Sciences of Hadith – Al-Shia The al-Shia Scientific, Cultural, and Doctrinal Website Fri, 19 Jul 2024 12:25:45 +0000 en-US Sciences of Hadith – Al-Shia 32 32 The Book of Al-Wafi Al-Wafī is a hadith reference in Arabic written by al-Fayd al-Kashani. This book includes all hadiths of the Four Books of Shi’a and the first hadith collection of recent scholars. In this book, al-Fayd al-Kashani has tried to collect hadiths, explains about their problems and solve them. This book has fourteen chapters and due to its advantages and features has always been referred to by recent scholars and many commentaries and marginal notes have written for it. About the Author Muhammad b. Murtada b. Muhammad known as Mulla Muhsin al-Kashani was titled as al-Fayd. He was an expert in hadith, philosopher, mystic, jurist, and a man of literature. He was born on Safar 14, 1007/ September 16, 1598 and passed away on Rabi’ II 22, 1091/May 22, 1680 and was buried in Kashan. Reason for Naming The author titled the book al-Wafi, since he believed that it has done the rights completely to bringing of hadiths, important issues, and explanation of ambiguous expressions in hadiths. Date of Compilation The author spent 9 years and one month for writing this work and finished it in 1068/1657. Goal of Writing In an introduction the author has written on the book, he mentioned his goal of writing this book as the following: None of the Four Books alone is enough for the reader, because some important narrations are not mentioned there. Referring to these books and finding a specific hadith is very difficult, because the titles of chapters are orderly. (Some hadiths are not mentioned in their corresponding chapter and mentioned somewhere else. Sometimes, narrations which needed to mention separately have been mentioned together or vice versa, when narrations which have a similar theme and needed to be mentioned in one chapter are mentioned in different chapters.) Some narrations are repeated in the Four Books and this has cause their bulkiness and extra volume. Content Al-Wafi has an introduction, 14 chapters, and an ending. The number of its sections, according to Aqa Buzurg’s counting, is 273 sections and the number of its hadiths reach 50,000. This book contains all hadiths of the Four Books (al-Kafi, Kitab man la yahduruh al-faqih, Tahdhib al-ahkam, and al-Istibsar). In this book, al-Fayd collected these hadiths and tried to explain hadiths and solve their literal difficulties. The 14 chapters of al-Wafi are as follows: Book of intellect, knowledge, and unity Book of proof Book of faith and disbelief Book of purity and ornamentation Book of prayer, supplication, and the Qur’an Book of Zakat, Khums, and charitable deeds Book of fasting, I’tikaf, and personal promises Book of hajj, ‘Umra, and pilgrimage Book of religious judgeship, rulings, and witnesses Book of ways of living, jobs, and dealings Book of foods, drinks, and luxuries Book of marriage, divorce, and births Book of dead bodies, obligations, and wills Book of Rawda containing various hadiths Ending of al-Wafi, on references of hadiths in Man la yahduruh al-faqih, Tahdhib al-ahkam, and al-Istibsar, which Mulla Muhsin listed alphabetically for a better accessibility and to preserve concision, he mentioned the names of some transmitters of hadiths in short form. Al-Fayd’s Criticisms to the Four Books In his introduction, the author has criticized the Four Books and has mentioned the necessity of one hadith reference. Al-Kafi Although, al-Fayd considers al-Kafi the noblest, most authentic, most complete and most comprehensive of the Four Books due to its coverage of principles and clearance of unnecessary extras, he mentions the following problems for it: A weakness is seen in mentioning many rulings and its chapters are not complete. In some cases, there is only one version/interpretation of the narrations, where there is a question about their conflict, and the other version/interpretation is not mentioned. Ambiguities and literal difficulties in hadiths have been left unexplained. In some of its chapters, sections, and hadiths, there is no good order and some hadiths have not been mentioned in corresponding chapters. Man la yahduruh al-faqih Al-Fayd continues and mentions the problems of Man la yahduruh al-faqih and says that this book is similar to al-Kafi in many of the mentioned cases, except for the following: It is void of hadiths related to principles of belief. It has more missing chapters and sections. In some cases, hadiths are confused with the author’s word. Its Mursal hadiths and the missing references are many. Tahdhib al-Ahkam The author also mentions some problems about Tahdhib al-ahkam and although believes that Tahdhib al-ahkam is comprehensive about rulings and contains almost all hadiths about rulings, however, regarding its emptiness of hadiths regarding principles of beliefs, it is the same as Man la yahduruh al-faqih. In addition to the mentioned points, he also points out the following problems in Tahdhib al-ahkam: Coverage of far-from-the-fact interpretations and wrongly relating the conflicting hadiths Separating hadiths which need to be mentioned together and mentioning hadiths together which needed to be separate. Placing many reports in inappropriate places and not mentioning hadiths in their respective places Having boring repetitions and stretching chapters with short titles Al-Istibsar According to al-Fayd, al-Istibsar was a part of Tahdhib al-ahkam which was extracted from it and has been remiss in mentioning contradictory and conflicting reports and has tried to relate them using close and far hadiths. In his opinion, it is fair to say that relating such hadiths and others is something impossible and even out of man’s capability. Before beginning his work, the author has brought three issues and explained about them as following: Way of learning religious sciences Way of identifying hadith references Terminology and rules of the book Advantages and Features Great order in mentioning hadiths in corresponding chapter. Explanation of the words in hadiths and some verses of the Qur’an. Narrating hadiths related to every chapter from references other than the Four Books. Making the researcher needless of referring to references in many hadiths. Mentioning the cases when a hadith is split. Interpreting many Qur’anic verses. Paying attention to the cause of issuing hadiths upon explaining their meanings. Correcting the texts of hadiths in the Four Books using different hadith sources. Correcting references of the hadiths from the Four Books. Observing scholarly piety in relating scholarly theories to their owners. Explaining the philosophy of some issues in the verses of the Qur’an or hadiths. Mere following of reason in fatwas. Explaining the meaning of proverbs in narrations. Explaining similitudes in narrations. Clarifying the meaning of narrations through giving examples. Bringing poems related with the subjects of narrations. Mentioning the cases of mentioning a narration in the Four Books, etc. Quoting the exact text together with the reference. Commentaries and Marginal Notes Al-Hashiya ‘ala al-Wafi written by Muhammad Baqir b. Muhammad Akmal, known as Wahid Bihbahani (d. 1206/1706-7). This book has been mentioned to be a commentary, but the author has mentioned it in the list of his works as a marginal note on al-Wafi. Al-Hashiya ‘ala al-Wafi written by Fadl Allah b. Muhammad Sharif Kashani. This book includes a marginal note on the chapters of intellect and knowledge from al-Wafi and mostly dis