Basa'ir al-darajat (book)

Baṣaʾir al-darajāt al-kubrā fī fadāʾil Āl Muḥammad (Arabic:بَصائِر الدَرَجات الکُبری في فَضائِل آلِ محمد), known as Baṣaʾir al-darajāt (Arabic: بَصائِر الدَرَجات), one of the early Shia hadith sources, written by Abu Ja'far Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Saffar (d. 290/902-3), who was a companion of Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari (a) and a renowned scholar of the 3rd/9th century.

Basa'ir al-darajat

Bibliographical Information
Author	Abu Ja'far Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Saffar
Original title	بصائر الدرجات الکبری في فضائل آل محمد
Language	Arabic
Series	1 Vol.
Subject	Excellences of Ahl al-Bayt (a)
Genre	Hadith
Published	1404/1984
Publisher	Maktaba Ayatullah al-Mar'ashi al-Najafi
Full text	Shiaonlinelibrary

Basa'ir is a hadith collection with a theological approach whose hadiths are about the imamate, how to know an Imam (a) and the virtues of Ahl al-Bayt (a).

About the Author

Main article: Muhammad b. al-Hasan al-Saffar

Muhammad b. al-Hasan b. Farrukh al-Saffar was a companion of Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari (a) and one of the prominent hadith transmitters of the 3rd/9th century.

Introduction of the Book

Sa'd b. 'Abd Allah al-Qummi, the great hadith scholar, who was a contemporary of al-Saffar, also had a book with the same title. Sa'd's book, which, according to al-Shaykh al-Tusi, had four parts, was summarized by al-Hasan b. Sulayman al-Hilli and published under the title Mukhtasar Basa'ir al-darajat.

Some scholars maintain that the Basa'ir attributed to al-Saffar is in fact a reproduction of Sa'd's book. Other scholars believe that Basa'ir was originally written by al-Saffar, and then Sa'd b. 'Abd Allah summarized and reproduced al-Saffar's work.

Basa'ir seems to have been smaller in the beginning. The author then expanded it and produced an updated copy. This is why we have two versions of the book: Basa'ir al-darajat al-sughra (The Lesser Basa'ir) and Basa'ir al-darajat al-kubra (The Greater Basa'ir). The latter version is the one that has been published.

Content

Basa'ir al-darajat contains 1,881 hadiths; it has ten main parts, and each part contains 10 to 24 sections. Most of the hadiths of this book are recorded in their complete form.

Writing Style

Although it is an early hadith collection, Basa'ir has a well-organized outline, with relevant titles for each section. And when sometimes the author has not been able to find a suitable title for, he has called the section "Nadir" (Rare).

One of the characteristic of the book is that the author has mentioned the complete chains of transmitters for the hadiths but he has not made any comments on the hadiths and has only quoted them.

Theme

This work is not only a hadith collection but also a theological source. The major theme of the book is imamate.

External Links

• Basa'ir al-darajat.pdf