Islam Guidance

Chapter 4-Kalāmī–Historical Books

Chapter 4 

KalāmÄ«–Historical Books

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 Part of the Shi‘ite kalāmÄ« works have extended the discussion to history in proportion with its importance to the issue of Imamate. The discussions on the Imamate could generally be divided into two sections. A rational discussion to prove the necessity for the existence of the Imam, and a historical discussion to prove existence of divine designation (nass) and the reason for lack of attention to nass by others as well as criticism of the actions of certain companions of the Prophet in this regard. The historical part of these works mainly contains strong criticism of the caliphate and the caliphs, a subject that is referred to as matā‘in. The noteworthy point in this regard is that some of these works are kalāmÄ«-historical and some are historical-kalāmÄ«, the latter being presented mainly in the framework of hadÄ«th.

 An example of the extant works that have been published is the book al-Istighāthah fÄ« Bida‘ al-Thalāthah by AbÄ« al-Qāsim al-KufÄ« who is accused of exaggeration. Another is a book written by Sulaym bin al-Qays, which apart from ambiguities with regard to certain narrations, is an early text on the historical defense of the kalāmÄ« beliefs of the Shi‘ites within the framework of hadÄ«th on the issue of Imamate. Mas‘udi’s Ithbāt al-Wasiyyah, which should definitely be attributed to someone besides the author of Muruj al-Dhahab could also be placed among the hadÄ«thÄ«-historical-kalāmÄ« works. Among the earliest such works is the brief book al-Muqni‘ fÄ« al-Imāmah by al-SudābādÄ« (belonging to the village of Sudābād near Rayy) published by Intishārāt-i IslāmÄ«, Qum. A famous work of this kind is Kitāb al-ShāfÄ« of Sayyid Murtazā which has been published. Shaykh TusÄ« wrote a new edition of his teacher’s book under the title TalkhÄ«s al-ShāfÄ«, which has also been published. Several works of Shaykh MufÄ«d also contain numerous historical issues especially concerning the hadÄ«th al-GhadÄ«r and the meaning of wilāyah and related words spoken by the Prophet on the occasion. Shaykh MufÄ«d’s al-Jamal should be considered a historical- kalāmÄ« work rather than a kalāmÄ«-historical one. This book is part of the purely historical works written by the Shi‘ites during the 4th century AH. They form part of the historiographical works concerning a single specific event written by the Shi‘ites of Iraq to record subjects in view. The historical nature of this work cannot be disputed. In fact that Shaykh MufÄ«d has used his knowledge of history as an instrument to prove the viewpoints of the Shi‘ites in his debates with the ‘Uthmānis and Mu‘tazalites, and thus made pioneering efforts in combining the school of history with the science of kalām.

 Books that have been written on the history of the Shi‘ites contain kalāmÄ«-historical discussions. Two works that are quite similar to each other in this regard are Firaq al-ShiÄ«‘ah by Nowbakhti and al-Maqālāt wa al-Firaq by Sa‘ad bin ‘Abdullāh al-Ash‘arÄ«. These two works contain valuable information on Shi‘ite history. The book al-Ihtijāj by TabrisÄ« could be placed in the same category. It is a work, which in addition to the debates and argumentations, provides valuable accounts of the life of the Imams (‘a). The book al-Tarā’if fÄ« Ma‘rifah Mazāhib al-Tawā’if also contains historical information and hadÄ«th in criticism of the rival sects.

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