Al-Ihtijaj (book): Difference between revisions

'''Al-Iḥtijāj ʿalā ahl al-lijāj''' (Arabic:{{ia|الإحتجاج على أهل اللجاج}}), best known as '''al-Ihtijaj''' is a book in Arabic written by Abu Mansur, [[Ahmad b. Ali b. Abi Talib al-Tabrisi]], the scholar of 6th/12th century.

According to the beginning of the book, its name is “al-Ihtijaj,” and there is no mention of “al-Ihtijaj ‘ala ahl al-lijaj.” However, other scholars introduced the book by two names. The book is well known as “Ihtijaj al-Tabrisi.”

During the history of Islam, great religious figures by the motivation of proving the right and refuting the wrong, wrote books under the title of “al-Ihtijaj” or dedicated some chapters of their books to this topic. There are about 20 books by the title of “al-Ihtijaj” among Shi'a early sources, the earliest of which is “al-Ihtijaj” written by Muhammad b. Abi ‘Umayr, the close companion of Imam al-Kazim (a).

The author of Lu'lu'at al-Bahrayn writes: “Some of the recent Shi'a scholars mistook in ascription of the book to Abu Ali al-Tabrisi, the author of Majma' al-Bayan. Some of those who made this mistake are Muhaddith Amin Astar Abadi and before him, the author of Risalat Mashayikh al-Shi'a and before him, Muhammad b. Abi Jumhur al-Ahsa'i in ‘Awali al-la'ali and also Qadi Nur Allah al-Shushtari in Majalis al-mu'minin.”

In the introduction of the book, al-Tabrisi writes: “What made me to write such a book, was that some Shi'a have desisted from argument and debate with the opponents of Shi'a and say ‘we are not allowed to do this, because the Prophet (s) and the Imams (s) never debated and argued and did not allow Shi'a to do so' therefore, I decided to collect the arguments of great Shi'a figures against their opponents in the Principles and Ancillaries of the religion.” In the following, he mentions that the prohibition of Imams (s) form arguing and debating only meant those who are weak in defending the religion and Shi'a beliefs, not those eminent and strong one in proving the right and refuting the wrong.  

In the introduction of the book the author writes: “Except for those hadiths that I have narrated form Tafsir al-Imam al-‘Askari (a), I mentioned all hadiths in the book without their chain of transmitters, because whether they are unanimously accepted or agree with our beliefs or are narrated in our and the opponents' books. I narrated the hadiths of the ascribed exegesis to Imam al-‘Askari (a) by its chain of narrators: because these hadiths are not as famous as the other hadiths in the book.” According to this paragraph, Shi'a scholars have relied on and accepted the hadiths in the book, although they do not have chain of narrators.  

Many of great Shi'a scholars, such as Shaykh Hurr al-‘Amili in Amal al-Amil, Khwansari in Rawdat al-jannat and Khu'i in Mu'jam Rijal al-Hadith, regarded this book as precious, good and very useful.     

- In 1403 in Iran. This version is a copy of the version published by al-Jawad Institute in Beirut. ‘Allama Sayyid Muhammad Bahr al-‘Ulum has written a foreword on this version.