Riyad al-'ulama' wa hiyad al-fudala' (book): Difference between revisions

'''Riyād al-ʿulamāʾ wa hiyād al-fudalāʾ''' is a book that was written by Mirza 'Abd Allah Afandi (1066 – 1130 AH) and is about biography of [[Shi'a]] and [[Sunni]] scholars. Afandi authored this book in an alphabetical way consisting of ten volumes; five volumes were dedicated to biography of Shi'a scholars, and the other half had to do with Sunni scholars.

Riyad al-'ulama is the most notable work of Afandi. It is compared to Jawahir al-kalam fi sharh sharayi' al-islam (written by Muhammad Hasan Najafi) which is considerable in imami fiqh- in terms of technicality, and it represents the validity and significance of the book. Afandi began to write the book at the age of forty. He was going to author a book on the biography of Shi'i scholars since Occultation of Imam al-Mahdi (aj) to his era, but sometimes he dealt with other subjects. This book remained forever in a draft form, and perhaps that is why there are some neglects in phrases and themes.

 

It is said that he spent half of his life making travels and visited a lot of Islamic territories such as Hijaz, Iraq, Ottoman Empire, Caucasus, Turkestan, Afghanistan and India. He passed away in 1330 AH, before Iran was attacked by Mahmud Afghan. His death place is not known yet.

The sources of Riad al-'ulama' are the most noteworthy works of Shi'a and Sunni including history, tarajum (biographies and autobiographies) and literature. Moreover, he took advantage of geographical sources and deeds of waqf (waqf means a voluntary and irrevocable dedication of one's wealth or a portion of it - in cash or kind such as a house or a garden, etc. and its disbursement for shariah compliant projects such as mosques or religious schools, etc.), and also got permission from scholars to write about their life. Moreover, his findings from his contemporary men has raised the significance of this work. He has quoted exactly the same phrases and has been loyal to the sources, yet he has mentioned the refined instances after correcting and juxtaposing the refrences.

Riad al-'ulama' was written in ten volumes and was sorted alphabetically. It was divided into two parts; the first five volumes were devoted to Shi'a scholars, and the second five volumes to Sunni scholars. Two parts of Shi'a volumes and three parts of Sunni volumes were destroyed, but the editor reconstructed the Shi'a parts according to Mirza 'Abdullah Afandi's ta'liqah on Amal al-'amil, that was written by Shaykh Hurr 'Amili (1030 – 1104 AH, a prominent muhaddith and Twelver Shi'a scholar).

He dealt with the social affairs of his age, and even sometimes touched on the subjects such as khiraj, salat al-jum'ah (Friday prayer), use of tobacco and disagreement between Shi'a and Sunni, and expressed his point of view independently. As were widespread in his era, He was severely opposed to the Sufism, sages and philosophers and believed that Sufi convictions and doctrines ought to be regarded as sins. He was going to author a book on the biography of Shi'a scholars since Occultation of Imam al-Mahdi (aj) to his era, but he sometimes dealt with other subjects.