People of Consensus: Difference between revisions

'''People of Consensus''' or '''Aṣḥāb al-Ijmāʿ''' (Arabic:{{iarabic| أصحاب الإجماع}}) is a term in the [[Imamiyya]] [['ilm al-rija]] referring to narrators of [[hadiths]] in second and third centuries A.H. (8th and 9th centuries). According to a consensus by scholars of 'ilm al-rijal, every [[hadith]] narrated by these people and the chain of narration up to these people is reliable, then the hadith is relilable, no matter who they narrate from. There is no need to further scrutinize the reliability of narrators between these people and the Imam (a).

Historically speaking, the formation of the term “Ashab al-ijma'” (People of Consensus) traces back to the transition decades from the third century to the fourth century A.H.; indeed it goes back to [[Kashshi]], the well-known Imami scholar of 'ilm al-rijal in parts of his book. The following words from [[al-Shaykh al-Tusi]] might point to the People of Consensus:

: The Imamiyya relies on whatever [[Zurara b. A'yun]], [[Muhammad b. Muslim]], Barid, [[Abu Basir]], [[Fudayl b. Yasar]], and people like them narrate, and prefer it to what others not as virtuous as them narrate.

The concept of the People of Consensus was formed since the 6th century A.H. (12th century) among scholars of 'ilm al-rijal, and it was referred to by scholars such as [[Ibn Shahrashub]], [['Allama Hilli]], [[Ibn Dawud Hilli]], and then [[al-Shahid al-Awwal]] and [[al-Shahid al-Thani]] in different ways.

For [[al-Shaykh al-Baha'i]], People of Consensus were very important: if a hadith was cited in a book attributed to one of these people, he considered it as reliable. [[Mir Damad]] also considered hadiths involving these people to be reliable. On the basis of his understanding of Kashshi's words, he believed that hadiths involving these people are reliable, even if they drop part of the narrators between them and the Imam (a).

[[Akhbari]] scholars, such as [[Muhammad Amin Astarabadi]], [[Fayd Kashani]], [[Husayn b. Shahab al-Din al-Karaki]], and [[al-Hurr al-'Amili]], insisted that there is such a consensus over the realibility of hadiths narrated by these people in order to argue that every hadith in the [[Four Books]] (al-Kutub al-Arba'a) and other Shiite hadith collections. In fact, this has led to the issue coming under more attention by later scholars. Among later scholars, [[Shafti]] wrote an independent essay on this (published in 1314 A.H./ 1896).

Kashshi pointed out that some Imamiyya mentioned people such as [[Hasan b. 'Ali b. Faddal]], [[Faddala b. Ayub]] and [['Uthman b. 'Isa]] instead of [[Hasan b. Mahbub]].