SAFINEH
Year:2008 | Volume:5 | Issue:19 (SPECIAL ISSUE ON AL-KAFI)|Papers Count:9

The great scholar, Sheikh Muhammad-Reza Jafari Najafi, prepared a precise translation of Asul Al-Kafi in English from which several chapters has been published so far. In addition to the translation of kafi, he, also, wrote some explanatory notes for it. These explanatory notes are very interesting regarding their diversity in various subjects.In this essay, the explanatory notes of kafi on the first 14 chapters of All-hojjah book translated into persian.

This article includes questions about: 1) The role of Hadith in knowing religion, 2) The place of Al-Kolaini book in Shi’ite culture, 3) The aims of sheikh Al-Kolaini in collecting Al-Kafi Book, 4) The need analysis of the necessity of study, research and propagation of Al-Kafi Book and sheikh kolaini. 5) The Research´s requirments related to Kafi and Kolaini, answered by current scholars like: Dr. Muhammad Biabani Oskouei, Dr. Muhammad Mahdi Rokni, Muhammad Muammadi Rei Shahri, Dr. Ali Maleki Miyanji. On the basis of their answers: 1) according to Saqulein tradition, the true source of religionis Quran and tradition. 2) Al-Kafi Book, out of its precedence, comprehensiveness, authenticity, and validity, not only has a significant role in the chalenges of thoughts of its era, but also has a significant role for the comming eras. 3) To propagate Al-Kafi in present time, especially for its Shi’ite teachings, more effort is needed to Abstracts 3 introduce it as an answer to all superstitions and 4) More serious researches in traditions is needed to know Al-Kafi futher. All great scholars of Shi’ite are remembered Al-Kafi with respect to and emphasize on greatness and especial place among religious books.Paying attention to Al-Kafi means reviving Islam and making Islam more accessible for society and is a great service to science, culture and religim.

This article is a scientific comparative research about 2 old Shi’ite and Sunni collections of traditions, i.e. al-Kafi of Kolaini, and the Sahih of Bukhari, from 5 viewpoints:1. The values and steps of the above books and authors in the eyes of the Shi’ite and Sunni scholars respectively (The compliments of the Sunni scholars towards Bukhari and his "Sahih", and some of the admiring words of the Shi’ite writers about al-Kafi and its author, and the purpose of its compilation are given.)2. The characters, authenticity, and competence of both writers in their communities, and the authenticity of Shaikh Kolaini acknowledged by some of the prominent Sunni writers such as Baghavi and Ibne Athir;3. The authenticity of attribution of the above books to their authors, and the times of their compilations;4. The arrangements of the 2 books; quantitative comparison of the collected traditions, the chapters and parts; and qualitative comparison of the collected traditions in each book according to their contents and depth of meanings;5. The grade of accuracy or weakness, and the right (false) attribution of the collected traditions in each of the 2 books, to the holy prophet and other infallible Imams, are also discussed.Some of documents, witnesses, and narrators in Sahih of Bukhari are proved to be weak and unreliable. Some hints and indications about prejudice of Bukhari, and his negative view towards Imam Ali and other holy Imams from the household of the prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.t); and his negligence toward his contemporary infallible Imam, Imam Sadeq, are provided and discussed.

The lingual meaning of the words "means", "issue", "utterance", and "case" are very important in a study of the sayings, traditions, and practices of the holy prophet and infallible Imams of Islam.The means or condition of issue of a tradition is important and influential in studying or understanding it. The words and traditions of the holy and infallible leaders have been issued in different times and occasions, and with special intentions.Yet, at the time of writing down and/or compiling of the traditions, for different reasons, many of those "means" and reasons of issue are forgotten, dropped, and neglected.As knowing the reason and condition of the relevation of the Qur’anic verses help to have a better understanding of them; in the same way, knowing the reason and means of issue of traditions are useful and helpful.All the rules and procedures which are logical means of better understanding of the Qur’anic verses, are again applicable and necessary.In this article, the validity of issue of the traditions with regards to the following aspects are discussed.- Chain of the narrators of the tradition;- If the tradition is informative or imperative;- Resolution of conflict (s) in cases of issue of the traditions.By considering the above clarification, the traditions collected in Kafi are Abstracts 5 classified in 2 groups, and reviewed; i.e., traditions without specifying their surrounding conditions of issue; and traditions that their conditions, the reason or cause of issue... are specifically explained.Then the main reasons and factors for omission and not mentioning the surrounding information of the traditions are classified and described in two main categories, as- general reasons and factors- specific reasons and factors in every stage.The topics indicating the causes and reasons of issue of the traditions collected in Kafi are classified as discussions, requests, claims, and new informations. Then those topics are explained, and for every case some sample traditions are provided.

Mankined recognized his God in the world of Zar, the world before this world and confessed his unity.In this article, it is talked about the truth of this world and the severality of the worlds of Zar, and 6 verses of Quran referring to the world of Zar has been discussed as well.

In this essay, after a very short biography of the late Shaikh Kolaini, those theses prepared by the university students, in graduate and doctoral courses, with the subjects of "Shaikh Kolaini", and the book "al-Kafi" are provided in a descriptive manner, along with the libraries where they are kept.Altogether 37 works, 17 independent, and 20 collective and related works, are searched out and introduced from different universities and information centers.At the end of the essay, an statistic research is performed about the topics, language (s), university grade, and the years when the theses were performed. Statistics show that only 2 of the works where was done in 1963; while most of them were carried out in 2000-2001. The main subjects of the introduced theses were the holy Qur’an, the traditions and words of the infallible leaders of Islam, the book al-kafi, and biography of Shaikh Kolaini.

The book "Crisis and Consolidation ..." was written by Husain Modarresi Tabatabai for two aims: 1) Introducing the history of Shi’ite Islam as a theological trend in Islam, to western and non-Muslim addresses, 2) Knowing the process of forming the Thought of Shi’ite in the first 3 centuries of Islam. The first chapter of the book "The Rights and Responsibilities" includes a brief review on the history of Shi’ite up to the beginning of the short occultation of Imam Mahdi. The traditions quoted in the book of "Crisis and Consolidation ...", on the subjects of Imamat, occultation of Imam Mahdi and etc have been chosen from the traditional sources like "Al-Mahasen" Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Khalid Baarghi, "Al-Kafi" Sheikh Al-Kolaini, "Al-Gheibah" Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim Na´mani, and "Iktiyar Ma’refat Al-Rejal" Sheikh Tosi.