Shaikh Mohammed bin Yaqoob bin Ishaq Kulaini. & Al Kafi
ABTV video on Kulaini | Shrine Loacted in Baghdad pictures | Shia pedia
Birth: His exact year of birth has not been recorded. However, it is mentioned that his birth had already taken place by start of the imamate of the 11th Imam, which lasted from 254 A.H to 2560 A.H. Thus if he was 9-10 years old at this time, (an age when children begin to understand matters), then he must have been born around 250 A.H. He was born in the village of Kulain, about 38 kms from the Iranian city of Raiy, which was an important city at that time. His father was also a scholar. Thus Mohammed bin Yaqoob al Kulayni was born around 250Ah, which was the period of imamate of the 10th Imam, and then when he was a little older, it was the period of the imamate of the 11th Imam.
Kunniyat: His kunniyat (agnomen) was Abu Ja’far.
An interesting coincidence is that the name of all the three compilers of the 4 basic books of ahadeeth( al-kafi, Man la Yahdharuhul Faqih, Tehdheeb ul ehkam and Istibsaar fi mukhtatafil akhbar) is Mohammed, and the kunniyat of all of them was Abu Ja’far. Together they are called ‘mohammaduna thalatha’ or the three Mohammeds. Another interesting fact is that even in later times, around 11th-12th century, three more important books of ahadeeth have been compiled, and the names of the compilers of all these three books are also Mohammed, and are called Mohammedun Thalatha al Awaqib. . These are (1) Mohammed Baqar bin Mohammed Taqi, famous by the name of Allama Majlisi. His book is Biharul Anwar, in 14 volumes. It is a treasure house of the teachings of the AhleBayt. (2) Mohammed bin Murtadha Muhsin Faidh Kashani. And the book is Al Wafi, in 26 volumes (3) Mohammed Hurr e Ameli, the book is Wasael us Shia and covers Shia Jurisprudence. It was originally in 6 volumes, but was later divided into 20 volumes. These scholars are called Mohammedun thalatha al Akhir(the last three Mohammeds).
Title: His laqab(title) was ‘Thiqatul Islam’, the one trusted by Islam and Muslims. He was respected and trusted by all muslims and all have given him this title
Family and early life: His family was very learned and his father was a very well-known alim(scholar) and the sheikh and leader of the other Ulema of the village
Teachers: History has recorded the names of 36 of his teachers, prominent amongst these was Abu Ja’far Barqi Ali bin Samri, and Ali bin Mohammed Samri who later became the 4th special naeb(representative) of the12th Imam. Another of his teachers was Ali bin Ibraheem Qummi, the famous author of tafseer e Qummi. Ali bin Ibraheem Qummi was a companion of the 11th Imam, hence this tafseer has been written by a companion of the 11th imam. This implies that it was written by the author after hearing it from the Imam himself. Hence this tafseer is highly regarded in the circles of learning.
Students: History has recorded the names of 15 of
his outstanding students. The kafi has reached us through three of these. These
are: Ahmad bin Ahmad Katib Toofi,Mohammed bin Ibraheem and Abdullah Safwani.The
latter is a descendent of the companion of the 7th Imam, safwani, to whom the
Imam had said,”Safwan, we like everything about you, except that you hire out
your camels to a cruel, tyrant king. It is related that once when the kazi of
Death: Kulaini died in Baghdad in 329 A.H. The year he died is called ‘tanasirul nujoom’ or the year of the breaking of the stars, because during this year it was observed that a lot of stars appeared to break and fall. Also, it was a year that saw the death of prominent Ulema – Kulayni, followed by the death of the father of Sheikh Sadooq, Ali bin Babwayh Qummi. The 12th Imam’s special naeb(representative), Ali bin mohammed, too, died in this year. This year also marked the beginning of ghaibat e kubra( major occultation) of the Imam. Hence this year is called the year of the breaking of the stars, as it appeared as if the stars of the sky were breaking and falling towards the earth, and stars of the sky of knowledge, too, broke and fell.
His age, when he died is calculated to be about 80 years.
