When he was asked regarding his successor...

When he was asked regarding his successor, he said: “The Almighty Allah shall Himself take the affair to its completion.” And he passed away after saying this and these were the last words heard from him.[^1] I say: Here our discussion will deal with two aspects: One: Chain of narrators of the tradition and two: Its point of evidence on the point under discussion.

Issue One: It is that according to terminology this tradition is ‘highly correct’ because it is narrated from our master by three different persons. First is the venerable Shaykh Abul Hasan Ali bin Muhammad Saymoori, who is in no need of description due to his majestic position and fame. Second: Shaykh Sadooq Muhammad bin Ali bin Husain bin Musa Babawayh Qummi who is also famous for his books and hardly needs explanation.

Third: Abu Muhammad Hasan bin Ahmad Mukattib, as mentioned by Maula Inayatullah in Majmaur Rijal he is, Abu Muhammad Hasan bin Husain bin Ibrahim bin Ahmad bin Hisham Mukattib and Sadooq has often narrated from him, may Allah bless him; and it is a sign of correctness and reliability as mentioned by Maula Inayatullah in Majmaur Rijal and he has mentioned many proofs for it that cannot be stated here. Mukattib means one who teaches writing.

First: In the book of Ghaibah of the venerable Shaykh, Muhammad bin Hasan Tusi, in the copy I am having, it is mentioned: Narrated to us a group from Abu Ja’far Muhammad bin Ali bin Husain bin Babawayh that he said: Narrated to me Abu Muhammad Ahmad bin Hasan Mukattib that: I was in Medinatul Islam (Baghdad)…[^2] In the same way this tradition is mentioned by Ibne Babawayh in Kamaluddin.

But he has narrated from Hasan bin Ahmad.[^3] Apparently this mistake has occurred from the scribes of Ghaibah Shaykh Tusi. That which supports that this mistake is from the scribes, is that Haaj Mirza Husain Noori has mentioned the same tradition in his book, Jannatul Mawa quoting from Ghaibah Shaykh Tusi from Hasan bin Ahmad Mukattib.[^4] And Allah knows best.

Second: In the book of Mustadrakul Wasail, written by Mirza Husain Noori, he quoted a tradition from Shaykh Sadooq but he, despite his awareness, does not mention his name with respect and just says: Sadooq. Now we all know that it was only an oversight. There are many examples of such oversights that the coming scholars must take care to correct.