Muhammad b. Jarir al-Tabari al-Saghir: Difference between revisions

# [[Muhammad b. Jarir b. Rustam|Abu Ja’far Muhammad b. Jarir b. Rustam Tabari]] (d. [[329]]/940-941), a [[Shia]] Muslim, contemporary with [[Shaykh al-Kulayni]], who is the author of [[al-Mustarshid fi al-Imama]].  

# [[Aqa Buzurg Tehrani]] mentions the attribute “Kabir” by Shaykh al-Tusi in his introduction to al-Mustarshid fi al-Imama and suggests that there must have been a third Tabari living later than the second one. Later in the 8th volume of [[al-Dhari’a]], when discussing [[Dala’il al-Imama]], Aqa Buzurg opens an in-depth discussion proving the existence of a third Tabari. He then reviews different evidences and also different generations of the chains of transmitters of hadiths. By his sources of hadiths in [[Dala’il al-Imama]] and [[Nawadir al-mu’jizat]] , he concludes that the third Tabari has been contemporary with [[Najashi]] (d. 450/1058-1059) and Shaykh al-Tusi (d. 460/1067-1068). The question which then surfaces is how would Najashi, Tusi and [[Muntajab al-Din Razi]] who were very accurate in listing Shia scholars have failed to mention such a person who has been contemporary with them, has narrated hadiths from many of their hadith sources and even most possibly has been living in Baghdad? Aqa Buzurg answers: “that Shaykh al-Tusi and Najashi have not mentioned such a person in their books would not be a good reason to say that he did not exist. Because, they have not mentioned some other scholars contemporary with them either such as:  

Also, some have attributed Dala’ila al-Imama to Tabari Saghir (the Third), justifying that the sources of hadiths in it are older than Tabari the Second.

== Books Attributed to Tabari, the Third ==

== The Life of Tabari, the Third ==

Since the existence of this person is itself based on evidences and his name has not been clearly mentioned in the books of Rijal, naturally we would have very limited and vague information about his life. Only based on references, narrations and the chains of different generation of narrators of hadith and the reports of the two historical books which are attributed to Tabari, the Third, the extension of his ideological and intellectual interests and connections can be roughly guessed.

=== His Name ===

If we accept the famous report and assume the title “Kabir” in Shaykh al-Tusi’s work a reason for existence of the third Tabari and also rely on the many quotations of Ibn Tawus, the name of the author of Dala’il al-Imama is Muhammad b. Jarir b. Rustam. But, Rustam is a non-Islamic Iranian name and suggests this possibility that either his ancestors have not been Muslim or they have kept their Iranian name after becoming Muslim. But, the name of his father has been Jarir which is an Arabic name and is seen frequently among the Arabs before and after Islam. His kunya as Abu Ja’far also suggests that either he has had a son named Ja’far or it is an honorary kunya which has been common among Arabs.

There are two attributes of Tabari and Amoli have been mentioned for him which suggest that he has belonged to the great area of Tabarestan [now Mazandaran province] or the city of Amol.

About his place of living there is no historical report available, but according to his sources in narration, most of whom lived in Baghdad, it can be assumed that he must have lived many years of his life in Iraq and the city of Baghdad.

There is no mention of the dates of his birth or death, however years of his life can be approximately estimated which is of course relying on his sources of narration and even that is if Tabari, the Third has narrated from them directly in the session of hadith hearing in classes (Sama’), not that he would be narrating from their books (or on the road). Aqa Buzurg Tehrani regarded Tabari, the Third among the scholars contemporary with Shaykh al-Tusi (d. 460 AH) and Najashi (d. 450 or 463 AH) and thus about a hundred after the time of Tabari, the second. Researchers on Dala’il al-Imama have approved contemporariness of the author with Najashi and Shaykh al-Tusi, believe that he preceded them regarding generation and position.

Researchers on Dala’il al-Imama have introduced two groups of his hadith sources:

The first group are those Tabari, the Third attended their classes and received the permission for narrating hadith from them so that he could say “Hadathna” [retold us], “Haddathani” [told me] or “Akhbirni” [reported to me]. The number of these sources is 19 people among whom there are some great Shia and Sunni scholars.

The second group are those from whom Tabari directly or through other narrators have narrated hadiths or that he has benefitted from their books and thus upon quoting a hadith from them, he says “Rawiya” which suggests that he narrated through someone. The number of these sources is more than 20 people.