Rayahin al-shari'a (book)
 Bibliographical Information | |
| Author | Dhabih Allah Mahallati |
|---|---|
| Original title | رَیاحین الشَریعَة |
| Language | Persian |
| Series | 5 volumes |
| Subject | Shiite lady scholars |
| Published | 1411/1990-1 |
| Publisher | Dar al-Kutub al-Islamiyya |
Rayāḥīn al-sharī'a (Arabic: رَیاحین الشَریعَة) is a book concerning the biographies of Shiite lady scholars written by Dhabih Allah Mahallati (1310/1892-3 -1406/1986) in Persian. The author begins the book with a biography of Fatima al-Zahra (a) and closes it with her virtues. He devoted the first two volumes of the book to well-known women from Ahl al-Bayt (a) and in the subsequent volumes, he introduced well-known Shiite ladies in an alphabetic order. The last volume concerns well-known, influential non-Shi'a women from the period of the prophet Adam (a) to the period of Qajar.
The Author
The author of Rayahin al-shari'a was Dhabih Allah Mahallati (b. 1310/1892-3) who has also authored books such as Kashf al-ghurur aw mafasid al-sufur (the obligations of women), Ma'athir al-kubra fi ta'rikh Samarra, Fursan al-hayja’ and the like. Mahallati died in 1406/1986. His corpse was buried in the courtyard of Hamza b. al-Imam al-Kazim's (a) shrine in Rey.
Contents
The book is concerned with the biographies of Shiite lady scholars. According to Mahallati, many Shiite lady figures who are not mentioned in other sources have been introduced in the book.
- The first volume and half of the second volume of the book are concerned with titles, kunyas, birth, miracles, virtues, the practice, moral character, and the martyrdom of Fatima al-Zahra (a). The second half of the second volume is concerned with biographies of Amina, Khadija, Umm Salama, 'A'isha, the Prophet's (s) daughters (Zaynab, Umm Kulthum, and Ruqayya), and Fidda the housemaid of Fatima al-Zahra (a).
- The third volume of the book consists of three chapters: the first chapter concerns the mothers of the Imams (a) very briefly. In the second chapter, the author wrote about the life of Lady Zaynab (a) and the characters of other ladies in the Event of Karbala. From the third chapter onwards, the author begins to talk about the characters and biographies of Shiite lady scholars. The third chapter of the third volume concerns Shiite ladies whose names begin with the letter, "alif" (ألف).
- Volumes 4 and 5 concern other women whose names begin with the rest of the alphabetic letters.
The second chapter of volume 5 and the whole volume 6 concern the biographies of well-known ladies of the past nations, such as Eve, Sarah the wife of the prophet Abraham (a), Asiya the wife of the Pharaoh up to ladies of the Qajar period, such as Parwin I'tisami. In his introduction to the 6th volume, the author says that the volume is not limited to Shiite ladies; rather it has introduced all well-known or influential ladies. He closes the book with some virtues of Fatima al-Zahra (a).
Sources
In writing the book, the author referred to many sources, such as 'Ashir bahar, Nasikh al-tawarikh, and Khasa'is fatimiyya.
Method
The book is alphabetically ordered. The volumes 3 to 5 which are about the biographies of Shiite lady scholars are alphabetically ordered, based on their first names which are separated with "bt." (the daughter of) from their fathers' names.
The author has referred to lady scholars whose names he did not know as "banu" (lady) under the alphabetic letter, "b" (ب).
References
- The material for this article is mainly taken from ریاحین الشریعه (کتاب in Farsi WikiShia.