Methodology of Imami Theologians in Proving the Tawātur of Imamate Hadiths

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Graduated from the fourth level of explanatory Imamate at the Imamology Center of Qom Islamic Seminary, Qom, Iran.

Abstract

As the second source for understanding religion after the Qurʾān, the Ḥadīth holds particular significance in the comprehension of Islamic doctrines. Among these, the mutawātir ḥadīth (a report of mass transmission) occupies a prominent position in theological (Kalām) discussions due to its absolute authority (ḥujjiyyah) and its capacity to confer definitive knowledge. Furthermore, the utilization of shared and methodologically sound principles is a fundamental component of substantiating claims in theological dialogues. Employing a descriptive-analytical methodology and based on library research, this study investigates the methods used by Imāmī theologians (mutakallimūn) to prove the tawātur of traditions concerning the Imamate (imāmah). The findings indicate that Imāmī theologians have utilized five principal methods to establish tawātur: Principle-Based Tawātur (based on the foundational principles of ḥadīth sciences), Transmission-Based Tawātur (based on works that compile the various chains of transmission—ṭuruq—of a ḥadīth), Confessional Tawātur (established through the acknowledgment of a tradition's authenticity by theological opponents), Criterion-Based Tawātur (which involves defining specific criteria for tawātur and demonstrating that the traditions meet them), and Collective Tawātur (proven by collating the chains of transmission from diverse Islamic and inter-sectarian sources). These methodologies provide a methodologically sound and effective framework for utilization and argumentation (iḥtijāj) in theological dialogues concerning the Imamate, which can be highly influential in advancing innovation within the field of Kalām.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Al-Qurʾān al-Karīm.
Ibn Baṭrīq, Yaḥyā. (1407 AH [1986 AD]). ʿUmdat ʿUyūn Ṣiḥāḥ al-Akhbār fī Manāqib Imām al-Abrār. Dafter Intishārāt Islāmī Jāmiʿat al-Mudarrisīn Ḥawzah ʿIlmiyyah Qum.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Taqī al-Dīn. (1406 AH [1985 AD]). Minhāj al-Sunnah al-Nabawiyyah fī Naqd Kalām al-Shīʿah al-Qadarīyah. Jāmiʿat al-Imām Muḥammad ibn Suʿūd al-Islāmiyyah.
Ibn Ḥazm al-Andalusī, Abū Muḥammad. (1408 AH [1987 AD]). al-Muḥallā bi-al-Athār. Dār al-Fikr.
Ibn Ḥazm, ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad. (1416 AH [1995 AD]). al-Faṣl fī al-Milal wa-al-Ahwāʾ wa-al-Niḥal. Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah.
Ibn Sāʿātī, Muẓaffar al-Dīn. (1405 AH [1985 AD]). Nihāyat al-Wuṣūl ilā ʿIlm al-Uṣūl. Jāmiʿat Umm al-Qurā.
Ibn Sallām, Abū ʿUbayd al-Qāsim. (1384 AH [1964 AD]). Gharīb al-Ḥadīth. Maṭbaʿat Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-ʿUthmānīyah.
Ibn Shahrāshūb, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī. (1379 AH [1959 AD]). Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib ʿAlayhim al-Salām. ʿAllāmah.
Ibn Ṭāwūs, ʿAlī ibn Mūsā. (1400 AH [1980 AD]). al-Ṭarāʾif. Maṭbaʿat al-Khayyām.
Ibn Ṭāwūs, ʿAlī ibn Mūsā. (1409 AH [1989 AD]). Iqbāl al-Aʿmāl. Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah.
Ibn Fāris, Aḥmad ibn Fāris. (n.d.). Muʿjam Maqāyīs al-Lughah. (ʿAbd al-Salām Muḥammad Hārūn, editor). Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Kutub al-ʿArabiyyah.
Ibn Qudāmah, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad. (1443 AH [2021 AD]). Rawḍat al-Nāẓir wa-Jannat al-Munāẓir. Muʾassasat al-Rayyān.
Ibn Kathīr. (1418 AH [1997 AD]). al-Bidāyah wa-al-Nihāyah. Dār Hijr.
