ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Probe into the History of Hadith Appendix In the book, "A Probe into the History of Hadith", has been told with particular reference the role of early Caliphs who indulged in promoting concocted and fabricated hadith.

They evolved an institution through the auspices of their stipendiaries to add and compile such hadith and assigned the name of Correct (Sahih ) Narrations, of course barring those taken from the sources of Members of the holy Prophet's Family or their followers and given recognition as the representative collections affixing stamp of the "Official Islam" of the rulers of Bani Umayya and Bani Abbas which rarely exhibited any distinction or exceptional position for the Members of the holy Prophet's Family.

However in such a set up and under such circumstances if any hadith derived from the sources of Sunni Traditionalists confer any special favour or distinction on Members of holy Prophet's Family, naturally the authenticity of such hadith is established beyond any doubt.

How such hadith have been retained in the "Sahah" of those august Sunni Traditionalists against such repressive practices as already told in the previous pages, is indeed something ordained from Almighty Allah and a feat of no less than a miracle.

One among them is the "Haditb al-Kisa" (The Hadith of Cloak) which is being presented by Allama Murtadha al-Askari through the entire sources of our revered Sunni Traditionalists, which speak for itself the extra authenticity of the hadith under reference as it is over and above the authenticity conferred by Shia Traditionalists themselves.

Here is a bouquet of fragrant flowers comprising in the shape of narrations which spread the fragrance of the verse of Tathir (purification) having been revealed in the praise of the holy Prophet (P) and the holy members of his family. The narrations have been collected from the books of Sunnites dealing with authentic hadith, Musnad and exegesis (Tafsir).

This hadith is called "Hadith al-Kisa", because at that time when the verse of Tathir was revealed, the holy Prophet (P) covered himself and members of his family with a cloak, so as to distinguish them from other people. In Arabic the cloak of that type is called 'Aba' or 'Kisa' and in most of the narrations the word 'Kisa' has been used to mean the same. For this reason they, too are called "Ashab al-Kisa", and "Panjtan aal-i­ Aba".