According to the Christian calendar it was the year 941 AD. His salatul mayyit
(prayer over the dead body) was recited by Mohammed bin Ja’far Husseini abu
Qaraat. He is buried in
However Sayyed Ne’matullah Jazaeri had related another event. According to him, a great opponent of Shias established his rule in Baghdad He wanted to stop the people from visiting the graves of the Masoomeen(a), and decided to destroy them. He decided to begin with the grave of The 7th Imam, it being closest to Baghdad. Preparations got underway, when someone informed him that the Shias believe that the bodies of their Imams do not decay in the graves. The king replied,” let the grave be opened. If what they say turns out to be true, I will close the grave with great honor. If I find the body decayed, I will consider my actions justified”. But someone else told him,” you do not need to go far to check their claim, because they claim the same thing for their Ulema as well. One of their Ulema is buried in Baghdad itself. Open that grave. If the body is still fresh, it can be concluded that their faith is the correct one. Thus Kulaini’s grave was opened, the body was found to be so fresh that he appeared to be asleep. Even the color of henna on his nails had not faded. The king was impressed. He ordered the grave to be closed and a dome erected over it
.
Some details about his life: His initial schooling
took place in the city of Raiy. Later, he came to be known as Shaykh ul fuqaha
(the leader of the jurisprudents) in Raiy. Then he migrated to Baghdad and
started teaching there. Even in
His Books: Ruqatul Aimma(a collection of letter penned by the Aimma, Kitab al-rijal( a book about the transmitters of ahadeeth), Kitab ta’beer ar-ru’ya( a book on the interpretation of dreams. It is said that a better book on this topic has not been written till today). Kitab al madh’ al Aimma( a collection of poetry in praise of the Aimma),Kitab ra’d al Qaramata(a book denouncing a sect who had invaded the Kaaba, robbed the Hajar e Aswad, and kept it in their land for 17 years). However, his greatest contribution is the al-kafi.
Al-Kafi: This book is Kulaini greatest contribution. It is a collection of 16,199 ahadeeth, comprising weak and strong ahadeeth, but no forged ones. One of the principal features of the work is that the traditions are presented systematically in chapters according to their subject matter
The Kafi is divided into 3 parts: 2 volumes of Usool e Kafi, comprising ahadeeth on beliefs, 5 volumes of Furoo’ e kafi containing ahadeeth on jurisprudence, and 1 volume of Rawdhatul Kafi. Rawdha means garden. It is a type of shia encyclopaedia, containing ahadeeth not covered in the other volumes. Thus it contains assorted ahadeeth about, eg, the life and times of our Aimma and their opponents.
About the background and importance of Kafi: Conditions during the times of our aimma were very hostile for the shias. Still the companions and students went to the Aimma to gain some knowledge, but before they left home they used to inform their families about their final will, because they could never be sure of returning home. Thus during the 6th Imams’ time, too, his students came to him to learn something, so much so that the Imams’ teachings began to spread everywhere. There was a time during the 6th Imams’ time when Banu Abbas and the Banu Umayyah were fighting for power. They each had already had an enemy to contend with, and could not give much attention to the happenings in Madina.Later when Banu Abbas came to powr, Masoor Dawanaqi decided to shift the capital from Damascus. Thus a new city, Baghdad, was built which again diverted is attention away from madina. His students managed to write books, 400 of which were very important. These are called Usool. But then the tyrant rulers got scared and tried to stem this knowledge from spreading. False mujtahids were brought in, and the “Ulema” attached to the court started issuing fatwa and relating ahadeeth .Going to the Imam to solve ones problems or to learn from him was taken to mean that one was working against the ruler.
Hence we have the case of a man in Kufa, who had divorced
his wife but later regretted his actions. He did not know what to do, When
someone told him to go to
Hence we find that during the 7th Imams’ time, the episode of Ali bin Yakteen. Ali bin Yakteen was a close companion of the Imam, and a minister in the court of Haroon al Rasheed, by the imams’ permission. Once Ali was gifted a very expensive dress by the King. When the dress remained unused for 1 year, Ali sent it to the Imam as part of khums. In those days the khums had to be paid only to the king. Giving khums to anyone else meant instant death. The Imam accepted all other articles, but returned this dress with the message: keep it, you will need it. Later it so happened that Ali fired one of his slaves. The slave went and told the king that Ali has close ties with the Imam of Madina, and has even sent him the dress you gave him, as part of khums. The king immediately summoned Ali and asked him to get the dress. Now Ali understood why the Imam had returned the dress. Ali sent a slave home to fetch the dress. On seeing the dress, Haroon was pleased and ordered the slave to be killed as punishment, and thus Ali bin Yakteen was saved.