Armawī, al-Sirāj. (1408 AH [1987 AD]). al-Taḥṣīl min al-Maḥṣūl. Muʾassasat al-Risālah.
Azharī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad. (2001 AD). Tahdhīb al-Lughah. Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
Isnawī, ʿAbd al-Raḥīm. (1420 AH [1999 AD]). Nihāyat al-Sūl Sharḥ Minhāj al-Wuṣūl. Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah.
Aminī, ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn. (1416 AH [1995 AD]). al-Ghadīr fī al-Kitāb wa-al-Sunnah wa-al-Adab. Markaz al-Ghadīr li al-Dirāsāt al-Islāmiyyah.
Āmidī, ʿAlī. (1402 AH [1982 AD]). al-Aḥkām fī Uṣūl al-Aḥkām. al-Maktab al-Islāmī.
Bābartī, Muḥammad. (1426 AH [2005 AD]). al-Rudūd wa-al-Naqūd Sharḥ Mukhtaṣar Ibn al-Ḥājib. Maktabat al-Rushd Nāshirūn.
Bāshā al-Bābānī, Ismāʿīl. (1951 AD). Hadiyyat al-ʿĀrifīn: ʾAsmāʾ al-Muʾallifīn wa-Āthār al-Muṣannifīn. Wikālat al-Maʿārif bi-Istanbul.
Pārsānyā, Ḥamīd. (1388 Sh. [2009 AD]). "Ravashshenāsi-ye ʿUlūm-e Ensānī bā Rovesh-e Eslāmī" [Methodology of Humanities with an Islamic Approach]. ʿAyār Pajūhesh dar ʿUlūm-e Ensānī, 1(2), 39–54.
Jazāʾirī, Ṭāhir ibn Ṣāliḥ. (1416 AH [1995 AD]). Tawjīh al-Naẓar ilā Uṣūl al-Athar. Maktabat al-Maṭbūʿāt al-Islāmiyyah.
Jazarī, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad. (n.d.). Asnā al-Maṭālib fī Manāqib Sayyidnā ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib karam Allāhu wajhahu. Maktabat al-Imām Amīr al-Muʾminīn ʿAlī (ʿalayhi al-salām) al-ʿĀmmah.
Jauharī, Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥammād. (n.d.). al-Ṣiḥāḥ. Dār al-ʿIlm lil-Malāyīn.
Ḥājjī Khālifah, Muṣṭafā. (1941 AD). Kashf al-Ẓunūn ʿan ʾAsmāʾ al-Kutub wa-al-Funūn. Maktabat al-Muthnā.
Ḥākim al-Nīshābūrī. (1411 AH [1990 AD]). al-Mustadrak ʿalā aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥayn. Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah.
Ḥaqīqat, Sayyid Ṣādiq. (1385 Sh. [2006 AD]). Ravashshenāsi-ye ʿUlūm-e Siyasī [Methodology of Political Sciences]. Dāneshgāh Mofīd.
Ḥumṣī Rāzī, Maḥmūd ibn ʿAlī. (1412 AH [1992 AD]). al-Munqidh min al-Taqlīd. Dafter Intishārāt Islāmī Jāmiʿat al-Mudarrisīn Ḥawzah ʿIlmiyyah Qum.
Ḥumway, Yāqūt. (1414 AH [1993 AD]). Muʿjam al-Udabāʾ. Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī.
Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, Abū Bakr. (1357 AH [1938 AD]). al-Kifāyah fī ʿIlm al-Riwāyah. Jamʿīyat Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-ʿUthmānīyah.
Dhahabī, Shams al-Dīn. (1405 AH [1985 AD]). Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ. (Shuʿayb al-Arnaʾūṭ wa Humkarān, editors). Muʾassasat al-Risālah.
Dhahabī, Shams al-Dīn. (1419 AH [1998 AD]). Tadhkirat al-Ḥuffāẓ. Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah.
Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad. (n.d.). Mufradāt Alfāẓ al-Qurʾān. (Ṣafwān ʿAdnān Dāwūdī, editor). Dār al-Shāmiyyah.
