Bahlool Dana and Abu Hanifa

Synopsis: This post briefly examines the famous Shia story of Bahlool's dialogue with Abu Hanifa. The scope of this post is only to examine this particular story, it does not examine the authenticity of the actual existence of this character (for the record, the earlier Shia rijal sources such as Najashi and Tusi do not mention him, perhaps his earliest mention is in Shaikh al Haeri's Munatahal Maqal; thereby making his existence dubious).

أعيان الشيعة - السيد محسن الأمين - ج ٣ - الصفحة ٦١٧

A'yan al Shia by Syed Muhsin al Amin, Vol 3 Page 617

 ثم إن صاحب المجالس ذكر نقلا عن تاريخ گزيده حكايات للبهلول مع الامام أبي حنيفة وانها كانت في عصر الرشيد مع أن بين وفاة البهلول ووفاة أبي حنيفة نحو أربعين سنة لأن أبا حنيفة توفي سنة 150 والبهلول سنة 190 وادراكه له وان كان ممكنا الا ان جعله ذلك في عصر الرشيد يبطل الخبر من أصله لأن أبا حنيفة لم يعاصر الرشيد بل المنصور، والبهلول ان كان عاصر الصادق ع فقد عاصر المنصور

Qadi Nurullah Shostri had quoted from the book 'Tarikh Guzaidah' interactions of Bahlool with Abu Hanifa during the reign of Caliph Haroon Rashid. However, there is a gap of approximately 40 years between the death of Abu Hanifa and Bahlool, as Abu Hanifa died in 150AH while Bahlool in 190AH. While there is a possibility that Bahlool may have witnessed Abu Hanifa, but the issue of it taking place during the reign of Haroon Rashid renders the whole episode impossible, as Abu Hanifa was not a contemporary of Haroon Rashid but of Caliph Mansoor; and if Bahlool was a contemporary of Imam al Sadiq (as) then he would have been in the era of Mansoor.

تنقيح المقال ـ الجزء الثالث عشر ::: 121 ـ 135

Tanqihul Maqal by Allamah Mamqani, Vol 13 Page 123

  وأقول : ينبغي أن يكون ذهاب أبي حنيفة إلى المنصور دون هارون ؛ لأنّ أبا حنيفة مات سنة مائة وخمسين ، ومات المنصور سنة مائة وثمان وخمسين ، ويومئذ لم يكن هارون خليفة ، وإنّما كان الخليفة المنصور

I say: It is more likely that Abu Hanifa went to complain to Mansoor* instead of Haroon Rashid, as Abu Hanifa died in 150AH while Mansoor died in 158AH (i.e. they were contemporaries) and Mansoor, not Haroon Rashid, was the caliph at that time.

*Author's note: This seems unlikely, as Abu Hanifa is reported to be on bad terms with Caliph Mansoor, who had Abu Hanifa imprisoned and lashed. Moreover, if such an event had occurred to a scholar as famous as Abu Hanifa, that too while he was teaching a class full of students and moreover the incident then got escalated to the caliph of the time; then the incident would surely have been widely reported by all historians.

Read More... Bahlool Dana and Abu Hanifa Read More!

Grey shades in Ilm al Rijal

Synopsis: Rijal of ibn al Ghadairi (available here in English) is arguably the best book of rijal for us Shias, being one of the oldest extant works of rijal, and most importantly, it actually seeks to provide jarh and ta'deel of narrators unlike the works of Tusi and Najahi which are primarily concerned with recording the books of the early shia authors and do not provide the same level of information on jarh and ta'deel as ibn al Ghadairi (perhaps, it is due to this reason, that the biggest marja of the time, Ayatullah Sistani, prefers rijal ibn al Ghadairi over the faharis of Tusi and Najashi). Yes, the authenticity of the book available now is disputed, however it is beyond the scope of this post to analyse that.

 The point of this post is to simply examine, that is the field of ilmur rijal that black and white, and simple, as some people think (..or wish) it to be? To investigate this, this post looks at whether ibn al Ghadairi simply made blanket judements, that so and so is weak and reject all his ahadith, or is it actually a more detailed and complex matter, and if so, then how have the scholars approached it? As we shall see, in most cases, ibn al Ghadairi did not make blanket black and white judgements, instead he would often say "sometimes (his ahadith) are accepted and other times not", this post investigates this issue further.

أصول الحديث - تأليف : الدكتور الشيخ عبد الهادي الفضلي

"Principles of hadith" by Ayatullah Dr Abdul Hadi al Fadli 

 قال الشيخ المامقاني في الفائدة الخامسة من مقدمة كتابه (تنقيح المقال): (إنه قد تكرر من أهل الرجال، سيما ابن الغضائري (ره) في حق جماعة من رجالنا قولهم: (يعرف حديثه وينكر) أو (يعرف تارة وينكر أخرى) وإنا وإن كرنا في (مقباس الهداية) ما ذكروه في المراد بالعبارة، إلا أنا لكثرة وقوعه في كلمات أصحابنا أهمنا شرح الكلام فيه هنا أيضا، فنقول: قد صدر منهم في المراد بالعبارة (أقوال):

أحدها: أن بعض أحاديثه معروف وبعضها منكر.

وأن المراد بالمنكر ما لا موافق له في مضمونه من الكتاب والسنة، وبالمعروف ما يوافق مضمونه بعض الأدلة.

ثانيها: أن بعض أحاديثه منكر مخالف للأدلة في مضمونه، وبعضها معروف له موافق فيها.وهذا يقرب من سابقه.

ثالثها: أن المراد بالمنكر الأعاجيب على حد ما قاله الشيخ (ره) في ترجمة جعفر بن محمد بن مالك ⁽¹⁾، ويقابله قوله (يعرف).

رابعها: ان المراد أنه يقبل تارة ولا يقبل أخرى.