Ishaaq bin abi Umair was a companion of the 6th Imam, and had compiled many books. When the ruler got wind of his activities, the police came to arrest him. While the police were arresting him, his sister dug a hole in the courtyard and buried the books there. She exhibited this presence of mind, because she knew very well that she may not see her brother again, but the books must be saved. Thus Abi Umair was arrested, but the sister was unable to meet him. The house was searched by the police, but not a single book was found. Still Abi Umair was not released for 14 years. When he was released, 14 long years had passed. As soon as he came home, the first question he asked was not about his wife or children. The first question he asked was about the books. The sister informed him about their whereabouts. She had been too afraid to retrieve the books, for fear of spies. After 14 years when Abi Umair retrieved them, some of the paper had decomposed, some of the ink had faded. However a major portion of the work was saved. These are the conditions in which the Imam was propagating Islam.
Bear in mind
that till the time of the 11th Imam, the Shias were not overly
concerned about preserving ahadeeth, because whenever they were faced with a
problem an Imam was there to solve it. Even during the initial stages of the
minor occultation, they had recourse to the Imam through his nominated
representatives. But when Husain bin Rouh was appointed the representative, the
Shias grew concerned as their Imam was in occultation and Hussain bin Rouh was
in taqayyah on the orders of the Imam. It was at this time that Kulaini migrated
to
First he collected whatever he could of the 400 books of Usool. Then he sorted them topic-wise. Remember that the students of the Imam would spend the whole day with the Imam and would write down all the queries answered by the Imam, without arranging the material topic-wise. Thus every page was a jumble of topics ranging from Greek philosophy to Indian medicine to salat to beliefs of Islam etc. However, given the circumstances even noting down the queries and their answers was a major achievement. Next, Kulaini himself traveled all over the Islamic world to collect ahadeeth. As soon it would come to his notice that a person in a particular village knows a hadeeth, he would go to that village, even if it entailed journeying over great distances, to hear it from him personally and write it. He refused to appoint anyone else to go in his stead, so that he could be sure that the written hadeeth tallied word for word with what was related by that person. This process went on for 20 years. Thus the kafi came into existence. After Kulaini, this type of work was done by others too, but Kulaini was the first to undertake this task. Today no mujtahid can issue a fatwa without studying every hadeeth of the Kafi. He compiled the book and gave it to his students. During those times writing was not popular, because it was very difficult to get paper and ink. Thus the preferred method was oral transmission. Hence Kulaini would read out the ahadeeth to his students and they would memorize them. Then the students would recite the ahadeeth and he would hear them. When he was satisfied that a student had learnt all the ahadeeth, he would give the student permission to narrate them on his authority. This permission was called Ijaza e Riwayat, and was an important permission in those days. Thus his students were instrumental in spreading these ahaheeth, till such a time when printing became popular and books began to be printed.
Bear in mind that the importance of the 4 basic books (kutub e arba’) for the shias is the same as the importance of the sihah sitta for the ahl us sunna, the difference being that while they claim every hadeeth in the sihah sitta to be sahi(authentic), we make no such claims about every hadeeth contained in these 4 books. It is for the Ulema to investigate and verify the status of each hadeeth. Together the sahi Bukhari and the sahi Muslim contain 7000 ahadeeth, while the Kafi alone contains 16,199 ahadeeth. This, when these two compilers worked in very favorable circumstances, whereas Kulaini worked in a hostile environment, amongst the opponents of Shia Islam, the rulers were against him, and he had no one to help him. Yet he managed to collect more ahadeeth than the compilers of Sahi Bukhari and Sahi Muslim put together.