Zubaydī, Muḥammad Murtaḍā al-Ḥusaynī. (1405 AH [1985 AD]). Laqaṭ al-Lālīʾ al-Mutanāthirah fī al-Aḥādīth al-Mutawātirah. Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah.
Zuḥaylī, Muḥammad Muṣṭafā. (1427 AH [2006 AD]). al-Wajīz fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh al-Islāmī. Dār al-Khayr.
Sāyer, Andrew. (1388 Sh. [2009 AD]). Ravash dar ʿUlūm-e Ejtemāʿī: Rovesh-i Realistī [Method in Social Sciences: A Realistic Approach]. (ʿEmād Afrūgh, translator). Pazhūhgāh ʿUlūm-e Ensānī va Motāleʿāt-e Farhangī.
Sakhāwī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. (1424 AH [2003 AD]). Fath al-Mughīth bi Sharḥ Alfiyyat al-Ḥadīth li al-ʿIrāqī. Maktabat al-Sunnah.
Sulṭān al-Wāʿiẓīn, Muḥammad. (1379 Sh. [2000 AD]). Shab-hā-ye Peshāwar dar Difāʿ az Ḥarīm al-Tashayyuʿ [Nights of Peshawar in Defense of the Sanctuary of Shiʿism]. Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah.
Samarqandī, ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn. (1404 AH [1983 AD]). Mīzān al-Uṣūl fī Natāʾij al-ʿUqūl. Maṭābiʿ al-Ḍawhah al-Ḥadīthah.
Suyūṭī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr. (n.d.). Tadrīb al-Rāwī fī Sharḥ Taqrīb al-Nawāwī. Dār Ṭayyibah.
Shahīd Thānī, Zayn al-Dīn ibn ʿAlī. (1408 AH [1987 AD]). al-Riʿāyah fī ʿIlm al-Dirāyah. Kitābkhānah Āyat Allāh Marʿashī.
Shīrāzī, Abū Isḥāq. (1424 AH [2003 AD]). al-Lumʿah fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh. Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah.
Ṣāḥib Rāmpūrī, Najm al-Ghanī Khān. (n.d.). Mazīl al-Ghawāshī Sharḥ Urdu Uṣūl al-Shāshī. Karāchī: Ārām Bāgh.
Ṭaḥḥān, Maḥmūd. (1425 AH [2004 AD]). Taysīr Muṣṭalaḥ al-Ḥadīth. Maktabat al-Maʿārif.
Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. (1382 Sh. [2003 AD]). Talkhīṣ al-Shāfī. Muḥibbīn.
Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. (1406 AH [1986 AD]). al-Iqtiṣād fī Mā Yataʿallaq bi-al-Iʿtiqād. Dār al-Aḍwāʾ.
Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. (1414 AH [1993 AD]). Rasāʾil al-Shaykh al-Ṭūsī (al-Mufaṣṣaḥ fī al-Imāmah). Dafter Intishārāt Islāmī Jāmiʿat al-Mudarrisīn Ḥawzah ʿIlmiyyah Qum.
Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. (1417 AH [1997 AD]). al-ʿIddah fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh. Qum: Sitārah.
Ṭūfī Ṣarṣarī, Līmān. (1407 AH [1987 AD]). Sharḥ Mukhtaṣar al-Rawḍah. Muʾassasat al-Risālah.
ʿAsqalānī, Ibn Ḥajar. (1379 AH [1959 AD]). Fatḥ al-Bārī Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Dār al-Maʿrifah.
ʿAsqalānī, Ibn Ḥajar. (1390 AH [1970 AD]). Lisān al-Mīzān. Muʾassasat al-Aʿlamī lil-Maṭbūʿāt.
ʿAsqalānī, Ibn Ḥajar. (1406 AH [1986 AD]). Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb. Dār al-Rashīd.
ʿAsqalānī, Ibn Ḥajar. (1421 AH [2000 AD]). Nuzhat al-Naẓar fī Tawḍīḥ Nukhbat al-Fikr fī Muṣṭalaḥ Ahl al-Athar. Maṭbaʿat al-Ṣabāḥ.
ʿAsqalānī, Ibn Ḥajar. (1443 AH [2021 AD]). Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb. Jamʿīyat Dār al-Birr.
