Rawdat al-wa'izin wa basirat al-mutta'izin (book)

Rawdat al-wa'izin

Bibliographical Information
Author	Al-Fattal al-Neyshaburi
Original title	رَوضَة الواعِظین و بَصیرة المُتَّعِظین
Language	Arabic
Subject	Biography of Ahl al-Bayt (a)
Published	1423/2002-3
Publisher	Qom:Al-Sharif al-Radi

Rawḍat al-wāʿiẓīn wa baṣīrat al-muttaʿiẓīn (Arabic: رَوضَة الواعِظین و بَصیرة المُتَّعِظین) written by al-Fattal al-Neyshaburi (d. 508/1114-5) was among the scholars of the 5th/11th and the 6th/12th centuries. The book is about the lives of the Prophet (s) and the Ahl al-Bayt (a) and it has been compiled in 96 parts and have always been referred to by great religious scholars.

Author

Main article: Muhammad b. Hasan al-Fattal al-Nayshaburi

Muhammad b. Hasan al-Fattal al-Nayshaburi (d. 508/1114-5), known as Ibn Fattāl (إبن فتّال) and Ibn al-Fārsī (إبن الفارسي), was among Shi'a scholars of 5th/11th and 6th/12th century. He was among Ibn Shahrashub's sources of hadiths and transmitted hadiths from al-Shaykh al-Tusi and al-Sharif al-Murtada. He wrote two books called Rawdat al-wa'idin and al-Tanwir fi ma'ani al-tafsir. Also, some have attributed Munis al-hazin to him. Al-Fattal al-Nayshaburi was killed by Shihab al-Islam. He is mentioned as martyr.

Name and Topic of the Book

The name of the book has been recorded in some sources as Rawdat al-wa'izin wa tabsirat al-mutta'izin.

It is about history and virtues of the Infallibles (a) and also advice and moral instructions and according to the author, the book is about the major and minor topics in religion, piety and moral instructions.

Content

Similar to books of Amali, this book is compiled in 96 parts:

• Three parts about intellect and its significance and wonders manifesting greatness of God.
• Parts 4 to 6 about prophethood.
• Parts 7 to 11 about Imam Ali (a)
• Part 12 about Abu Talib's faith and biography of Fatima bint Asad
• Part 13 to 16 about Lady Fatima (s)
• Part 17 to 31 biographies and virtues of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) and then, about minor topics in religion and moral instruction.

Some parts are extensive (such as the second part) and some are brief (such as the nineteenth part) depending on the topic. In arranging the parts, al-Fattal al-Nayshaburi did not observe historical order, for example, he mentioned the birth of the Prophet (s) after the beginning his mission and has not mentioned some discussions such as the Prophet's (s) wars and ghazwas.

Purpose of Writing

In his introduction, al-Fattal al-Nayshaburi wrote,

"I held sessions for people since I was young and I answered their questions about major and minor topics of religion. Then, they asked me for advice and moral instructions and what to prevent them commit sins and I did not find a collection of such issues gathered in one book, so I tried to do so and collected narrations of the Infallibles (a) and reports about them which was an onerous task. I omitted the references for those narrations, since there is no need for famous sayings to mention their sources."

Value and Validity of the Book

Rawdat al-wa'izin has been a reference since its publication. It is considered as one of the references of Bihar al-anwar. The author insists that he did not mention any hadith in this book unless he found an authentic meaning for it that agreed by Shi'a.

Book's Reference

The references of Rawdat al-wa'izin include al-Kulayni's al-Kafi, different books of Al-Shaykh al-Saduq such as Al-Amali, Al-Khisal, 'Uyun akhbar al-Rida (a), Kamal al-din and Ma'ani al-akhbar, Books of al-Shaykh al-Mufid such as Al-Amali and Al-Irshad, and books of Al-Shaykh al-Tusi.

In some sources, Rawdat al-wa'izin has been attributed to al-Shaykh al-Mufid which is not true. Apparently, by Mufid, such sources did not mean Abu Abd Allah Muhammad b. Muhammad b. al-Nu'man Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad b. Muhammad b. Nu'man]] who passed away in 413/1022, but they meant Muhammad b. Husayn Neyshaburi whose title was "Mufid" and was the grandfather of Abu l-Futuh al-Razi and his brother al-Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman Mufid Neyshaburi.