This was the only book of ahadeeth compiled during minor occultation. Thus it was compiled in the presence of the nominated representatives of the Imam. The 4th and last representative of Imam died shortly after Kulaini’s own death. And, of course the Imam himself was well aware of the existence of this book and also knew that this was going to become a basic book of the Shias. If there was something very wrong about this book, the Imam would have pointed it out or would have forbidden the compilation. But we find that nothing of this kind happened. On the contrary, it is said that Kafi reached Imam e Zamana, and he is reported to have said,”this book is Kafi(enough) for our Shias.” This is one of the reasons it is called Kafi. However this incident is not proved.
MOHAMMED IBNE YAQOOB IBNE ISHAQ KULAINI
http://www.kulayni.com/english/
http://www.ahl-ul-bayt.org/en.php/page,7161A14177.html
It is for this reason that he is also entitled Razi, related to Rey.[1]
Yaqut Hamawi (b 626 Hegira), the renowned geographer, writes:
‘Estakhri (alive in 340 Hegira) has said that Rey is bigger than
Isfahan and after Baghdad, there was no city in the east more
populous [and flourishing] than it, regardless that Nishabur is
bigger from the viewpoint of expansiveness. Rey is one and a half
farsakhs in length and width, and has villages every one of which is
one bigger town.’[2]
Yes, from the early days Rey and its towns have been considered as
part of the Shiite centers; despite that most of the people of Rey
were Hanafi and Shafi’I Sunnis. The tomb of Kulayni’s father, that
is to say, Ya’qub ibn Ishaq, who was one of the prominent Shiites of
those days, is at the present in the village of Kulayn and is a
pilgrimage place for the people of that area.
Ullan Razi (Kulayni’s maternal uncle), and another group of Shiite
religious jurisprudents and scholars of Hadith, like Muhammad ibn
Assam (the student of Kulayni) also came from that [same] village.
Kulayni’s Status in the Islamic World
The trustworthy of Islam Kulayni was born in the era of Imam Hassan
Askari (a), and was a contemporary of four ambassadors and
representatives of the Imam of the Age, may Allah hasten his
reappearance, who were the link between the Shiites and the Imam of
the Age, may Allah hasten his reappearance, in the entire period of
the short occultation of his holiness. Despite that these four
people were considered as being among the greatest religious
jurisprudents and scholars of Hadith, and the Shiites consider them
as highly prominent, but still Kulayni was the most famous
pre-eminent person who lived with respect among the Shiites and
Sunnis in that period and openly endeavored at spreading the correct
school of thought.
All the biographical works have praised him for his truthfulness in
speech and correct conduct and totally encompassing knowledge of
Hadiths to the extent that they have written that both Shiites and
Sunnis used to refer to him to obtain religious verdicts and he was
reliable and dependable in this regard to both schools of thought.
It is for this very reason that he is entitled the trustworthy of
Islam and one of the Islamic scholars who was called by this title
and he is rightly worthy of this great title. Kulayni unparralled in
dependability, justice, piety and virtue, memorization and recording
of Hadiths, which were all attributes of a reliable and fully
qualified religious jurisprudent. In the words of Allama Majlisi:
‘He was, among all our scholars and those who related Hadiths from
him likewise unequalled in the order and arrangement of his book al
Kafi, and this excellence is proof that he had special approval from
Allah.’[3]
Kulayni in the Viewpoints of Shiite Scholars
The mentor of students and front-man of Shiite religious
jurisprudents Sheikh Muhammad ibn Hassan Tusi, writes in his
invaluable book entitled ar-Rijal, section of those who have not
narrated a Hadith from the Imams (a), writes:
‘Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Ya’qub Kulayni was a prominent scholar
knowledgeable about the Hadiths and reports. He has literary works
which have been collected in the book al Kafi. He died in the month
of Sha’ban in the year 329 Hegira and is buried in a place called
‘the Door of Kufa’. We have mentioned his books in the book entitled
al-Fihrist.’[4]
And he cites the names of all of books of al-Kafi and a number of
other books in al Fihrist which we are going to get acquainted with,
and he quotes the chains of transmission of his Hadiths from his
teachers Sheikh Mufid, Hussein ibn Abdullah Ghazairi, Seyyid
Murtatha and Ahmad ibn Abdun.
