Kitab Man la yahduruh al-faqih (book): Difference between revisions

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| title_orig = {{iarabic|كِتاب مَن لا يَحضُرُه الفَقيه‎}}

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| subject = [[Fiqh]]

'''''Kitāb man lā yaḥḍuruh al-faqīh''''' (Arabic: {{iarabic|كِتاب مَن لا يَحضُرُه الفَقيه‎}}) 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.

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''.

::[this friend] mentioned a book compiled by [[Muhammad b. Zakariyya al-Razi]] entitled ''Kitab man la yahduruhu al-Tabib'' (The book for the one who does not have a doctor before him) 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 Shi'a 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 (s) and Imams (a).

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

*Several sections about the rules of judgment

This book is written in the conventional method of that time in which [[faqih|faqihs]] only narrated the [[hadith|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-Shaykh 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.

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)]].

This book has been esteemed as one of the most reliable hadith collections among [[Twelver Shi'a|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.