Abu Basir al-Asadi
| Full Name | Yahya b. Abi l-Qasim al-Asadi |
|---|---|
| Companion of | Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (a) • Imam al-sadiq (a) • Imam al-Kazim(a) |
| Teknonym | Abu Muhammad |
| Well Known As | Abu Basir al-Asadi |
| Place(s) of Residence | Kufa |
| Death/Martyrdom | 150/767-8 |
| Burial Place | Kufa |
| Students | Abd Allah b. Hammad al-Ansari • Aban b. Uthman al-Ahmar • Asim b. Hamid al-Hannat • Husayn b. Abi l-'Ala' |
| Works | Manasik al-hajj • al-Yawm wa al-qibla |
Yaḥyā b. Abī l-Qāsim al-Asadī (Arabic: یحیی بن أبیالقاسم الأسدی), known as Abū Baṣīr al-Asadī (أبوبصیر الأسدی) (d. 150/ 767-8), was an Imamiyya figure in Kufa and a companion of Imam al-Baqir (a) and Imam al-Sadiq (a). He is also said to have been a companion of Imam Musa al-Kazim (a).
Teknonym and Lineage
| People of Consensus
Comapnions of Imam al-Baqir (a)
Companions of Imam al-Sadiq (a)
Companions of Imam al-Kazim (a) and Imam al-Rida (a) |
His teknonym was Abu Muhammad, and perhaps he was called Abu Basir (literally, father of the sighted) because he was blind.[1] His father's teknonym was "Abu l-Qasim" and his name is recorded as "Ishaq",[2] but in some sources, his father's name is recorded as "Qasim".[3]
He is called "al-Asadi" because his family had a patronage relation to the well-known Arabian tribe of Banu Asad.[4] Al-Shaykh al-Tusi says, in his book Kitab al-Rijal,[5] that he was from Kufa. He and al-Najashi[6] have mentioned the year of his death.
Companion of three Imams
Abu Basir was a companion of Imam al-Baqir (a) (period of imamate: 95-114/ 713—733), and then he was a companion of Imam al-Sadiq (a) (period of imamate: 114-148/ 733-765). There are many hadiths, both regarding jurisprudence and the principles of Islamic and Shiite beliefs, that have been narrated by Abu Basir,[7] showing that he was an active companion of both Imams (a).
Al-Shaykh al-Tusi took him to be a companion of Imam Musa al-Kazim (a)[8] as well (period of imamate: 148-183/ 765-799). He was only alive during the first two years of Imam al-Kazim (a)'s imamate; thus, there are very few hadiths he narrated from him.
Allegiance to Imam al-Kazim (a)
In various sources, there are narrations by Ali b. Abi Hamza to the effect that shortly after the demise of Imam al-Sadiq (a) when Abd Allah al-Aftah was still alive, Abu Basir al-Asadi went to Hijaz to perform hajj rituals, where he visited Imam al-Kazim (a) and pledged his allegiance to him as an Imam.[9]
Narration of hadiths from Imamiyya narrators
In addition to his immediate narrations from Imams (a), Abu Basir al-Asadi also narrated from some Imamiyya narrators of hadiths, such as Abu Hamza al-Thumali and Salih b. Maytham.[10]
His knowledge of hadiths and his Students
Abu Basir al-Asadi was known as a great bearer of hadiths from Ahl al-Bayt (a) in Kufa, and among those who learned hadiths from him are such figures as Aban b. Uthman al-Ahmar, Asim b. Hamid al-Hannat, Husayn b. Abi l-'Ala' and Abd Allah b. Hammad al-Ansari.[11] He also had some very close students, such as Ali b. Abi Hamza al-Bata'ini, Abd Allah b. Wadah, and Shu'ayn al-'Aqarqufi—Abu Basir's nephew.[12]
Position about deviant Shiite sects
Mukhtariyya and Zaydiyya
Because of his long-term companionship with Imam al-Baqir (a) and Imam al-Sadiq (a), Abu Basir was considered as a main intellectual leader of the Imamiyya community in Kufa. Several stories are showing that Abu Basir was active in an intellectual campaign against deviant Shiite sects, such as Mukhtariyya and Zaydiyya.[13]
Fatahiyya
In 148/765 after the demise of Imam al-Sadiq (a), his senior son, Abd Allah al-Aftah, claimed to be his father's successor in imamate. His followers, called Fatahiyya, were against those Shiites who believed in the imamate of Imam al-Kazim (a) immediately after Imam al-Sadiq (a). This crisis coincided with the last years of Abu Basir al-Asadi's life, and his positions against Fatahiyya made him well-reputed among the followers of Imam al-Kazim (a); they considered him to be among those companions of Imam al-Sadiq (a) who denied Abd Allah al-Aftah's imamate and affirmed the imamate of Imam al-Kazim (a) from the very beginning.[14]