A prominent scholar of chains of transmission Abul Abbas Ahmad ibn
Ali ibn Abbas, popularly known as Najashi (b 450 Hegira), who has
been known as the most famous Shiite scholar of chains of
transmission and has written his book after al-Fihrist and ar-Rijal
of Sheikh Tusi, thus remembers Kulayni in his renowned and precious
book ar-Rijjal:
‘Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Ya’qub ibn Ishaq Kulayni, Allan Kulayni
Razi is his maternal uncle. Muhammad ibn Ya’qub Kulayni was the
leader of Shiite scholars and their shining face in Rey, and is the
most effective Shiite academic in Hadiths and their recording. He
wrote his magnanimous book entitled al Kafi within a period of
twenty years.’
Then he mentions the books of al Kafi and other writings of Kulayni,
which we are going to explain later.[5]
Besides the Sheikh and Najashi, who are the scholars of
transmissions of Hadith and translation, other people too have
remembered Kulayni or his magnanimous and renowned book al Kafi
whenever they come across his name as the most effective Shiite
scholar in the understanding, narration, recording Hadiths, and the
beauty of the order and arrangement of his book al-Kafi.
Ibn Shahr Ashub Mozandarani, Allama Hilli and Ibn Dawud, according
to custom, have used those same expressions of the Sheikh and
Najashi in praising him.
Seyyid ibn Tawus writes:
‘The trustworthiness and dependability of Kulayni in narration of
Hadiths is unanimously agreed upon by all the scholars.’[6]
Sheikh Hussein ibn Abdul Samad Amuli (the father of Sheikh Bahai)
says:
‘Muhammad ibn Ya’qub was the teacher of scholars in his age and
their front-man and the most dependable academic in Hadith
narration. He was the most knowledgeable and advanced at criticism
of Hadiths.’[7]
Mulla Khalil Qazwini, the famous religious jurisprudent, in the
Farsi commentary on al-Kafi, writes:
‘Friend and foe have all acknowledged his virtue.’[8]
Allama Majlisi, in the commentary on al-Kafi called Marat al Uqul,
has written:
‘Kulayni was acceptable to all the tribes and students of those days
and was praised by all.’[9]
Mirza Abdullah Isfahani, popularly known as Afandi, the renowned
scholar and student of Allama Majlisi, writes:
‘The meaning of “the truthful of Islam”, in most instances in the
books of transmissions of Hadith is Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Ya’qub
ibn Ishaq Kulayni Razi, the author of al-Kafi and other books, that
is to say the pre-eminent Sheikh and Muslim among the ordinary,
learned and scholarly of both sects.’[10]
Kulayni in the Viewpoints of the Sunni scholars
Kulayni is very great in the views of Sunni scholars, especially the
historians who came after him. All have praised him for his
greatness and magnanimity.
Ibn Athir Jazari in the famous book ‘Jami’Usul’ writes”:
‘Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Ya’qub Razi, one of the leaders of the Ahlul
Bait (a) school of thought, is a great, renowned and virtuous
scholar.’
He has also recognized him as the reviver of the Shiite school of
thought.
Ibn Athir quotes a Hadith from the Prophet (s) stating, ‘At the
beginning of every century, Allah raises an individual who revives
His religion and keep it renowned.’
Then he embarks upon explaining this Hadith and says:
‘The scholars of Hadith and the revivers of the Shiite school of
thought were Muhammad ibn Ali Baqir (a) (the fifth Imam) at the
beginning of the first century, Aliibn Musa ar-Ritha in the second
century and Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Ya’qub Kulayni Razi.’[11]
From Ibn Athir’s writing, the position and circumstances of Kulayni
become very clear, and it becomes known that he was the most
pre-eminent Shiite scholar in the second half of the third century
and the first half of the fourth century Hegira who was the reviver
of the [Shiite] school of thought after two Imams (a).