خامسها: ان المراد به أنه يعرف معنى حديثه، وينكر بمعنى أنه مضطرب الألفاظ... وقد اختار هذا التفسير بعضهم حيث قال: إن الظاهر من قول ابن الغضائري: (يعرف وينكر) اضطراب الحديث.

سادسها: أن قوله (يعرف وينكر) تفسير لقوله (مختلط)، ومعنى اختلاف الحديث أنه لا يحفظه على وجهه

Shaikh al Mamqani wrote in the fifth section of the preface of his book "Tanqihul maqal": The authors of rijal, especially Ibn al Ghadairi, would often use the phrase "his hadith is accepted and rejected" or "sometimes accepted and rejected at other times" while profiling our ahadith narrators. Although we explained this in our book "Miqbasul hidayah", but due to the constant occurence of this phrase, we considered it important to explain this here as well.

So we say, scholars have offered the following explanations

Some of his ahadith are accepted and some are rejected

Some of his ahadith contain content that is supported by external evidences, and some others have content which is not supported

The ahadith which are rejected are the ones which mention strange things in its content, as mentioned for example by Shaikh Tusi in the biography of Ja'fer b. Muhammad b. Malik, and the ones which do not have such strange content are accepted

Sometimes his ahadith are accepted and at other times not

The meaning of his ahadith are accepted but it is not considered an exact word to word rendition from the infallibles (as). Some scholars adopted this explanation, saying Ibn al Ghadairi's phrase "accepted and rejected" means that the hadith is not a word to word rendition

It referes to mix-up, in that he does not remember the ahadith as it is

Read More... Grey shades in Ilm al Rijal Read More!

Geographical limitations of Shia ilm al rijal

Synopsis: In the past, I had posted this article (click here) outlining the major problem of mursal narrations in the Shia books of rijal. This article is second in that series, and outlines the next problem of geographic limitations. While Shia ilmur rijal enjoys the advantage that its main books of rijal and their authors are from both Western Persia (such as the rijal and fihrist books of Shaikh Tusi and Najashi, as well as Shaikh al Barqi, Shaikh Saduq etc etc; which are from Baghdad and Qum) as well as Eastern Persia aka Greater Khorasan (such as books of Shaikh Ayyashi, Kashi and Fadl bin Shadhan which are from Samarqand, Kash and Nishapur), which provides very good coverage of Shia hadith narrators as the bulk of Shia narrators were based in Persia; however, it can not be ignored that due to lack of telecommunications and modern travel arrangements in those times, the Shia books of ilm al rijal do have geographic limitations.

"Authority of the mursal narrations of trustworthy narrators" by Ayatullah Murtada Hussaini Shirazi, Page 159 (original Arabic page posted at the bottom of the post)

"To conclude, the narrators who lived in the academic centres and the close by and primary cities such as Baghdad and Qum, and their likes, information about their tawtheeq and jarh is prevalent in the books of rijal because it was easier for the scholars of rijal such as Shaikh Najashi and others to have information about them, hence the they presented a lot of information about narrators from such areas, in contrast to the narrators from far away cities; as obtaining knowledge about them was difficult and the chance of missing out on information about a lot of them is great."

"Ijtihad and taqlid in ilm al rijal" by Ayatullah Muhammad al Sanad al Bahrani, page 124 (original Arabic page posted at the bottom of the post)

"The research into the sources of information about hadith narrators and the books of rijal is not sufficed just by the six books of rijal and its like which were compiled in the academic centres of Kufa, Baghdad and Qum; for although these centres of knowledge were primary and leading centres, but it does not dismiss the presence other Shia centres of knowledge for ahadith and narrations, such as the centres of Raayy, Nishapur, Jowzjan, Astrabad (Gorgan), Shiraz, Egypt, Aleppo, Makkah etc, with differences in their strength and weakness; but nonetheless that does not negate their presence in itself.

That is why Shaikh Saduq spent great time travelling to cities like Khurasan, Merv, Samarqand, Bukhara etc; as well as other great scholars such as al Tala'kbari."

"Hujjiyah marasil al thiqat al mu'tamidah" page 159, collection of Ayatullah Murtada al Hussaini al Shirazi's lectures, compiled by Syed Hazim al Miyali and Shaikh Zaid al Kadhmi

"Al Ijtehd wa al Taqleed fi Ilm al Rijal" page 124, collection of Ayatullah Muhammad al Sanad al Bahrani's lectures; compiled by Shaikh Hasan al Kashani, Shaikh Mujtaba al Iskandri and Shaikh Muhammad al Mikbas

Read More... Geographical limitations of Shia ilm al rijal Read More!

Jabar ibn Hayyan, the chemist, a student of Imam Ja'far al Sadiq (as)?

This article is divided into four sections:

1)  Determining whether the infallibles (as) actually had advanced knowledge of natural sciences (in fact anything which is not directly related to Islamic issues)?

2) What did the Shia mutaqaddamin (the classical scholars) say about Jaber ibn al Hayyan?

3) On what basis do latter Shia clerics claim that Jaber ibn Hayyan was a student of Imam Ja'fer al Sadiq (as)?

4) Examining one of the famous earliest sources which mention Jaber ibn Hayyan (most importantly, what does it actually say)?

5) Investigating the claim that Jaber ibn Hayyan's studentship of Imam Ja'far al Sadiq (as) is a unanimous view of all Muslims, and upheld by major sunni scholars and historians (please note, this article is only concerned with academic scholarly view, examination of lay people views is beyond scope due to irrelevance)

Important note: This article has not dealt with the views of each individual orientalist scholar (such as Donaldson etc) who have written about Jaber but without providing solid sources or at the very best citing same original sources which have been examined in themselves in this article, to avoid digression and repetition. Similarly, the views of some strict rijali scholars, such as Ayatullah Shaikh Hussain al Radhy who believes in the view of Jaber being a student of Imam al Sadiq (as), have been ignored for individual consideration as they are based on the same sources which have been examined in this article. Same applies for all other clerics.

