Wasa'il al-Shi'a (book)

Tafṣīl wasāʾil al-shīʿa ilā taḥṣīl masāʾil al-sharīʿa (Arabic:تفصیلُ وَسائل الشیعة إلی تَحصیلِ مسائل الشّریعة) reputably known as: Wasāʾil al-shīʿa (وسائل الشیعة) is a Shi'a Hadith collection, compiled by al-Shaykh al-Hurr al-'Amili (d.1104/1693). It consists of Shi'a narrative traditions from early Shi'a hadith collections like The Four Books and other sources, pertaining exclusively to jurisprudential matters.

Wasa'il al-Shi'a

Bibliographical Information
Author	Al-Shaykh al-Hurr al-'Amili
Original title	وَسائل الشیعة
Language	Arabic
Series	10 vol.
Subject	Fiqh
Genre	Hadith
Published	1429/2008, Qom
Publisher	Manshurat Dhawi l-Qurba

About the Author

Main article: al-Shaykh al-Hurr al-'Amili

Muhammad b. Hasan b. 'Ali b. Muhammad b. Husayn, widely known as: al-Shaykh al-Hurr al-'Amili, is an Imami jurist and expert in Hadith in eleventh/seventeenth century, who, along his magnum opus, wrote several valuable books. In scholarly circles, he is famous as: "the author of al-Wasa'il". He passed away in Mashhad and was buried in one of the courtyards of the Holy Shrine of Imam al-Rida (a).

Review

Wasa'il al-shi'a is an extensive collection of authentic narrations from the Prophet (s) and the Ahl al-Bayt (a) regarding Shi'a jurisprudence and practical laws. The narrations are classified in fifty categories, and the final section presents various discussions about Hadith sources, the chains of narration and 'ilm al-Rijal (study of transmitters of Hadith). Al-Shaykh al-Hurr al-'Amili compiled these narrations within twenty years, finishing in 1082/1671-2. The book holds distinctive scholarly merits which made it a necessary reference for all scholars and Mujtahids since its compilation.

The Motive

In the introduction, the author writes:

For a long time, I had this idea in mind, to collect narrations about Shari'a and practical laws from reliable books that are at the reach of 'Ulama, for these books, in addition to redundancy and repetition, contain other unrelated traditions that are not helpful for jurists. Therefore, I started to compile narrations pertaining to practical laws, I did whatever I could and I did not take but from reliable and reputable books.

Contents

This great collection, contains 36,000 narrations, dealing with: practical laws, obligations and rituals. The book is an scrutinized selection from authentic early Shi'a Hadith collections and primary manuscripts of early companions.

Important Shi'i hadith collections	Author	Death	Number of hadiths	descriptions
al-Mahasin	Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Barqi	274/887-8	about 2604	Hadiths regarding different topics such as fiqh and ethics
al-Kafi	Muhammad b. Ya'qub al-Kulayni	329/941	about 16000	Variety of hadiths regarding the principles of beliefs, ethics, conducts, and fiqh
Man la yahduruh al-faqih	al-Shaykh al-Saduq	381/991-2	about 5500	Hadiths regarding fiqh
Tahdhib al-ahkam	al-Shaykh al-Tusi	460/1067	about 13600	Hadiths regarding fiqh
Al-Istibsar	al-Shaykh al-Tusi	460/1067	about 5500	Hadiths regarding fiqh
al-Wafi	al-Fayd al-Kashani	1091/1680	about 50,000	Collection of hadiths in the Four Books with eliminating repeated hadiths and explaining some hadiths
Wasa'il al-shi'a	al-Shaykh al-Hurr al-'Amili	1104/1693	35850	Hadiths regarding fiqh in the Four Books and over 70 other collections of hadiths
Bihar al-anwar	al-'Allama al-Majlisi	1110/1699	about 85,000	Hadiths from most of the Infallibles (a) regarding various issues
Mustadrak al-wasa'il	Mirza Husayn Nuri	1320/1902	23,514	Supplementation of hadiths regarding fiqh in Wasa'il al-shi'a
Safinat al-bihar	Shaykh 'Abbas Qummi	1359/1941	10 volumes	an alphabetically ordered index for Bihar al-anwar
Mustadrak safinat al-bihar	Shaykh 'Ali Namazi	1405/1984-5	10 volumes	Supplementation of Safinat al-bihar
Jami' ahadith al-Shi'a	Ayatollah Burujirdi	1380/1961	48,342	Including all Shiite hadiths regarding fiqh
Mizan al-hikma	Muhammad Muhammadi Reyshahri	2022	23,030	564 non-jurisprudential (not regarding fiqh) topics
al-Hayat	Muhammad Rida Hakimi	2021	12 volumes	40 chapters regarding theoretical and practical issues

Features

1. Recording the chain of transmission for each narration.
2. Classification of the narrations and presenting all related narrations in the specified category.
3. Author's random explanation about certain narrations, particularly those that seemingly conflict with other narrations.
4. The author's final inference of all narrations in each group, which is represented as the title for the group.
5. Long and complex narrations were fractionated by the author to fit in their addressed categories.
6. Reference to other related groups at the end of each group. These references in recent published versions have been analyzed and specified by volume and page number in the footnote.
7. An authenticity-based order in each group. That is, each group begins with the most authentic narrations and ends with the weak ones. (according to author's viewpoint)
8. The Twelve Discussions at the final section, introducing Hadith sources and discussing some topics within the discipline of Hadith and 'ilm al-Rijal.

Views about the Book

Sayyid Husayn Sadr says:

Whenever a jurist or Mujtahid looks in this book, he finds what he needs like neatly ordered pearls. There's no issue but to get addressed in this book, which gained the admiration of scholars and is distinguished from other books, like the way the verses of the Qur'an are distinguished from other words.

'Allama Amini writes:

There's no biographical account of al-Shaykh al-Hurr but to contain admirations and appreciations of his great work, Wasa'il al-shi'a

Related Books

1. Tahrir wasa'il al-shi'a wa tahbir masa'il al-shari'a, by: al-Shaykh al-Hurr al-'Amili
2. Ta'liqa 'ala wasa'il al-shi'a, by: al-Shaykh al-Hurr al-'Amili
3. Hidayat al-umma ila ahkam al-a'imma, by: al-Shaykh al-Hurr al-'Amili
4. Sharh wasa'il al-shi'a and majma' al-ahkam, by: al-Shaykh Muhammad Maqabi Bahrani
5. Sharh wasa'il al-shi'a, by: Muhammad Radi Qazwini.
6. Sharh wasa'il al-shi'a, by: Sayyid al-Khoei.
7. Mustadrak al-wasa'il, by: 'Allama Nuri.
8. And seven other books.

Manuscripts

1. Manuscript in the Library of the Holy Shrine of Imam al-Rida (a) in Mashhad. this is the first draft of the book, written by the author himself. The author has dated it: Rabi' I 1072/Oct.-Nov. 1661.
2. Manuscript in the Library of late Ayatollah Mar'ashi Najafi in Qom. This is the second version of the book, written by the author himself and is dated 1082/1671-2.
3. Second manuscript in the Library of the Holy Shrine of Imam al-Rida (a), which dates back to 1114/1702-3. This manuscript is a copy of the third version, which had been written down by the author. Also, this version bears the final amendments and footnotes in the author's handwriting.

Publications

After being recopied countlessly in scholarly circles, the book was published for the first time with the amendments by Shaykh Fadl Allah Nuri in six volumes. Its twenty volume version, with 'Abd al-Rahim Rabbani Shirazi's footnotes was published in 1403/1982-3. In 1414/1993-4,Al al-Bayt Foundation published the book in 30 volumes.