Introduction Why did the overwhelming majority of Hadith narrators and learned scholars in the Imami community, many sincere individuals among them, prominent even before the beginning of the ghayba (occultation), coalesce around the belief in the existence of a hidden Imam whom they had not personally seen? It is this faction, after all, which became … Continue reading Belief during the Ghayba: al-Zurārī’s Correspondence with the Hidden Imam →

For the one and only Shāh of Khurāsān In the hope that you come to the aid of your most humble servant in his day of need   Introduction When our Shaykh al-Ṣadūq (d. 381) journeyed to Naysābūr in the year 352, he went to the house of a Sunni Ḥākim (judge) by the name … Continue reading Recovering a Lost Biography: Abū Bakr al-Ṣūlī’s Portrayal of al-Riḍā →

Introduction Unlike Kulaynī and Ṭūsī, whose fathers were not known for scholarship and remain obscure figures only recorded in history because of their sons’ accomplishments, Ṣadūq (d. 381) had a father who was a prominent and acknowledged authority in his own right in Qum, the center of Ṣhīʿī learning at the time. al-Najāshī says about … Continue reading Born Through the Duʿāʾ of the Imam →

كان أبو الخطاب أحمق فكنت أحدثه فكان لا يحفظ، و كان يزيد من عنده Abu al-Khattab was a fool - I would narrate to him so he would not preserve it, and he would add from himself[1] Imam al-Sadiq   Introduction The first installment of a promised multi-part ‘response’ to my incomplete series on Mufaddal … Continue reading Revisiting Abu al-Khattab and the Khattabiyya (A Response) →

Cursed or Not? The most important report concerning Mufaḍḍal b. ʿUmar is the one in which two men come and present his belief to the Imam. One of these men is Ḥujr b. Zāʾida. The Imam’s reaction is not pretty if you are a Mufaḍḍal supporter. ʿAbdallāh b. Muskān narrates: Ḥujr b. Zāʾida and ʿĀmir … Continue reading Reports and Counter-reports: The Case of Mufaḍḍal b. ʿUmar (Pt. II) →