Did the infallibles (as) even have knowledge of natural sciences?

'Al Ijtihad' by Ayatullah Fadlullah, Page 240 (Arabic page posted at bottom of the post)

'As for what is the extent of their (the infallibles) knowledge, so that is a separate issue (apart from their infallibility). There are scholars who say that the infallibles do not have the knowledge of ghaib, for Syed al Murtada and a large group of our classical scholars believed that the Prophet (pbuh) and the Imams (as) do not have any knowledge other than what they have been assigned to preach in terms of religious teachings and jurisprudence. As for other fields of knowledge such as physics and chemistry, so those are fields which they (the infallibles) did not have any knowledge of.'

ويقول الشيخ الطوسي أيضاً في كتابه المذكور: «ولم نوجب أن يكون [الإمام] عالماً بما لا تعلُّق له بالأحكام الشرعية

Shaikh Tusi wrote in his book Talkhis al Shafi (Volume 1 page 252): "It is not wajib for the Imam to have any knowledge of things which are not directly related to Islamic laws.  

What did the early Shia rijal scholars say about Jaber b. Hayyan? 

أعيان الشيعة - السيد محسن الأمين - ج ١ - الصفحة ٦٦٩

A'yan al Shia by Ayatullah Muhsin al Amin, Volume 1 Page 669

  لم يذكر أحد من أصحابنا الذين ألفوا في رجال الشيعة وأصحاب الأئمة كالطوسي والنجاشي ومن عاصرهم أو تقدمهم أو تأخر عنهم جابر بن حيان من تلاميذ الصادق ولا من أصحابه ولا ذكروه في رجال الشيعة وهم أعرف بهذا الشأن من غيرهم

None of our rijal scholars such as Shaikh Tusi and Shaikh Najashi, neither their contemporary scholars or their predecessors and successors, ever mentioned that Jabir bin Hayyan was a student of Imam Ja'far al Sadiq (as) or his companion. Neither did any of our early rijal scholars include him in the list of shia rijal, and these scholars knew better about this issue than anyone else.

'Imam al Sadiq and the four madhabs' by Ayatullah Asad Haydar, Page 445 (Arabic page posted at bottom of the post)

'Some scholars are of the view that Jaber ibn Hayyan is just a fictitious character, and the name is a fabrication, invented by the authors in this field (i.e. chemistry/alchemy). They support this view by the fact that while the personality of Jaber ibn Hayyan is supposed to be great, yet there is no mention of him at all in Arabic history.' 

What are the sources which mention Jaber b. Hayyan, upon which the modern shia clerics base their information?

 معجم رجال الحديث - السيد الخوئي - ج ٤ - الصفحة ٣٢٨

Mu'jam Rijal al Hadith by Ayatullah Khoei, Volume 4 Page 328

 جابر بن حيان:
الصوفي الطرسوسي، أبو موسى من مشاهير أصحابنا القدماء، كان عالما بالفنون الغريبة وله مؤلفات كثيرة أخذها من الصادق عليه السلام، وقد تعجب غير واحد من عدم تعرض الشيخ والنجاشي لترجمته، وقد كتب في أحواله وذكر مؤلفاته كتب عديدة من أراد الاطلاع عليها فليراجعها، قال جرجي زيدان في مجلة الهلال على ما حكي عنه: " أنه من تلامذة الصادق عليه السلام، وإن أعجب شئ عثرت عليه في أمر الرجل أن الأوروبيين اهتموا بأمره أكثر من المسلمين والعرب، وكتبوا فيه وفي مصنفاته تفاصيل، وقالوا إنه أول من وضع أساس الشيمي الجديد وكتبه في مكاتبهم كثيرة، وهو حجة الشرقي على الغربي إلى أبد الدهر

 Jabir b. Hayyan is one of the famous classical scholars. He was an expert in rare fields of knowledge, and he has many works which he compiled by gaining knowledge from Imam Ja'far al Sadiq (as). Many scholars have been surprised due to lack of any mention of him at all by Shaikh Tusi and Shaikh Najashi.

Many books have been written about him and his works, one who wishes to know further should refer to them. Jurji Zaydan (a secular Lebanese novelist and journalist from a Christian family, who also briefly became a free mason) wrote in his magazine 'al Hilal': "He was from the students of Imam Ja'far al sadiq (as), and the most surprising thing I have seen  about him is that the Europeans have given more importance to him than the Muslims and the Arabs themselves. They have written detailed works about him and his books, and they say that he is the first one to establish the foundations of modern alchemy (practical chemistry) and their libraries contain many of his books. He is the hujjah for the East over the West till the end of times."

 تنقيح المقال للعلامة المامقاني ,الجزء الرابع عشر ::: 16 ـ 30

 Tanqihul Maqal by Allama Mamqani, Volume 14 Page 26

حصيلة البحث

    أقول : إنّ موضوع رجال الشيخ والنجاشي هو ترجمة وذكر رواة الشيعة وليس موضوع كتابهما ذكر المخترعين والفلاسفة والشعراء أو غيرهم من أرباب العلوم ، ولعله لهذا لم يذكرا المعنون ، فتفطّن.
    وقد عنونه وترجم له ابن النديم في فهرسته وابن خلكان وغيرهما ؛ لأنّ موضوع تآليفهم أعمّ من الرواة وغيرهم

The bottomline is that the topic of Rijal al Tusi and Rijal al Najashi is to deal with the biographies of Shia narrators of ahadith. Their topic is not to deal with inventors, philosophers, poets or scholars from other fields of knowledge, so perhaps that is why they did not mention him, so think about it.

