Ihqaq al-haqq (book)

Ihqaq al-haqq wa ʾizhaq al-batil

Bibliographical Information
Author	Qadi Nur Allah Shushtari
Original title	اِحقاق الحَق و اِزهاق الباطِل
Language	Arabic
Subject	Imamate of Imam Ali (a)
Genre	Theology
Published	1409/1988-9
Publisher	Qom: Ayatollah Mar'ashi Najafi Library

Iḥqāq al-Ḥaqq wa Izhaq al-Bāṭil (Arabic: اِحقاق الحَق و اِزهاق الباطِل) known as Ihqaq al-haqq is a book in theology written by Qadi Nur Allah Shushtari, one of the greatest Shi'a scholar who passed away in 1019/1610. He wrote this book for defending guardianship and imamate of Imam Ali (a) and explaining theological ideas of Shi'a and rejecting the book Ibtal nahj al-batil wa ihmal kashf al-'atil written by Fadl Allah Amin son of Ruzbihan b. Fadl Allah Khunji Shirazi Isfahani who was a great Shafi'i scholar. Fadl Allah Amin has many works, most famous of which is Ibtal nahj al-batil which is rejecting Nahj al-haqq written by al-'Allama al-Hilli who wrote his book for introducing Shi'a to Öljaitü, Muhammad Khodabandeh.. Qadi Nur Allah was martyred because of writing this book.

There have been many researches including translation, commentary, etc. made on this work.

About the Author

Main article: Sayyid Nur Allah Husayni Shushtari

Sayyid Nur Allah Husayni Mar'ashi was born in 956/1549-50 in Shushtar, Khuzestan province. His lineage reached Imam al-Sajjad (a). His father, Sayyid Sharif al-Din was among great scholars of his time. Sayyid Sharif al-Din had many works in intellectual and traditional sciences.

The Author's Goal

After Al-'Allama al-Hilli, the author of Nahj al-haqq passed away, the Sunni Shafi'i Fadl b. Ruzbihan Isfahani wrote Ibtal l-batil wa ihmal kashf al-'atil to reject Al-'Allama al-Hilli's chapter on imamate. In opposition, the martyred Qadi Nur Allah Shushtari also criticized Ruzbehan's book in his Ihqaa al-haqq and defended Al-'Allama al-Hilli's ideas. In fact, Ihqaq al-haqq is a summary of the Shi'a-Sunni debates on theology, prophethood and imamate.

The Cause of Naming

Qadi Nur Allah Shushtari adopted the name of his book from Qur'an 17:81, "And say, 'The Truth has come, and falsehood has vanished. Indeed, falsehood is bound to vanish"; for which, the name of the book mean "Proving the Truth and vanishing the falsehood" to call his readers to the Book of God and proving the Truth.

The Author's Approach

The author has taken the approach of debate and polemic techniques. After the sermon, Qadi Nur Allah has quoted the full text of Ibn Ruzbihan's sermon and then criticizes it.

He then quotes some phrases of Al-'Allama al-Hilli's Nahj al-haqq word by word. Then, he mentions Fadl b. Ruzbihan's criticism and then mentions his own analysis for the whole discussion from historical and logical perspectives.

The Book's Content

In this book, Qadi Nur Allah Shushtari meant to introduce Shi'a's major and minor principles and shows deviations of critics and therefore he has discussed major and minor principles of both Shi'a and Sunni comparatively and has mentions his points in 8 categories:

1. Understanding
2. Opinion and thought
3. God's attributes
4. Prophethood
5. Imamate
6. Hereafter
7. Usul al-fiqh
8. Jurisprudential issues which are in contradiction with the Qur'an and the tradition from Sunni point of view.

Scholars' Views about the Book

Wahid al-Bihbahani wrote, "Anyone who wants to strengthen his beliefs, should refer to the book Ihqaq al-haq, since this book will suffice him from other books."

Muhaqqiq Qummi, author of al-Qawanin wrote, "I believe that if Al-'Allama al-Hilli himself tried to reject Ibn Ruzbihan's claims, he would not be able to defend himself as the martyred Qadi did."

Muhammad Taqi al-Majlisi wrote, "It is necessary that every Shi'a has a copy of this book and read it [regularly.]"

Researches Made about the Book

Complementary Works

• Allama Shaykh Muhamamd Hasan Muzaffar's Dala'il al-sidq li Nahj al-haqq was written as a complementary work for Ihqaq al-haqq which has frequently been published in Iran, Egypt and Iraq.

Glosses

• Gloss written by Al-Shaykh Mufid al-Din 'Abd al-Nabi Shirazi
• Gloss written by Mawla Muhammad Hadi b. 'Abd al-Husayn
• Gloss written by an anonymous grandchildren of Qadi Nur Allah Shushtari.

Commentaries and Supplements

Supplements of Ihqaq al-haqq are 36 volumes including the content list of the supplements which were written and compiled by a group under supervision of Ayatullah Mar'ashi Najafi. He wrote an extensive introduction to them titled as al-La'ali al-muntazama wa al-durar al-thamaniyya.

• Volume 3 is about the complements on the verses revealed about Imam Ali (a).
• Volumes 4 to 11 containing virtues of Imam Ali (a), Lady Fatima (s) and Imam al-Hasan (a) and Imam al-Husayn (a).
• Volume 12 which deals with biography and virtues of the Ahl al-Bayt (a).
• Volume 13 is about Imam al-Mahdi (a).
• Volume 14 is about the supplements about the verses revealed about Imam Ali (a)
• Volume 15 to 33 which is about the supplements on hadiths regarding the virtues of Imam Ali (a) and other Infallible Ones (a).