias initially criticized them for conflicting reports in their books, the Shias themselves are having such traditions.

Replying to the objection Shaykh Tusi says, “Such doubts are entertained only by those who are deficient in knowledge and who are not capable to view the meanings of the words of traditions from different angles. Thus they are unable to understand the type of differences…” “However, it is necessary to collect all such traditions and write them with explanations as such a venture would be a great service to religion and earn the pleasure of Almighty.

A gentleman suggested to me that an exegesis of Shaykh Mufid’s Al-Muqna must be composed so that the opponents come to know that the apparently conflicting traditions in Shia texts are not actually conflicting. Rather it is requirement of a manifest religion and they are within the ambit of variable meanings.” A noteworthy point here is that this book is one of the four canonical books of Shias. Jurists and scholars have been using this book since the last one thousand years.

We must remember that Tusi wrote this book in his youth. Later this man became famed as Shaykh Tusi and due to his exceptional expertise also was referred to as Shaykh-ut-Taifa. The fact is that all the jurists and intellectuals have considered him their teacher and leader.