Ibn al Nadim (385 AH), Ibn al Khalikan (a latter shafi'i scholar) and others did list him because the topic of their books was more encompassing than just narrators of hadith and others.

As Ibn al Nadim is one of the  earliest sources which mention Jaber b. Hayyan, who exactly is Ibn al Nadim?

معجم رجال الحديث - السيد الخوئي - ج ١٦ - الصفحة ٧٢

Mu'jam Rijal al Hadith by Ayatullah Koei, Volume 16 Page 72

- محمد بن إسحاق أبي يعقوب النديم:
أبو الفرج صاحب الفهرست المعروف بفهرست ابن النديم، ذكره النجاشي في ترجمة بندار بن محمد بن عبد الله.
وقد نقل عن فهرسته الشيخ الطوسي - قدس سره - في الفهرست في موارد، منها: ترجمة داود بن أبي زيد (285).
أقول: الظاهر أن الرجل من العامة، وإلا لترجمه النجاشي والشيخ في كتابيهما، ولم يثبت وثاقته أيضا، فإن مجرد نقل النجاشي والشيخ عنه لا يدل على وثاقته

 Muhammd b. Ishaq abi Ya'qoob al Nadim: Abu Faraj, author of the book 'Al Fhrist' which is famous as 'Fihrist ibn al Nadim'. Shaikh Najashi mentioned him in the biography of Bindar b. Muhammd b. Abdullah. Shaikh Tusi also quoted from his Fihrist (i.e. Fihrist ibn al Nadim) in his Fihrist (i.e. Fihrist al Tusi), including in the biography of Dawood b. abi Zaid.

I (i.e. Ayatullah Khoei) say: "It is apparent that this man (Ibn al Nadim) is from the 'aama, and other than him being mentioned by Najashi and Tusi in their rijal books, his reliability is also not established, because after all just a mere quotation of him by Najashi and Tusi does not prove his reliability."

المفيد من معجم رجال الحديث - محمد الجواهري - الصفحة ٤٩٨

'Al Mufid min Mu'jam Rijal al Hadith' by Shaikh Jawahiri, page 498

محمد بن إسحاق أبي يعقوب النديم: أبو الفرج صاحب الفهرست المعروف بفهرست ابن النديم - عامي - مجهول

 Muhammd b. Ishaq abi Ya'qoob al Nadim: Abu Faraj, author of the book 'Al Fhrist' which is famous as 'Fihrist ibn al Nadim'. A majhool aami.

Regardless of Ibn al Nadim being a majhool 'aami, what did he actually say about Jaber b. Hayyan?

وجاء في "الفهرست" لابن النديم: ((هو أبو عبد الله جابر بن حيان بن عبد الله الكوفي المعروف بالصوفي واختلف الناس في أمره فقالت الشيعة أنه من كبارهم وأحد الأبواب وزعموا أنه كان صاحب جعفر الصادق رضي الله عنه وكان من أهل الكوفة

Ibn al Nadim wrote in al Fihrist (page 435): He is (his full name is) Abu Abdullah Jaber b. Hayyan b. Abdullah al Kufi, better known as the sufi. The people have differed about his affair. The Shia claim that he is one of their greats and one of the 'baab', and they believe that he was a companion of Imam Jafer al Sadiq (ra) and a resident of Kufa.

 What do sunni scholars and historians say about Jaber ibn al Hayyan?

سيرالأعلام والمشهورين في العرب صنعة كانت متداولة بين الكتاب والوراقين.و أشهر هؤلاء على الإطلاق هو أبو عثمان الجاحظ 150-255هـ / 767 -869 م. فإننا لا نجد عنده ذكرا لعالم في الكيمياء اسمه جابر بن حيان

Recording the biographies of scholars and famous people in the Arab world was a popular trade among the writers and compilers, among whom the most well known by far is Abu Uthman al Jahiz (150-255 AH / 767-869 AD). But we do not find any mention from him of a chemist named Jaber bin Hayyan.

 مجموع فتاوى ابن تيمية - (ج 7 / ص 59)
وَأَمَّا جَابِرُ بْنُ حَيَّانَ صَاحِبُ الْمُصَنَّفَاتِ الْمَشْهُورَةِ عِنْدَ الْكِيمَاوِيَّةِ فَمَجْهُولٌ لَا يُعْرَفُ وَلَيْسَ لَهُ ذِكْرٌ بَيْنَ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمِ وَلَا بَيْنَ أَهْلِ الدِّينِ

Collection of Ibn al Taymiyyah's fatawa (Volume 7 page 59): "As for Jaber ibn Hayyan, author of works that are famous among chemists, is a majhool person. He is unknown and there is no mention found of him among the people of knowledge and religion." 

'Al Ijtihad' by Ayt Fadlullah, Page 240

'Imam al Sadiq and the four madhabs' by Ayt Asad Haydar, Page 445

Read More... Jabar ibn Hayyan, the chemist, a student of Imam Ja'far al Sadiq (as)? Read More!

Ilm al Rijal in Shiaism

Translator's note: Original Arabic text is posted at the bottom.

Buhuth fi Ilmur Rijal (Discourses on the study of Hadith Narrators) by Ayatullah Muhammad Asif al Muhsini (The greatest living Shia scholar of rijal), Page 51-52:

Shia scholars of Ilm al Rijal, such as Shaikh Tusi, Shaikh Najashi and others, were not present in the age of the companions of the Prophet (pbuh), Imam Ali (as) or the latter Imams (as), which could enable them (Shia Rijal scholars) to issue statements in their favour based on direct contact. Therefore it is necessary for their (Shia rijal scholars') verdicts on hadith narrators to be based either on assumptions, verdicts issued via direct contact which had reached them through the generations, or it is possible that some of their verdicts are based on the former and others on the latter. There is no fourth way.

