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==External Links==
==External Links==
* The material for this article is mainly taken from [http://fa.wikishia.net/view/کتاب_من_لایحضره_الفقیه کتاب من لایحضره الفقیه] in Farsi Wikishia.
* The material for this article is mainly taken from [http://fa.wikishia.net/view/کتاب_من_لایحضره_الفقیه کتاب من لایحضره الفقیه] in Farsi Wikishia.
[[fa: view/کتاب_من_لایحضره_الفقیه]]
[[fa: view/کتاب_من_لایحضره_الفقیه]]
[[tr:Men La Yahduruhu'l Fakih]]


[[Category:Shiʿa literature]]
[[Category:Shiʿa literature]]

Revision as of 12:05, 27 December 2014

Kitab man la yahduruh al-faqih

Kitāb Man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh (Arabic: كتاب من لا يحضره الفقيه‎) is a hadith collection mainly about fiqh complied by the famous Twelver Shi'a hadith scholar al-Shaykh al-Saduq. This book is among the most reliable Shi'a hadith books and one of The Four Books of Twelver Shi'a hadith.

Name

The full name of this book is "Kitab Man la yahduruhu al-faqih (The word kitab sometimes is not mentioned). Its name literally means The Book for the One Who Does Not Have a Faqih before Him. Some translate the title as Every man his own lawyer.

Contents

In his introduction to the book, al-Shaykh al-Saduq says when he was at Ilaq (a region near Balkh), met one of his friends and one day

[this friend] mentioned a book compiled by Muhammad b. Zakariya al-Razi entitled Man la yahduruhu al-Tabib (Every man his own physician) which is comprehensive, albeit small. So he asked me to compile a book on fiqh and lawful and unlawful for him… which includes all I have written about fiqh … and to name the book Kitab Man la yahduruh al-faqih so that he can refer to it as a reliable book and act according it when needed…

Therefore the book is mainly concerned with fiqh and contains hadiths which are about lawful and unlawful. Since he meant to compile this book as a reference book to help ordinary Shia Muslims in the practice of the legal requirements of Islam, al-Saduq had mentioned hadiths he considered them correct. He says in the introduction of the book:

I did not have the usual intention of compilers (of Hadith books) to put forward everything which they (could) narrate but my intention was to put forward those things by which I issue fatwa and which I am sure of their attribution to the prophet and Imams.

In fact the work represents a definitive synopsis of all the traditions which al-Shaikh al-Saduq had collected and included in individual books on specific fiqh subjects.

Structure

The book encompasses most of the areas of fiqh. It is arranged in small sections (abwab) and every several sections constitute one major topic in fiqh; for example:

  • several sections about the rules of prayer
  • several sections about the rules of fasting
  • several sections about the rules of Judgment
  • several sections about the rules for marriage
  • several sections about the rules of heritage

According to the authors classification the book was arranged in four volumes and 666 sections (abwab). The number of hadiths al-Saduq has narrated in this book is around 6000.

Method

This book is written in the conventional method of that time in which faqihs only narrated the hadiths about the subjects in discussion (in later periods of fiqh, faqihs write their own inferences from hadiths and other sources).

Since this book has been written for ordinary people, generally the isnads of hadiths (that is, the chain of authorities by which the hadith had been received from the Prophet or one of the Imams) is omitted. Al-Shaikh al-Saduq explains in the introduction of the book that "I omitted the isnads, lest the book become voluminous." The scholars, however, could check the isnads in other works of al-Saduq.

Sources

Al-Shaykh al-Saduq says that this work is driven from all hadiths and books he knew. He also gives an account of the works which he has consulted in compiling this book: "all what mentioned in this book is derived from those well-known works that we should rely on them and refer to them." Then he mentions the names of eleven early Shi'a hadith complier whose work he has refer to; such as Hariz b. 'Abd Allah al-Sijistani, 'Ubayd Allah b. 'Ali al-Halabi, 'Ali b. Mahziyar, Husayn b. Sa'id al-Kufi, Ibn al-Wlid al-Qummi, 'Ali b. Babawayh al-Qummi (his father) and etc.

This inclusion of the list of some of the works consulted is an evidence that the works of both al-Shaykh al-Saduq and his predecessor, al-Kulayni, who compiled al-Kafi, the first of the Four Books, represent the zenith of hadith works which had been compiled in a continuous process from the earliest times and at least from the time of Imam al-Sadiq (a).

In addition to these references which the author gives in his introduction he frequently refers to his own works during the course of the book. Thus at the end of his "Bab nawadir al-hajj" (Chapter of Exceptional Traditions of the Pilgrimage), he says: "I have published these nawadir with isnads with others in Kitab jami' nawadir al-hajj."

View

This book has been esteemed as one of the most reliable hadith collections among Shi'a scholars, hence its inclusion in The Four Books. As all hadith collections, however, there is no guarantee of the authenticity of each individual hadith and the reliability of each must be separately assessed.

Commentaries

As one of the major works of Shi'a hadith, 23 commentaries have been written on it so far. Many of these commentaries have been lost or are unpublished transcripts. Among the significant Shi'a scholars who have written commentaries on this book are al-Shahid al-Thani and 'Allama al-Majlisi.

References

  • Amin, Sayyid Mohsin, A'yan al-shi'a, Beirut, Dar Al-Ta'aruf li-l-Matbu'at, 1406AH (vol. 1, p. 122)
  • Bahrani, Yusuf, Lu'lu'at al-bahrayn, Najaf, Dar Al-Nu'man, 1386AH (p. 395)
  • Al-Shaykh al-Saduq, Al-Muqni', Qom, Mu'asisa Imam Hadi (a), 1415AH (p. 5)
  • Al-Shaykh al-Saduq, Kitab man la yahduruh al-faqih, edited by 'Ali Akbar Ghaffari, Qom, Dafter Intisharat Islami, 1413AH (vol. 1, p. 3; vol. 4, p. 180 and pp.538-539 footnote)
  • Nadhari, Mahmud, “Pajhuhishi Darbari Kitab man la yahduruh al-faqih”, Masjid, No. 34, 1376Sh.

External Links