According to accounts provided by Imam al-Kazim (a)'s followers, Abu Basir attacked the basic beliefs of Fatahiyya about imamate.[15] Though in these accounts it is not obvious which Abu Basir is meant, the particular respect for Abu Basir al-Muradi among the followers of Fatahiyya reinforces the thought that this was Abu Basir al-Asadi. It might have been because of the anti-Fatahi positions of Abu Basir al-Asadi that Ibn Faddal, the well-known Fatahi scholar of science of Rijal, took him to be "mukhallat" (confused, that is, having wrong beliefs).[16]
Waqifiyya and Qat'iyya
The next major branching of Imamiyya was when Imam al-Kazim (a)'s followers branched into Waqifiyya (those who denied his demise, believing in his mahdawiyya) and Qat'iyya (those who believed that he was succeeded by Imam al-Rida (a)). This occurred a long time after Abu Basir al-Asadi had passed away. This is why both sects equally respected Abu Basir.
Abu Basir's position in the eyes of Waqifa
Ali b. Abi Hamza al-Bata'ini, who used to be Abu Basir's student, became a leader of Waqifa. Because of his role in narrating the work and hadiths of Abu Basir to the next generations, he was known as the most important narrator of Abu Basir al-Asadi's hadiths even by Qat'iyya (and later Twelver Imamiyya).
Ali b. Abi Hamza and his son, Hasan, who was a Waqifi as well, drew more upon the hadiths by Abu Basir than other companions of Imams (a). Moreover, in the sources of Waqifiyya, some hadiths affirming the views of this sect were narrated from Abu Basir al-Asadi.
Abu Basir's position in the eyes of Qat'iyya
On the other hand, Abu Basir al-Asadi was known by Qat'iyya as a well-reputed and reliable narrator of hadiths, as al-Najashi has pointed out in his Rijal.
Abu Basir's position in the eyes of Imamiyya
He is among the six companions of Imam al-Baqir (a) and Imam al-Sadiq (a), called People of Consensus (Ashab al-Ijma'), that is, there is a consensus by all Shiites that they are reliable narrators of hadiths. In the sources of Twelver Imamiyya, there is a hadith from Abu Basir known as the Hadith of Lawh in which the belief in the twelve Imams and their parentage is elaborated. Since Abd al-Rahman b. Salim—the narrator of the hadith—is accompanied with Ali b. Abi Hamza—in their narration from Abu Basir, and the immediate narrator of this hadith is probably Abu Basir al-Asadi, rather than Abu Basir al-Muradi.[17]
Abu Basir as a Waqifi?
Due to confusions in al-Kashshi's text,[18] some later Imamiyya scholars of the science of Rijal, such as al-'Allama al-Hilli, took Abu Basir Yahya b. Abi l-Qasim al-Asadi to be the same person as Yahya b. Qaism al-Hadha' al-Waqifi, and this is why it has been thought that Abu Basir was a Waqifi.[19] However, since he died in 150/ 767-8 and Waqifiyya was formed in 183/799, this cannot be true.
Works
In addition to scattered hadiths in Imamiyya collections of hadiths narrated by Abu Basir, two works have been attributed to him: Manasik al-hajj (the rituals of hajj) narrated by Ali b. Abi Hamza and Husayn b. 'Ala',[20] and al-Yawm wa l-qibla (the day and Qibla) narrated by Ali b. Abi Hamza al-Bata'ini.[21]
in his Man la yahduruh al-faqih, Ibn Babawayh, has also cited some of Abu Basir's hadiths in jurisprudence narrated by Ali b. Abi Hamza.[22]
Moreover, there are about 20 hadiths concerning the underlying grounds of the laws of Shari'a narrated by Husayn b. Yazid al-Nufali from Ali b. Abi Hamza in 'Ilal al-shara'i' by Ibn Babawayh.[23]
Ibn Babawayh has also cited a combination of Abu Basir's and Muhammad b. Muslim's hadiths from the book, Hadith al-Arba'ami'a, in his al-Khisal.[24]
Moreover, there had existed a writing by Abu Basir regarding the biography of early Imams (a), narrated by Muhammad b. Sinan (and in some chains of narrations, mediated by Ibn Muskan), cited in some old works of Imamiyya and others.[25] Khusaybi has made it explicit that Abu Basir in this chain of narration is Abu Basir al-Asadi.