So essentially, none of the verdicts deducted via these methods are authoritative, since the first method is based on conjecture therefore it is not authoritative for us because the intelligent people rely on the word of the trustworthy person, only on the perception and what is close to it, without any far fetched conjectures. As for the second method, so most of the tawtheeqs (declaration of a narrator being reliable) are mursal (not mentioning the original source) due to the lack of mention of the issuer of the verdicts (on hadith narrators) in the books of rijal most of the time.

Mursal reports are not relied on. Yes, a number of tawtheeqs have been reported with sanad (chain of narration), such as in the book Rijal al Kashi. Such reports are without a doubt authoritative and reliable when their isnad (chains of narration) are reliable.

So the result is that mursal tawtheeqs are akin to Shaikh Tusi saying Imam al Sadiq (as) said so and so, without mentioning the sanad of the hadith and therefore it would not be acceptable for us. Therefore, similarly if Shaikh Tusi reports that Mus'adah b. Sudqah was among the companions of Imam al Sadiq (as) and he is thiqah (trustworthy), then this report is no different from the hadith mentioned without the sanad. So if the former is unacceptable then how can the latter be acceptable?

I had asked Ayatullah Khoei regarding this problem while I was his student in Najaf (Iraq), but he did not have a sufficient answer and would say, "when my book on Rijal has been published then find your answer in it". So when the book was published, I saw that it answered only my first question regarding whether the tawtheeqs are based on conjecture, without answering the second question, which was more important for me, regarding the verdicts on rijal being based on mursal reports. So I asked him again.

And also, the book was not able to establish that all the tawtheeqs are based on reported statements, rather, it only proved that most of them are based on reported statements and not all of them are based on conjecture, and this amount is established by studying the books of Rijal. However, this was not sufficient (to answer the question) as you know.

And I had presented this question to a group of contemporary scholars such as Ayatullah Muhsin al Hakim, Ayatullah Hilli (in the shrine of Imam Ali), Ayatullah Milani (in the shrine of Imam al Reda) and Ayatullah Khomeini (in Najaf) and others, as well as a group of scholars in Qum, but none of them had an adequate answer.

Read More... Ilm al Rijal in Shiaism Read More!

Abdullah ibn Saba

كتاب  نقد الرجال الجزء الثالث  مؤلف السيد مصطفى بن الحسين الحسيني التفرشي

Naqd ar Rijal, Volume four by Syed al Tafrishi

   3091 / 131 ـ عبد الله بن سبأ :

    الذي رجع إلى الكفر واظهر الغلو ، من أصحاب علي عليه السلام ، رجال الشيخ

    وقال الكشي : حدثني محمد بن قولويه القمي قال : حدثني سعد بن

عبد الله بن أبي خلف القمي قال : حدثني محمد بن عثمان العبدي ، عن يونس بن عبد الرحمن ، عن عبد الله بن سنان قال : حدثنا أبي ، عن الباقر عليه السلام أنّ عبد الله بن سبأ كان يدعي النبوة ، ويزعم أنّ أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام هو الله تعالى عن ذلك ، فبلغ أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام فدعاه وسأله ؟ فأقر بذلك ، وقال : نعم ، أنت هو وقد كان اُلقي في روعي أنّك أنت الله وأنّي نبي ، فقال  أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام : ويلك قد سخر منك الشيطان فارجع عن هذا ثكلتك اُمّك وتب ، فأبى فحبسه واستتابه ثلاثة أيام فلم يتب ، فأحرقه بالنار.

    وذكره العلامة في الخلاصة مرتين ( مرة ذكر أنّ عبد الله من أصحاب أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام ، الذي رجع إلى الكفر وأظهر الغلو ) ومرة ذكر أنّ عبد الله بن سبأ ، غال ملعون ، حرقه أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام بالنار ، وكان يزعم أنّ علياً عليه السلام إله ، وأنّه نبي لعنه الله

Abdullah ibn Saba

One who reverted to kufr (disbelief) and expressed ghulu, from the companions of Ali (as). [Rijal Shaikh Tusi]

Al Kashi said: Told me Muhammad b. Qoloweh al Qumi who said: Told me Sa'd b. Abdullah b. abi Khalaf al Qumi who said: Told me Muhammad b. Uthman al 'Abdi, from Yunus b. Abdur Rahman, from Abdullah b. Sinan who said: Told us my father from al Baqir (as) that Abdullah ibn Saba was a claimant of prophet-hood and purporting that Ali (as) is Allah (swt) by that, so when Ali (as) came to know of it he (as) summoned and questioned him. So he confessed of that and said, "Yes, you are Him (swt) and I have cast in my soul that you are Allah (swt) and verily I am a prophet." So Ali (as) said: "Woe to you! the devil has overtaken you so turn back from this, your mother be bereft of you, and repent." So my father imprisoned him and asked him to repent for three days but he did not repent, so he (as) burnt him in the fire.

And Allama (Allama Hilli) mentioned him in Khulasah (Khulasat al aqwal) twice. He once mentioned that Abdullah ibn Saba was among companions of Ali (as) who reverted to kufr and expressed ghulu, and once mentioned that Abdullah ibn Saba was an accursed ghali, Ali (as) burnt him in the fire, and he was purporting that Ali (as) is Allah (swt) and that he (la) is a prophet.