The younger brother of Ibn Athir (Azaddin Ali ibn Athir Jazari), in
the beginning of the events of the year 328 Hegira in the book al
Kamil Fil Tarikh, has also considered Kulayni as the first scholar
who passed away in that year and writes:
‘Muhammad ibn Ya’qub Abu Ja’far Kulayni, one of the scholars and
leaders of the Shiites, died in this year.’[12]
It has to be borne in mind that the contemporary scholar and
researcher Hussein Ali Mahfuz, in the introduction of al-Kafi page
twenty one has mistakenly quoted the expression ‘Jami-ul-usul’ from
Ali ibn Athir in [the book entitled] al-Kamil and has [mistakenly]
imagined that the authors of Jami-ul-Usul and al-Kamil are one and
the same person.
Firuz Abadi (b 818 Hegira), the eminent etymologist, in the book
entitled al Qamus al Muhit has mentioned Kulayni under the
word-heading Kulayn and has recognized him as a Shiite
jurisprudent.[13]
Ibn Hajar Asqalani (b 852 Hegira) in his famous book Lisan al-Mizan-who
has in brief and at length interpreted the states of the Sunni
scholars and sometimes the Shiite up to his era- thus writes about
our great scholar:
‘Muhammad ibn Ishaq Abu Ja’far Kulayni Razi was a resident of
Baghdad and there he used to narrate Hadiths from Muhammad ibn Ahmad
Jabbar and Ali ibn Ibrahim ibn Assim and the others. Kulayni is one
of the Shiite jurisprudents and a person who in their school of
thought has authored a lot of books.’[14]
And also Ibn Hajjar in his other book at-Tabsir has said:[15]
‘Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Ya’qub Kulayni is one of the leaders of the
Shiite scholars who lived during the reign of Muqtadar (the Abbassid
Caliph).’[16]
Besides these ones, whenever the rest of the Sunni scholars have
come across the name of Kulayni, they have remembered him as a great
scholar and renowned faqih too and one of the former leaders of the
Shiites.
Kulayni’s Mentors
The truthful of Islam Kulayni met a lot of great scholars,
jurisprudents and authorities of hadith in the second half of the
third century Hegira in Rey, Qum, Baghdad, Kufa and the other
Islamic lands far and wide, which are obscure to us today, and
compiled what [knowledge] they had preserved and derived benefit
from it and got their permission; authorization from such great men
which was also very valuable to a magnanimous man like him [i.e
Kulayni]. In the book of the authorities of chains of transmission
and translations, they have named up to forty jurisprudents and
scholars of Hadith, every one of whom is considered his teacher and
master, and Kulayni was a student of theirs.
Beside a number of Sunni scholars whom Hajr Asqalani has named, this
number of honorable Shiite jurisprudents and scholars of Hadith whom
we have become acquainted with in the first and second volume of
‘Mafakhir al Islam’ and have named them [both] in brief and in
detail, are among the famous teachers of the trustworthy of Islam,
this former Shiite scholar.
Ahmad ibn Muhammad Issa, Ahmad ibn Idriss Qumi (b 306 Hegira), Ahmad
ibn Muhammad Saeed Hamadani, popularly known as Aqda (b 333 Hegira),
Ahmad ibn Muhammad Assim Kufi, Ahmad ibn Mehran, Ishaq ibn Ya’qub,
Hassan ibn Hanif, Hassan Fazl ibn Yazid Yamani, Husssein ibn Hassan
Husseini Aswad, Hussein ibn Hassan Hashimi Alawi, Hussein ibn
Muhammad ibn Imran Ash’ari Qumi (b 307), Ali ibn Hussein Sa’d Abadi,
Ali ibn Abdullah Khadiji Asghar, Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn
Ibrahim ibn Aban ibn Razi, Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Muamar Kufi,
Muhammad ibn Yahya Attar, are thirty five people altogether, and
other than those.
Kulayni’s Students
This number of Shiite jurisprudents and scholars of Hadith, who were
among our famous scholars in the first half of the middle of the
fourth century Hegira in Iran and Iraq and teachers of a great
number of renowned scholars of the second half of the fourth century
Hegira, they are considered as some of Kulayni’s students.
