Banu Faddal
| Era | 2nd/8th till 3rd/9th century |
|---|---|
| Lineage | Al-Taymuli |
| Head | Faddal al-Taymuly b. Rabi'a b. Bakr |
| Naming | Banu Faddal |
| Geography | |
| Origin | Iraq |
| Residence | Kufa, Khorasan |
| Well-known Figures | |
| Figures | Al-Hasan b. 'Ali b. Faddal |
| Scholars | Ahmad b. Hasan b. 'Ali b. Faddal, 'Ali b. Hasan b. 'Ali b. Faddal, Muhammad b. Hasan b. 'Ali b. Faddal |
Banū Faḍḍāl (Arabic: بَنو فَضّال) is a family whose ancestry goes back to Faddal al-Taymuli. People from this family were companions of four Shiite Imams (a). Some people take Banu Faddal to be Fatahi Shi'as, and others hold that they believed in the imamate of Imam al-Rida (a). Many hadiths and books have been transmitted from Banu Faddal. Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari (a) is quoted to have ordered people to act upon hadiths transmitted by Banu Faddal, but to ignore their beliefs. Sayyid Abu l-Qasim al-Khoei takes this hadith to be unreliable. In books of rijal, Hasan b. 'Ali b. Faddal and his sons, Ahmad, 'Ali, and Muhammad, are referred to as the most prominent people from Banu Faddal.
The Family
The Banu Faddal Family are Shiite transmitters of hadiths whose ancestry goes back to Faddal b. 'Umar b. Ayman or Faddal al-Taymuly b. Rabi'a b. Bakr, the emancipated slave of Taym Allah b. Tha'laba. According to some people, Taymuli is a title of Banu Faddal.
The family was praised and confirmed as reliable by al-Shaykh al-Tusi and al-Kashshi. They believe that Banu Faddal met, and were companions of Imam al-Kazim (a), Imam al-Rida (a), Imam al-Hadi (a), and Imam al-'Askari (a). Ibn Idris believed that Banu Faddal were "cursed unbelievers" and misguided, but al-Mamaqani believed that given the praises of al-Shaykh al-Tusi, al-Kashshi, Ibn Tawus, and al-Najashi, it is wrong to refer to Banu Faddal as misguided.
According to some scholars, Banu Faddal were Fatahis, although they later came to believe in the imamate of Imam al-Rida (a), Imam al-Hadi (a), and Imam al-'Askari (a) and became their close companions.
Prominent Figures
In books of rijal, Hasan and his sons, Ahmad, 'Ali, and Muhammad, are known as members of the Banu Faddal family. There is no account of Faddal al-Taymuli, his son 'Ali and other members of the family.
Hasan b. 'Ali b. Faddal
Hasan b. 'Ali b. Faddal (d. 224/838-9) was a close companion of Imam al-Rida (a), a Shiite scholar of rijal, and one of the People of Consensus. On al-Kashshi's account, Hasan b. 'Ali b. Faddal was a Fatahi Shi'a, although he admitted the imamate of Imam al-Rida (a) at the time of his death.
Ahmad b. Hasan b. 'Ali b. Faddal
Ahmad b. Hasan b. 'Ali b. Faddal was a companion of Imam al-Hadi (a) and Imam al-'Askari (a) who died in 260/873-4.
'Ali b. Hasan b. 'Ali b. Faddal
'Ali b. Hasan b. 'Ali b. Faddal was a jurists from Kufa and was a companion of Imam al-Hadi (a) and Imam al-'Askari (a). There is no information about his dates of birth and death. According to al-Mamaqani, he was 18 years old when his father died.
Ayatollah Khoei quotes al-Kashshi as saying that 'Ali migrated to Iraq and Khorasan, where there was no person more knowledgeable in jurisprudence than him. He protected all hadiths from the Imams (a) and had memorized most of them.
Muhammad b. Hasan b. 'Ali b. Faddal
Muhammad b. Hasan b. 'Ali b. Faddal was a companion of Imam al-Hadi (a) and Imam al-'Askari (a). There is no information about the dates of his birth and death and his work. Some people believe that he is not a reliable transmitter of hadiths. Others believe that he was a teacher of al-Shaykh al-Saduq, but Ayatollah Khoei rejects this account.
Transmission of Hadiths and Books
Banu Faddal transmitted many hadiths and books concerning various issues. "Hasan b. 'Ali b. Faddal" appears in the chains of transmitters of 297 hadiths. "Ahmad b. Husayn b. 'Ali b. Faddal" has transmitted hadiths concerning issues such as ghusl, the virtues of mosques, transactions, marriage, khums, conditions of the clothes of worshipers, slaughter (Dhabh), and the Funeral Prayer.
The books, al-Bisharat, Radd 'ala al-ghāliya (rejection of those who exaggerate about the Shiite Imams), al-Nawadir, and al-Nasikh wa l-mansukh, are attributed to Hasan b. 'Ali. Kitab al-wudu' (the book of wudu'), Kitab al-salat (the book of prayer), Kitab al-zakat (the book of zakat), Kitab al-tanzil min al-Qur'an wa l-tahrif (a book about the Qur'an and distortion), Kitab al-fara'id (book of obligations), Kitab al-mawa'iz (book of sermons), Kitab al-tafsir (book of Quranic exegesis), Kitab ithbat imamat 'Abd Allah and Kitab wafat al-Nabi (book of the demise of the Prophet (s)) are attributed to 'Ali b. Hasan. He also wrote a book under Asfiya' Amir al-Mu'minin (the selectees of Amir al-Mu'minin (a)). Some people believe that this book was against Imam 'Ali (a).
In response to a group of Shi'as who had cast doubts over the reliability of Banu Faddal's books and hadiths, Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari (a) is quoted as saying, "accept what they have transmitted; and leave what they have believed".
Some people appeal to this hadith to show that all hadiths from Banu Faddal are reliable, but Ayatollah Khoei takes the hadith itself to be unreliable.
References
- The material for this article is mainly taken from خاندان بنیفضال in Farsi WikiShia.