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Weak narrators

الجزء الثاني من كتاب الرجال

   مؤلف: تقي الدين الحسن بن علي بن داود الحلي قدس سره

Kitab al Rjal, Volume Two, Compiled by: Shaikh Ibn Dawood (ra) 

 8  فصل

     

في ذكر جماعة اطلق عليهم الضعف :
    1 ـ إبراهيم بن عمر الصنعاني قر ( جخ ، غض ).
    2 ـ أحمد بن القاسم أبو السراج ( غض ).
    3 ـ أحمد بن محمد بن سيار.
    4 ـ أحمد بن محمد بن عبيدالله بن الحسين بن عياش ( جش ) اضطرب في آخر عمره.
    5 ـ أحمد بن محمد أبو عبد الله الآملي الطبري ( جش ).
    6 ـ إسحاق بن الحسن بن بكران بن الحسين التمار ( جش ).
    7 ـ إسماعيل بن سهل الدهقان ( جش ).
    8 ـ إسماعيل بن يسار الهاشمي ( جش ).
    9 ـ إسماعيل المكي مولى محمد ابن الحنفية الاشاعثة ( كش 
    10 ـ بكر بن أحمد بن إبراهيم الاشج ( جخ ).
    11 ـ بكر بن صالح الرازي مولى بني ضبة ( جخ ، غض ).
    12 ـ الحارث بن عمر البصري ( جخ ).
    13 ـ الحارث بن المغيرة النصري ( كش ).
    14 ـ الحبيب بن جري العبسي ( جخ ) مشكوك فيه.
    15 ـ حريز بن عبدالله السجستاني ( جش ) جفاه الصادق عليه السلام وحجبه عنه.
    16 ـ الحسن بن الحسين اللؤلؤي.
    17 ـ الحسن بن أسد الطغاوي ( غض ).
    18 ـ الحسن بن راشد مولى بني العباس ( غض ).
    19 ـ الحسن بن العباس بن الحريش ( جش 

 20 ـ الحسن بن علي بن زكريا البزوفري العدوي ( غض ).
    21 ـ الحسين بن أحمد المنقري ( جخ ).
    22 ـ حمدان أبو جعفر.
    23 ـ خالد بن طهمان أبو العلاء الخفاف السلولي ( جش ).
    24 ـ سالم بن مكرم أبو خديجة الجمال ( جخ ).
    25 ـ سلمة بن الخطاب أبو الفضل البراوستاني ( غض ).
    26 ـ سليمان بن داود المنقري ( غض ).
    27 ـ صالح بن الحكم النيلي الاحول ( جش ).
    28 ـ عبدالله بن أبي زيد الانباري ( جخ ).
    29 ـ عبداللله الحكم الارمني ( جش ).
    30 ـ عبدالله بن داهر بن يحيى الاحمري.
    31 ـ عبيدالله بن الدهقان الواسطي ( جش ).
    32 ـ عبدالله بن الهلقام ( جخ ).
    33 ـ عبد العزيز بن أبي ذئب ، وهو عبد العزيز بن عمران ضعفه ابن نمير.
    34 ـ عبد العزيز العبدي ( جش ).
    35 ـ عبدالملك بن المنذر القمي ( جش ).
    36 ـ عكرمة مولى ابن عباس ( كش ).
    37 ـ علي بن حسان بن كثير الهاشمي ( جش ) ضعيف جدا ( كش ) واقفي ( غض ) مخلط.
    38 ـ علي بن رميس البغدادي ( جخ ).
    39 ـ علي بن محمد القاشاني ( جخ ).
    40 ـ عمارة بن زيد أبو زيد الخيواني المدني ( غض ).
    41 ـ عمرو بن شمر أبو عبد الله الجعفي ( جش

 42 ـ القاسم بن الربيع الصحاف ( غض ).
    43 ـ محمد بن اورمة ( جخ ، غض ) اتهم بالغلو.
    44 ـ محمد بن عبدالملك كوفي ( جخ ).
    45 ـ محمد بن علي الهمداني ( جخ ).
    46 ـ محمد بن الفضيل الازدي كوفي ( جخ ).
    47 ـ محمد بن هارون ( جخ ).
    48 ـ محمد بن يحيى المعاذي ( جخ ).
    49 ـ معلي بن خنيس مولى أبي عبدالله ( جش ) ممويه ( جخ ).
    50 ـ موسى بن رنجويه أبوعمران الارمني ( جش ).
    51 ـ موسى بن سعدان الخياط ( جش ).
    52 ـ مياح المدائني ( جش ).
    53 ـ يوسف بن حماد كوفي ( كش ).
    54 ـ يوسف بن السخت البصري ( غض ).
    55 ـ يوسف بن يعقوب الجعفي ( كش

Section 8

A mention of the group of people on whom weakness is attributed.

1) Ibrahim b. Umar al San'ani (Tusi, Najashi)

2) Ahmad b. al Qasim abu al Seraj (Ghadairi)

3) Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Sayyar

4) Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Ubaidullah b. al Hussain b. Ayyash, (Najashi) became confused in his last days.

5) Ahmad b. Muhammad abu Abdullah al Amuli al Tabari (Najashi)

6) Ishaq b. al Hasan b. Bakran b. al Hussain al Tammar (Najashi)

7) Ismail b. Sahl al Dahqan (Najashi)

8) Ismail b. Yasar al Hashmi (Najashi)

9) Ismail al Makki slave of Muhammad b. al Hanafiyya al Asha'athah (Kashi)

10) Bakr b. Muhammad b. Ibrahim al Ashuj (Tusi)

11) Bakr b. Saleh al razi client of Bani Dhabah (Tusi, Ghadairi)

12) Al Harith b. Umar al Basri (Tusi)

13) Al Harith b. al Mughirah al Nusri (Kashi)

14) Al Habib b. Jari al 'Ubsi, (Tusi) there is doubt in him

15) Haridh b. Abdullah al Sijistani, (Ghadairi)al Sadiq (as) shunned him and withheld from him.

