People of Consensus

People of Consensus Comapnions of Imam al-Baqir (a) Zurara b. A'yan Ma'ruf b. Kharrabudh Burayd b. Mu'awiya Abu Basir al-Fudayl b. Yasar Muhammad b. Muslim Companions of Imam al-Sadiq (a) Jamil b. Darraj Abd Allah b. Muskan Abd Allah b. Bukayr Hammad b. 'Uthman Hammad b. 'Isa Aban b. 'Uthman Companions of Imam al-Kazim (a) and Imam al-Rida (a) Yunus b. 'Abd al-Rahman Safwan b. Yahya Muhammad b. Abi 'Umayr Abd Allah b. al-Mughira Hasan b. Mahbub Ahmad b. Abi Nasr al-Bazanti

People of Consensus or Aṣḥāb al-Ijmāʿ (Arabic: أصحاب الإجماع) is a term in the Imamiyya 'Ilm al-Rijal referring to narrators of hadiths in 2nd and 3rd/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 Imams (a).

History

Historically speaking, the formation of the term "Ashab al-ijma'" (People of Consensus) traces back to the transition decades from the third/ninth century to the fourth/tenth century; indeed it goes back to al-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 People of Consensus:

The Imamiyya relies on whatever Zurara b. A'yan, Muhammad b. Muslim, Burayd, Abu Basir, al-Fudayl b. Yasar, and people like them narrate, and prefer it to what others not as virtuous as them narrate.

The concept of People of Consensus (Ashab al-Ijma') was formed since the 6th/12th century among scholars of 'Ilm al-Rijal, and it was referred to by scholars such as Ibn Shahrashub, al-'Allama al-Hilli, Ibn Dawud al-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 al-Kashshi's words, he believed that hadiths involving these people are reliable, even if they drop part of the narrators between them and the Imams (a).

Akhbari scholars, such as Muhammad Amin Istarabadi, 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 1314/1896).

Names

Al-Kashshi introduces People of Consensus as follow:

People of Consensus among Companions of Imam al-Baqir (a)

• Zurara b. A'yan
• Ma'ruf b. Kharrabudh
• Burayd b. Mu'awiya
• Abu Basir
• al-Fudayl b. Yasar
• Muhammad b. Muslim

People of Consensus among Companions of Imam al-Sadiq (a)

• Jamil b. Darraj
• 'Abd Allah b. Muskan
• 'Abd Allah b. Bukayr
• Hammad b. 'Uthman
• Hammad b. 'Isa
• Aban b. 'Uthman

People of Consensus among Companions of Imam al-Kazilm (a) and Imam al-Rida (a)

• Yunus b. 'Abd al-Rahman
• Safwan b. Yahya
• Muhammad b. Abi 'Umayr
• 'Abd Allah b. al-Mughira
• al-Hasan b. Mahbub
• Ahmad b. Abi Nasr al-Bazanti

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