The Four Books

Not to be confused with the Four Books of Chinese Confucianism.

The Four Books (Arabic: الكتب الاربعة, translit. Al-Kutub Al-Arb‘ah) is a Twelver Shia term referring to their four best-known hadith collections:

Name Collector No. of
hadith
Kitab al-Kafi [lower-alpha 1] Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni al-Razi (329 AH) 16,199
Man la yahduruhu al-Faqih Muhammad ibn Babawayh 9,044
Tahdhib al-Ahkam Shaykh Muhammad Tusi 13,590
Al-Istibsar Shaykh Muhammad Tusi 5,511

Shi'a Muslims use different books of hadith from those in Sunni Six major Hadith collections. The Shi'a consider many Sunni transmitters of hadith to be unreliable because many of them took the side of Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman in preference to Ali (and the rest of Prophet Muhammad's family) and the majority of them were narrated through certain personalities that waged war against Ahlul Bayt or sided with their enemies such as Aisha that fought Ali at Jamal, or Muawiya who did so at Siffin. Hussain (grandson of the prophet Muhammad and son of Ali ibn Abi Talib) was killed at the Battle of Karbala.[1] Shia trust traditions transmitted through the Imams, Muhammad's descendants through Fatima Zahra.[2]

The Four Books have been praised by many notable Shi'a scholars. This is what some have said:

See also

Notes

References

  1. Momen, Moojan, Introduction to Shi'i Islam, Yale University Press, 1985, p.28-31
  2. Momen, Moojan, Introduction to Shi'i Islam, Yale University Press, 1985, p.174
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