16) Al Hasan b. Hussain al Lu'lu'wi

17) Al Hasan b. Asad al Taghavi (Najashi)

18) Al Hasan b. Rashid client of Bani Abbas (Najashi)

19) Al Abbas b. al Abbas b. al Huraish (Ghadairi)

20) Al Hasan b. Ali al Zakariya al Bazoofri al 'Adwi (Ghadairi)

21) Al Hussain b. Ahmad al Munqri (Tusi)

22) Hamdan abu Ja'far

23) Khalid b. Tuhman abu al 'Ala al Khafaf al Salooli (Najashi)

24) Salim b. Mukarram abu Hudhaifa al Jamal (Tusi)

25) Salmah b. al Khattab abu al Fadhal al Barawastani (Ghadairi)

26) Sulaiman b. Dawood al Munqri (Najashi)

27) Saleh b. al Hakam al Neeli al Ahwal (Ghadairi)

28) Abdullah b. abi Zayd al Anbari (Tusi)

29) Abdullah al Hakam al Armani

30) Abdullah b. Dahir b. Yahya al Ahmari (Najashi)

31) Ubaidullah b. al Dahqan al Wasiti (Najashi)

32) Abdullah b. al Halqam (Tusi)

33) Abdul Aziz b. abi Dha'b, and he is Abdul Aziz b. Imran, weakened him ibn Numair

34) Abdul Aziz al 'Abdi (Najashi)

35) Abdul Malik b. al Mundhir al Qumi (Najashi)

36) Ikramah slave of Abbas (Kashi)

37) Ali b. Hassaan b. Kathir al Hashmi, (Najashi) very dha'eef (weak) (Kashi), a Waqifi, (Ghadairi) confused/deranged

38) Ali b. Ramees al Baghdadi (Tusi)

39) Ali b. Muhammad al Qashani (Tusi)

40) 'Amarah b. Zaid abu Zaid al Khaiwani al Madni (Ghadairi)

41) 'Amru b. Shimr abu Abdullah al Ju'fi (Najashi)

42) Al Qasim b. al Rabi' al Sahaf (Ghadairi)

43) Muhammad b. Ormah, (Tusi, Ghadairi) they accused him of doing ghulu

44) Muhammad b. Abdul Malik Koofi (Tusi)

45) Muhammad b. Ali al Hamdani (Tusi)

46) Muhammad b. al Fudhail al Azdi al Kufi (Tusi)

47) Muhammad b. Haroon (Tusi)

48) Muhammad b. Yahya al Mu'adhi (Tusi)

49) Muhammad b. Khunais slave of abi Abdullah (as) (Tusi)

50) Musa b. Ranjwieh abu Imran al Armani (Najashi)

51) Musa b. Su'dan al Khayyat (Najashi)

52) Miyah al Madaini (Najashi)

53) Yusuf b. Hammad Koofi (Kashi)

54) Yusuf b. al Sakht al Basri (Ghadairi)

55) Yusuf b. Ya'qoob al Ju'fi (Kashi)

Translator's note: The names mentioned in parenthesis are the names of the scholars who weakened these narrators.

Read More... Weak narrators Read More!

Non Imami reliable narrators

  الجزء الأول من كتاب الرجال

   مؤلف: تقي الدين الحسن بن علي بن داود الحلي قدس سره

Kitab al Rjal, Volume One, Compiled by: Shaikh Ibn Dawood (ra)

2  فصل 

    في ذكر جماعة قال النجاشي إنهم ثقات في روايتهم مع أن مذاهبهم مضطربة غير صحيحة :
    أحمد بن أبي بشير السراج ثقة واقفي

 أحمد بن الحسن بن إسماعيل ثقة واقفي.
    أحمد بن محمد بن علي بن رباح السواق أبو الحسن ثقة واقفي.
    أحمد بن محمد بن سعيد بن عبدالرحمن الهمداني جليل ثقة زيدي جارودي.
    إسحاق بن بشير أبو حذيفة الكاهلي الخراساني ثقة عامي.
    جعفر بن محمد بن سماعة الحضرمي ثقة واقفى.
    الحسين بن أحمد بن المغيرة أبو عبد الله البوشنجي عراقي مضطرب المذهب ثقة في روايته.
    الحسن بن محمد بن سماعة أبو محمد الكندي الصيرفي فقيه من فقهاء الواقفة ثقة.
    حميد بن زياد بن حماد بن زياد الدهقان واقفي ثقة.
    عباد بن صهيب قال الكشي كان مرجئا وقال النجاشي : كان ثقة.
    علي بن محمد بن علي بن قيس بن سالم أبو الحسن الوساق ، ويقال القلاء ، روى عن عمر بن رباح عن أبي عبدالله عليه السلام ، قال النجاشي ويقال عمر بن رباح القلاء ، وقيل في كنيته أبو القاسم كان ثقة في الحديث واقفيا في المذهب معتمدا.
    محمد بن عبدالله بن غالب أبو عبد الله الانصاري البزاز ثقة في روايته على مذهب الواقفة.
    هارون بن مسلم بن سعدان الكاتب ، قال النجاشي : ثقة وجه وكان له مذهب في الجبر والتشبيه.
    يحيى بن سالم الفراء قال النجاشي كوفي زيدي ثقة.
    يحيى بن سعيد القطان أبو زكريا قال النجاشي عامي ثقة

Section 2:

A mention of the group of people about whom Shaikh Najashi (ra) said: "Verily they are trustworthy in their narrations although they are confused upon their incorrect madhabs."

Ahmad b. Bashir al Seraj, thiqah (trustworthy), Waqifi

Ahmad b. al Hasan b. Ismail, thiqah (trustworthy), Waqifi

Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Ali b. Rabah al Sawaq abu al Hasan, thiqah (trustworthy), Waqifi

Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Saeed b. Abdur Rahman al Hamdani, dignified, thiqah (trustworthy), Zaydi Jaroodi

Ishaq b. Bashir abu Hudhaifah al Kahili al Khurasani, thiqah (trustworthy), 'Aami

Ja'far b. Muhammad b. Sama'a al Hadhrami, thiqah (trustworthy), Waqifi

Al Hussain b. Ahmad b. al Mughirah abu Abdullah al Bushnaji Iraqi, confused in his madhab, thiqah (trustworthy) in his narrations.

