ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Numeric Classification of Traditions Oncharacteristics A Short Bibilography of the Author The compiler of the book - may God have Mercy upon him is the highly esteemed, noble Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Ali ibn al-Hussein ibn Musa ibn Babooyeh al-Qumi known as Sheikh Sadooq.

He has such a high rank in knowledge, understanding, realization of the true meaning of traditions, jurisprudence, honesty in speech and extensive highly valuable writings that no one can write about and fully express these. All the knowledgeable people who have either written his biography or used his highly valuable books have tried to praise his works and declare his Divine Leadership and honesty.

They have called him 'Sheikh' that is normally the title of native scholars trained in the traditional sciences such as clerical dignitaries, members of a religious order, or professors of spiritual institutions of higher learning that is a master of an order. He has also been called honest and a forerunner. We can say that he has been one of the signs of God. He passed away at an age over seventy in the year 993 A.D.

His publications that were more than 300 in number were like brilliant stars guiding those who sought to follow the Divine Path. Unfortunately, the tragic occurrences in history resulted in the loss of the majority of his works. We can clearly state that not even one tenth of his writings have remained today. HIS NOBILITY AS EXPRESSED BY NOBLE RELIGIOUS SCHOLARS There is no need to present any evidence or reasoning to prove his high rank.

However, we will briefly mention a few of the remarks of our noble religious scholars about his noble personality here for the readers to get a bit more familiar with him. Sheikh al-Taefeh (may God have mercy upon him) has called him ''of a high position'' in his book Al-Fehrest. Then he wrote, ''He is the protector of the traditions, aware and informed about the personalities, and is an informed person and a critic on traditions.

One has not seen anyone of similar capabilities among the scientists in Qum. He has about 300 publications.'' He also makes similar remarks about him in his Rijal** [3] ** . Najashi who was a great researcher on ''great men'' calls him ''Abu Ja’far from Qum''. He also calls him Sheikh, our jurisprudent, a shining character, and the honor of the Shiites in Khorasan** [4] ** . He wrote, “He was young when he entered Baghdad in the year 968 A.D.