Al-Bab al-hadi ashar (book)

Al-Bab al-hadi 'ashar

Bibliographical Information
Author	al-'Allama al-Hilli
Original title	الباب الحادي عشر
Language	Arabic
Subject	Shi'a theological beliefs
Genre	Theology
Published	1412/1991-2, 3rd edition
Publisher	Mashhad: Astan Quds Publication
English translation
En. publisher	London, Royal Asiatic Society, 1928

Al-Bāb al-ḥādī ʿashar (Arabic: الباب الحادي عشر, lit. the Eleventh Chapter) is in fact the eleventh chapter of Minhaj al-salih fi mukhtasar al-misbah. It is one of the most famous Shi'a theological works, and was written by al-'Allama al-Hilli (d. 726/1325).

Author

Main article: al-'Allama al-Hilli

Al-'Allama al-Hilli was a Shi'a scholar of the 8th/14th century. His debates and writings persuaded Oljeitu (Sultan Muhammad Khudabanda) to convert to Shi'a Islam, which in turn led to the spread of Shi'a beliefs in Iran. Al-Allamah al-Hilli has many works on jurisprudence, principles of jurisprudence, theology, philosophy, logics, supplications and other fields of Islamic studies. Because of his vast knowledge, he was the first person to be entitled as Ayatollah.

Overview

Al-'Allamah al-Hilli wrote the book, Minhaj al-salih fi mukhtasar al-misbah (The Path of the Righteous on Summarizing al-Misbah), upon request of the minister, Muhammad b. Muhammad al-Quhadi. It is a summary of al-Shaykh al-Tusi's Misbah al-mutahajjid, a book of supplications and rituals. 'Allamah al-Hilli completed his summary in ten chapters, but added an eleventh chapter to discuss the doctrinal beliefs of Islam. He felt he should add this chapter since the validity of acts of worship is dependent on the correctness of one's belief, and the pleasure of worship comes only after knowing God.

Parts

He has organized this book into seven parts:

1. Proving the Necessary Being
2. His positive attributes
3. His negative attributes
4. Justice
5. Prophethood
6. Imamate
7. The Hereafter

Commentaries

Due to its briefness and - at the same time - comprehensiveness, al-Bab al-hadi 'ashar attracted the attention of many scholars. It was therefore published independently from the other chapters and many commentaries and glosses were written on it. In al-Dhari'a, Aqa Buzurg Tihrani has counted over 20 commentaries for it.

Among these commentaries, that of al-Fadil al-Miqdad, al-Nafi' yawm al-hashr fi sharh bab al-hadi 'ashar, has gained prominence among scholars and Islamic seminaries and has been copied and published several times.

Also, Miftah al-bab, a critical edition of al-Fadil al-Miqdad's commentary, has been published together with another commentary by Abu l-Fath b. al-Makhdum al-Husayni al-'Arabshahi (976/1569), under the title, al-Bab al-hadi 'ashar, li 'Allamah al-Hilli ma' sharhayh.

English Translation

An English translation by William McElwee Miller was published in London in 1928.

Also there are many Persian translations of al-Bab al-hadi 'ashar and of al-Fadil al-Miqdad's commentary.

External Links

• The English translation of al-Bab al-hadi 'ashar by William McElwee