ʿAllāmah Ḥillī, Ḥasan ibn Yūsuf. (1365 AH [1946 AD]). al-Bāb al-Ḥādī ʿAshar. Muʾassasat al-Dirāsāt al-Islāmiyyah.
Farrāhīdī, Khalīl ibn Aḥmad. (1409 AH [1989 AD]). al-ʿAyn. Muʾassasat Dār al-Hijrah.
Qaṭīʿī, Ṣafī al-Dīn. (1439 AH [2018 AD]). Qawāʿid al-Uṣūl wa-Muʿāqad al-Fuṣūl. Rakāʾiz lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ.
Kattānī, Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar. (n.d.). Naẓm al-Mutanāthir min al-Ḥadīth al-Mutawātir. Dār al-Kutub al-Salafiyyah.
Karājkī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī. (1410 AH [1989 AD]). Kanz al-Fawāʾid. (ʿAbd Allāh Naʿmah, editor). Dār al-Dhakāʾir.
Lakahnawī, Mīr Ḥāmid Ḥusayn. (1404 AH [1983 AD]). ʿAbqāt al-Anwār fī Imāmat al-Aʾimmah al-Aṭhār. Qum.
Lūlūwī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī. (1424 AH [2003 AD]). Qurrat ʿAyn al-Muḥtāj fī Sharḥ Muqaddimat Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj. Dār Ibn al-Jawzī.
Mardāwī, Abū al-Ḥasan. (1421 AH [2000 AD]). al-Taḥbīr Sharḥ al-Taḥrīr fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh. Maktabat al-Rushd.
Mufīd, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad. (1413 AH [1992 AD], vol. 1). al-Jumal. al-Muʾtamar al-ʿĀlamī li al-Shaykh al-Mufīd.
Mufīd, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad. (1413 AH [1992 AD], vol. 2). al-Ifṣāḥ fī al-Imāmah. al-Muʾtamar al-ʿĀlamī li Ulfiyyat al-Shaykh al-Mufīd.
Maqbalī, Ṣāliḥ ibn al-Mahdī. (1428 AH [2007 AD]). al-Abḥāth al-Musaddadah fī Funūn Muʿaddadah wa Yalīhi Aḥādīth al-Ghināʾ al-Muṣābīḥ fī al-Aḥādīth al-Mutawātirah. al-Maktabah al-Jalīl al-Jadīdah.
Manāwī, ʿAbd al-Raʾūf. (1356 AH [1937 AD]). Fayḍ al-Qadīr Sharḥ al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr. al-Maktabah al-Tijāriyyah al-Kubrā.
Manāwī, ʿAbd al-Raʾūf. (1999 AD). al-Yawāqīt wa-al-Durr fī Sharḥ Nukhbat Ibn Ḥajar. Maktabat al-Rushd.
Mīrdāmād, Muḥammad Bāqir. (1422 AH [2001 AD]). al-Rawāshiḥ al-Samāwiyyah. Dār al-Ḥadīth.
Mīrzāyī, Najfaʿlī. (1377 Sh. [1998 AD]). Farhang-e ʾIṣṭilāḥāt-e Moʿāṣer [Dictionary of Contemporary Terminology]. Mehr.
Nabātī ʿĀmilī, ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad. (1384 Sh. [2005 AD]). al-Ṣirāṭ al-Mustaqīm ilā Mustaḥaqī al-Taqdīm. Maktabat al-Murtaḍawiyyah.
Najāshī, Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī. (1365 AH [1946 AD]). Rijāl al-Najāshī. (Sayyid Mūsā Shabīrī al-Zanjānī, editor). Dafter Intishārāt Islāmī Jāmiʿat al-Mudarrisīn Ḥawzah ʿIlmiyyah Qum.
Nawawī, Abū Zakariyyāʾ. (1392 AH [1972 AD]). al-Minhāj Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj. Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
Haytamī, Ibn Ḥajar. (1417 AH [1996 AD]). al-Ṣawāʿiq al-Muḥriqah ʿalā Ahl al-Rafd wa-al-Ḍalāl wa-al-Zandaqah. Muʾassasat al-Risālah.

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics