Sayf b. 'Amira
| Full Name | Sayf b. 'Amira al-Nakha'i |
|---|---|
| Companion of | Imam al-Sadiq (a) and Imam al-Kazim (a) |
| Wellknown Relatives | 'Ali and Husayn (sons) |
| Works | Narrating Ziyarat 'Ashura |
Sayf b. 'Amīra al-Nakha'ī (Arabic: سیف بن عَمیره النَخَعی) was a companion of Imam al-Sadiq (a) and Imam al-Kazim (a) from Kufa. He composed an elegiac poem about Imam al-Husayn (a) and wrote a collection of hadiths which is cited by many transmitters of hadiths. Some people believe that he was not an Imami Shi'a, but most Shiite scholars take him to be Imami. He narrated the well-known Ziyarat al-'Ashura.
Biography
There is no information about Sayf b. 'Amira's life and the year of his birth. It is only known that he lived in the periods of Imam al-Sadiq (a) and Imam al-Kazim (a).
Two of his sons, 'Ali and Husayn, were companions of Imam al-Rida (a) and they both wrote collections of hadiths.[1]
Significance as a Transmitter of Hadiths
Sayf b. 'Amira was a reliable transmitter of hadiths who wrote a book[2] which was cited by many well-known and reliable people; including:
- Ibrahim b. Hashim al-Qummi
- Isma'il b. Mihran
- Ayyub b. Nuh
- Hasan b. Ali b. Abu Hamza
- Al-Hasan b. Mahbub
- Hasan b. Ali b. Yusuf b. Baqah
- Abbas b. Amir
- Hammad b. 'Uthman
- Abd al-Salam b. Salim
- Abd Allah b. Jibilla
- Ali b. Asbat
- Ali b. Hadid
- Ali b. al-Hakam
- Ali b. Sayf
- Ali b. Nu'man
- Faddala b. Ayyub
- Muhammad b. Abi 'Umayr
- Muhammad b. Khalid al-Tayalisi
- Muhammad b. Abd al-Jabbar
- Muhammad b. Abd al-Hamid
- Musa b. Qasim
- Yunus b. Abd al-Rahim.[3]
Although some scholars such as Ibn Shahrashub took him to be a Waqifi Shi'a and some others believed that he was not reliable, scholars such as al-Shaykh al-Tusi[4] and Ahmad b. 'Ali al-Najashi[5] considered him as reliable, rejecting his unreliability or being a Waqifi Shi'a.[6]
He was a transmitter of the well-known Ziyarat al-'Ashura.[7]
Significance in Fiqh and Social Ranking
Ibn Nadim referred to Sayf as a Shiite scholar of jurisprudence who transmitted the rulings of jurisprudence from Shiite Imams (a).[8]
It seems that he frequently visited the palace of al-Mansur al-'Abbasi, since al-Mansur, the Abbasid caliphate, asked him a question about a hadith from Imam al-Baqir (a) concerning the Signs of Reappearance of Imam al-Mahdi (a).[9]
He insisted on wearing black clothes for the mourning of Imam al-Husayn (a) in the period of the presence of the Imams (a). It has been referred to in some sources as a practice of some companions of the Imams (a) including him, Umm Salama and al-Mukhtar al-Thaqafi.[10].[11]
Significance in Literature
Sayf b. 'Amira composed a poem about Imam al-Husayn (a).[12] In part of his poem, he explicitly mentions Ruqayya and the story of the Captives of Karbala. By Ruqayya he probably means Ruqayya, the daughter of Imam 'Ali (a), who is mentioned as one of the people who were present in Karbala in the Event of Ashura.
Notes
- ↑ Rufāʿī, Muʿjam mā kataba ʿan al-Rasūl wa Ahl Baytih, vol. 11, p. 58, 98.
- ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Rijāl al-Ṭūsī, chapter "sin", p. 337.
- ↑ Shubbar, Adāb al-luṭf, vol. 1, p. 197 quoting from Rijāl by Sayyid Baḥr al-ʿUlūm.
- ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Fihrist, chapter "sin", p. 224.
- ↑ Najāshī, Rijāl al-Najāshī, chapter "sin", p. 189.
- ↑ Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, vol. 11, p. 327; Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 1, p. 167.
- ↑ Āṣifī, Difāʿ az ziyārat-i āshūrā, p. 31-32.
- ↑ Shubbar, Adāb al-luṭf aw shuʿarā' al-Ḥusayn (a), vol. 1, p. 197 quoting from al-Fihrist by Ibn Nadīm, p. 322.
- ↑ Mufīd, Al-Irshād, vol. 2, p. 370-371.
- ↑ Kāshifī, Chirāʾī sīyāhpūshī, p. 129-155.
- ↑ Hawzah.net.
- ↑ Shubbar, Adāb al-luṭf aw shuʿarā' al-Ḥusayn (a), vol. 1, p. 155-156.
References
- Amīn, al-Sayyid Muḥsin al-. Aʿyān al-Shīʿa. 5th edition. Beirut: Dār al-Taʿāruf li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1403 AH.
- Āṣifī, Muḥammad Mahdī. Difāʿ az ziyārat-i āshūrā. Majalla-yi ʿUlūm-i Ḥadīth. Fall 1388 Sh. No 53.
- Kāshifī, Muḥammad Riḍā. Chirāʾī sīyāhpūshī. Majalla-yi Pursimān. 1381 Sh. No 6.
- Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Biḥār al-anwār al-jāmiʿa li-durar akhbār al-aʾimmat al-aṭhār. 1st edition. Tehran: Nashr-i Islāmiyya, 1363 Sh.
- Mufīd, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-. Al-Irshād fī maʿrifat ḥujaj Allāh ʿalā l-ʿibād. 1st edition. Qom: Nashr-i Kungira-yi Shaykh al-Mufīd, 1413 AH.
- Rufāʿī, ʿAbd al-Jabbār. Muʿjam mā kataba ʿan al-Rasūl wa Ahl Baytih. 1st edition. Tehran: Nashr-i Wizārat-i Irshād, 1371 Sh.
- Shubbar, Jawād. Adāb al-luṭf aw shuʿarā' al-Ḥusayn (a). 1st edition. Beirut: Dār al-Murtaḍā, 1409 AH.
- Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥaasn al-. Al-Rijāl al-Ṭūsī. 1st edition. Qom: Nashr-i Jāmiʿa Mudarrisīn, 1415 AH.
- Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Al-Fihrist. 1st edition. Qom: Nashr-i Kitābkhāna-yi Muḥaqqiq Ṭabāṭabāʾī, 1420 AH.