Ahmad ibn Ibrahim, popularly known as Ibn Abi Rafi Simri, Ahmad ibn
Katib Kufi, Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Saeed Kufi, Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ali
Kufi, Abu Ghalib Ahmad ibn Muhammad Zarari (285-364 Hegira), Ja’far
ibn Muhammad ibn Quluwiya Qumi (368 Hegira), Abdul Karim Abdullah
ibn Nasr Bazaz Tanisi, Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Musa Diqan, Muhammad ibn
Ibrahim Ni’mani well known as Ibn Abi Zainab, who is one of the
special students and acquaintances of him [i.e Kulayni] and copied
his book al-Kafi [in his own hand writing], Muhammad ibn Ahmad
Safwan the resident of Baghdad, who is also was one of his special
students and copied his book al-Kafi line by line [in his own
handwriting] and learned [theoretical] knowledge and [practical]
morals from him and was awarded a prize by Kulayni for his
recitation of the Hadiths, Muhammad ibn Ahmad Sanani Zahri the
resident of Rey, Abul Fazl Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Matlab Shibani,
Muhammad ibn Ali Majluwiya, Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Asam Kulayni,
harun ibn Musa Talakbari Shibbani (b 385 Hegira), totaling fifteen
people altogether, the others are among the category of eminent
[scholars].
Kulayni’s Works
Sheikh Ajal Tusi, and Najashi the scholar of chains of transmission
of Hadith and their authorities, have counted a total of these books
as part of Kulayni’s writings:
1. The Book of Chains of Transmission
2. The Book of Refuting the Qaramatiya
3. The Book of the Imams’ (s) treatises
4. The Book of Interpreting Dreams
5. The Collection of Poems (comprising elegies which poets have
recited in praise of the virtues and graces of the infallible and
pure Ahlul Bait (a).
6. The Book entitled al-Kafi (which we shall treat independently).
Kulayni’s Death and Tomb
The truthful of Islam, this former prominent scholar of Hadith who
in those days was the eyes and torch of light for the Shiites and a
noble source of reference for the scholars of Hadith, including both
the Shiites and Sunnis, after all that pain and struggle and writing
and publication and enlivening the school of thought acceptable to
the infallible and pure Ahlul Bait (a), finally in the year 328 and
329 coinciding with the beginning of the greater occultation of the
Imam of the Age, may Allah hasten his reappearance, died in that
same city Baghdad and let his soul fly high to the garden of rest.
His tomb today is on the eastern side of the Tigris River, near the
old bridge of Baghdad, well known a pilgrimage place for the
Muslims. (The birth day of Kulayni has never been known.)
Sheikh Tusi in the book al Fihrist has recorded the year of
Kulayni’s death as 328 Hegira but Najashi in al Rijjal and the
Sheikh himself too who in his al Rijjal, both of which were authored
after al Fihrist, have explained that Kulayni died in the year 329;
we also believe this date to be authentic. In this year, Sheikh Ajal
Abul Hassan Simri, the fourth representative of the Imam of the Age
also died and with his death, the greater and long occultation of
his holiness began, and Shiite community were placed in a particular
position. But the existence of the book al Kafi, like the bright
star, made the dark night of the Shiites shine luminously to the
extent that the succeeding scholars undertook to completing Kulaynis
work and spreading the light of the infallible Ahlul Bait (a).
1 Mu’jam al Baladan vol. 2 verse 117
[3] Sharh Mashaikhah Min la Yahtharat al faqih P 267
[4] Al Fihrist Sheikh Tusi P 135
[5] Rijjal Najashi P 266
[6] The Introduction of al Kafi
[7] The introduction of al Kafi as quoted from Wusul al Akhbar P 69
[8] The Introduction of al Kafi
[9] Marat ul Uqul vol 1 P 3
[10] The Introduction of al Kafi
[11] Al Rijjal, Abu Ali Hairi,
[12] Al Kamil ibn Athir vol 6 P 274
[13] Qamus al Rijjal vol 4 256
[14] Lisan al Rijjal vol 5 P433
[15]
[16] Rauthat al Janat Fi ahwal al Ulama wa sadat P 525
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Reference: Mafâkher-e Islam’s book (vol:3 Page:40)