Al Hasan b. Muhammad b. Sama'a abu Muhammad al Kindi al Seerafi, a faqih among the Waqifi fuqaha, thiqah (trustworthy).

Hamid b. Ziad b. Hamad b. Ziad al Dahqan, Waqifi, thiqah (trustworthy)

Ibad b. Suhaib, Al Kashi said: "He was a Murj'i." And al Najashi said: "He was thiqah (trustworthy)."

Ali b. Muhammad b. Ali b. Qais b. Salim abu al Hasan al Wasaq, and is said to be al Qula'(patient of Alkalosis), al Najashi said: "Umar b. Rabah said he is al Qula'.", and it was said that his kunyah is Abu al qasim, he was thiqah (trustworthy) in the hadith, a Waqifi in madhab, reliable.

Muhammad b. Abdullah b. Ghalib abu Abdullah al Ansari al Bazzaz, thiqah (trustworthy) in his narration, on the madhab of the Waqifis.

Haroon b. Muslim b. Su'dan al Katib, al Najashi said: "Thiqah (trustworthy) apparently, was on the madhab of Jabr (pre destination/fatalism) and tashbih (anthropomorphism)."

Yahya b. Salim al Fara', al Najashi said: "From Kufa, a thiqah (trustworthy) Zaydi."

Read More... Non Imami reliable narrators Read More!

Mukhtar al Thaqafi

كتاب  نقد الرجال الجزء الرابع  مؤلف السيد مصطفى بن الحسين الحسيني التفرشي

Naqd ar Rijal, Volume four by Syed al Tafrishi

   5200 / 1 ـ المختار بن أبي عبيدة الثقفي :
    روى الكشّي عن حمدويه قال : حدّثني يعقوب ، عن ابن أبي عمير ، عن هشام بن المثنى ، عن سدير ، عن أبي جعفر ( عليه السّلام ) قال : لا تسبوا المختار  فإنّه  قتل قتلتنا وطلب بثأرنا وزوج أراملنا وقسم فينا المال على العسرة .
    ثمّ روى أحاديث تدل على مدحه. وذكر أيضاً أحاديث تنافي ذلك.
    وقال العلّامة في الخلاصة : روى ابن عقدة  أنّ الصادق ( عليه السّلام ) ترحم عليه

Al Mukhtar bin abi 'Ubaidah al Thaqafi

Al Kashi narrated from Hamduyah who said: Told me Ya'qoob, from ibn abi Umar, from Hisham b. al Muthna, from Sadeer, from abi Ja'far (as) who said: "Do not curse al Mukhtar for verily he killed those who killed us and sought our revenge and wed our widows and distributed among us the wealth during poverty."

Then narrated ahadith proving upon his commendation, and similarly mentioned ahadith that negate that.

And Allama (al Hilli) said in al Khulasah: "Ibn 'Uqdah narrated that al Sadiq (as) invoked mercy upon him."

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Hadhrat Bilal (ra), the mo'adhin of the Prophet (pbuh)

كتاب  نقد الرجال الجزء الأول  مؤلف السيد مصطفى بن الحسين الحسيني التفرشي

Naqd ar Rijal, Volume one by Syed al Tafrishi

 808 / 2 ـ بلال بن رياح  :
    مولى رسول الله صلى الله عليه واله ، شهد بدرا ، وتوفي بدمشق في الطاعون سنة ثماني عشرة ، كنيته أبو عبد الله ، وقيل : أبو عمر ، ويقال : أبو عبد الكريم، مدفون بباب الصغير بدمشق ، من أصحاب الرسول صلى الله عليه واله ، رجال الشيخ.
    وقال الكشي : قال أبو عبد الله محمد بن إبراهيم ، قال : حدثنا علي بن محمد بن يزيد القمي ، قال : حدثني عبيدالله  بن محمد بن عيسى ، عن ابن أبي عمير ، عن هشام بن سالم ، عن الصادق عليه السلام ، قال : كان بلال عبدا صالحا ، وكان صهيب عبد سوء ، يبكي على عمر.
    وروى الشيخ قدس سره في التهذيب : عن محمد بن علي بن محبوب ، عن معاوية بن حكيم ، عن سليمان بن جعفر ، عن أبيه ، قال : دخل رجل من أهل الشام على أبي عبد الله عليه السلام فقال له : إن أول من سبق إلى الجنة بلال ، قال : ولم ؟ قال : لأنه أول من أذن

Bilal b. Riyah

Slave of Rasool Allah (pbuh), witnessed Badr, and died in Damascus because of plague in the eighteenth year after hijrah. His kunyah was "Abu Abdullah", and it is also said to be "Abu Umar" and "Abu 'Abd al Kareem". He is buried in Bab al Sagheer at Damascus. He was from companions of the Prophet (pbuh).

(Rijal al Shaikh Tusi)

And al Kashi said: Abu Abdullah Muhamad b. Ibrahim said: Told us Ali b. Muhammad b. Yazid al Qumi, who said: Told me Ubaidullah b. Muhammad b. 'Isa, from ibn abi Umair, from Hisham b. Salim, from al Sadiq (as) who said: "Bilal was a pious slave, while Suhaib was an evil slave who would cry upon Umar."

And the Shaikh (Tusi) (ra) narrated in al Tahdhib: From Muhammad b. Ali b. Mahboob, from Muawiyah b. Hakim, from Sulaiman b. Ja'far, from his father who said: A man from the people of Syria entered upon abi Abdullah (as), so he (as) said to him: "Indeed the first one who proceeded to the heaven is Bilal." He said: "And why?" He (as) said: "Because he is the first one who said adhan (the call to prayer)."

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