Four Books: Difference between revisions

'''The Four Books''' (کتب الأربعة) or Uṣūl Arbi‘ah (أصول أربعة) are four important [[hadith]] books which are the main sources of Shia beliefs and rulings after the glorious Qur’an. These books are ''[[Al-Kafi]]'', ''[[Tahdhib al-Ahkam]]'', ''[[Al-Istibsar fi ma Ikhtalaf min al-Akhbar]]'', ''[[Man la yahduruh al-Faqih]]''.

''== Al-Kafi ==''

This book is written by [[Al-Kulayni|Abu Ja‘far Muhammad b. Ya‘qub Kulayni]] (d. 329 AH) during Minor Occultation of Imam Mahdi (aj).

This book contains 16,000 hadiths in three general sections of ''usul'', ''furu‘'' and ''rawdah''.

The uṣūl sections of Al-Kafi includes hadiths about beliefs, the ''furu‘'' section of ''Al-Kafi'' includes hadiths about practical rulings and [[fiqh]] and ''rawdah'' sections of ''Al-Kafi'' includes hadiths about ''[[akhlaq]]'' and advices.<ref> Modir Shanehchi, Tarikh-e Hadith, pp. 116 - 119.</ref>

''== Man la yahduruh al-Faqih ==''

This book is written by Sheikh Saduq abu Ja‘far Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Hussayn ibn Babiwayh Qummi (d. 381 AH).

This book contains 6,000 hadiths and covers topics about ''[[fiqh]]'' and practical rulings. Sheikh Saduq has brought those hadiths he deemed authentic and he used to issue [[fatwa]] accordingly.

''== Tahdhib al-Ahkam ==''

This book is written by [[Sheikh Tusi|Sheikh al-Ta’ifah Abu Ja‘far Muhammad b. Hassan Tusi]] (d. 460 AH).

Sheikh Tusi wrote this book by the order of Sheikh Mufid as the commentary for Sheikh Mufid’s ''Al-Muqni‘ah''.

In this book, Sheikh Tusi discussed rulings of ''[[fiqh]]'' ranging from topics in ''[[Taharah]]'' to discussions of ''Diyyat''. The order of the book’s content is the same as in Sheikh Mufid’s ''Al-Muqni‘ah''.

There is a section about ''mashikhah'' at the end of this book. Mashīkhah includes Sheikh Tusi’s references to the books he quoted hadiths from.

''== Al-Istibsar fi ma Ikhtalaf min al-Akhbar ==''

This book is also written by Sheikh Tusi. He wrote this book after ''Tahdhib al-Ahkam'' in response to some of his students’ requests.

In this book, he collected only those hadiths concerning issues in ''[[fiqh]]'' for which there are opposite hadiths.

The book does not cover all issues in ''fiqh'' and only addresses those topics in which there are opposite hadiths. Like other fiqh references, categorization of topics in this book begins with Ṭahārah and ends with Dīyyāt.

''[[Al-Kafi]]''

''[[Man la Yahduruh al-Faqih]]''

''[[Tahdhib al-Ahkam]]''

''[[Al-Istibsar fi ma Ikhtalaf min al-Akhbar]]''