Notes
- ↑ Kashshī, Ikhtīyār maʿrifat al-rijāl, vol. 1, p. 173, 476; Ṭūsī, Rijāl, vol. 1, p. 140, 333.
- ↑ Ṭūsī, Rijāl, vol. 1, p. 140; Mufīd, al-Ikhtiṣāṣ, vol.1, p. 83.
- ↑ Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, vol. 1, p. 441.
- ↑ Kashshī, Ikhtīyār maʿrifat al-rijāl, vol. 1, p. 173; Ṭūsī, Rijāl, vol. 1, p. 333; Mufīd, al-Ikhtiṣāṣ, vol.1, p. 83.
- ↑ Ṭūsī, Rijāl, vol. 1, p. 333.
- ↑ Ṭūsī, Rijāl, vol. 1, p. 333; Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, vol. 1, p. 441.
- ↑ Barqī, Kitāb al-Rijāl,vol. 1, p. 11, 17; Ṭūsī, Rijāl, vol. 1, p. 140, 333; Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, vol. 1, p. 441.
- ↑ Ṭūsī, Rijāl, vol. 1, p.364; Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, vol. 1, p. 441.
- ↑ Ḥimyarī, Qurb al-isnād, p. 146; Kulaynī, al-Rawḍa min al-kāfī, vol. 1, p. 285; vol. 2, 124; Masʿūdī, Ithbāt al-waṣiyya, vol. 1, p. 167-168; Ṭabarī, Dalāʾil al-Imāma, vol. 1, p. 163, 193.
- ↑ Barqī, Kitāb al-maḥāsin, vol. 1, p. 309; Kulaynī, al-Rawḍa min al-kāfī, vol. 7, p. 185-186; Ṣadūq, al-Amālī, p. 268.
- ↑ Ṣadūq, Mashīkhat al-faqīh, vol. 4, p. 121; Ṭūsī, al-Amālī, vol. 2, p. 95, 157.
- ↑ Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, vol. 1, p. 215, 249; Kashshī, Ikhtīyār maʿrifat al-rijāl, vol. 1, p. 171.
- ↑ Kulaynī, al-Rawḍa min al-kāfī, vol. 1, p. 291; Kashshī, Ikhtīyār maʿrifat al-rijāl, vol. 1, p. 240-241.
- ↑ Kulaynī, al-Rawḍa min al-kāfī, vol. 1, p. 351-352; Kashshī, Ikhtīyār maʿrifat al-rijāl, vol. 1, p. 282-284.
- ↑ Ibn Bābawayh, al-Imāma wa l-tabṣira min al-ḥayra, p. 49, 74; Masʿūdī, Ithbāt al-waṣiyya, vol. 1, p. 161.
- ↑ Kashshī, Ikhtīyār maʿrifat al-rijāl, vol. 1, p. 173, 476.
- ↑ Ṭūsī, Tahdhīb al-aḥkām, vol. 1, p. 443; Ṭūsī, al-Istibṣār, vol. 1, p. 203.
- ↑ Kashshī, Ikhtīyār maʿrifat al-rijāl, vol. 1, p. 474-476.
- ↑ Ḥillī, Rijāl al-ʿallāma al-Ḥillī, vol. 1,p. 264.
- ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Fihrist, vol. 1, p. 178.
- ↑ Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, vol. 1, p. 441.
- ↑ Ṣadūq, Mashīkhat al-faqīh, p. 18.
- ↑ Ṣadūq, ʿIlal al-sharāʾiʿ, vol. 1, p. 15-16.
- ↑ Ṣadūq, ʿIlal al-sharāʾiʿ, vol. 2, p. 610, 637.
- ↑ Ibn Abī al-Thalaj, Tārīkh al-aʾimma, vol. 15; Kulaynī, al-Rawḍa min al-kāfī, vol. 1, p. 461, 463, 468; Khuṣaybī, al-Hidāya al-kubrā, p. 39; Abū l-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī, Maqātil al-ṭālibīyyīn, vol. 1, p. 50; Ibn al-Khashshāb, Tārīkh Mawālīd al-aʾimma wa wafayātihim, vol. 1, p. 161.
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