___________ Der Ḥadīth in der Zwölferschīʿa ___________ Encyclopædia Iranica: [Artikel] HADITH, [Abteilung 2.] IN SHIʿISM. The Twelver Shiʿite conception of Hadith is generally in line with that of the Sunnites as discussed in Section i [Abteilung 1. des Artikels HADITH]. However, Hadith about the Imams are authoritative as well. To a certain extent this is comparable with the fact that Companion Hadith have been considered authoritative in Sunnism, since the Imams, as members of the Prophet’s house, are considered as representing the Prophet’s knowledge. However, most Shiʿite sources assert unambiguously that the Imams could also speak directly for God: “The Imam speaks for God concerning the Book” (yanṭequ’l-emāmu ʿan Allāhi fi’l-ketāb; Kolayni, I, p. 14). The Imam whose utterances constitute the bulk of Shiʿite Hadith literature is the sixth Imam, Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq (d. 148/765). While some of his companions, such as Nawfali and Sokuni, transmitted from him only aḥādiṯ on the authority of the Prophet and Imam ʿAli (see Kolayni, I, pp. 134, 200; Aḥmadi Faqih, p. 65), there is evidence that others among them also “believed that the Imams, just like the jurists of those times, practiced independent judgment (raʾy) or analogical reasoning (qiās)” [gemeint ist: qiyās. A.I.M.] (Modarressi, p. 28). The majority of Shiʿite scholars have treated the utterances and conduct of the Imams in the same way as those of the Prophet. Shiʿite authors generally acknowledge the authenticity of most of the traditions presented in the “Six Sound Collections” (al-ṣehāḥ al-setta) of Sunnism, but these are mainly used in historical and polemical contexts rather than as proof texts in legal discussions, as long as alternative Shiʿite traditions are available. The eminent Shiʿite scholar ʿAllāma Ḥelli (q.v.; d. 726/1327) wrote that “all our aḥādiṯ, except for a few, lead back to the Twelve Imams, from whom in turn they lead back to the Prophet. Their knowledge is acquired from that niche. The Hadith of the Imams which are included in the [Shiʿite] books add much to what is in the [Sunnite] “Six Sound Collections,” as is manifest to one who studies the books of both sects” (Ḥorr ʿĀmeli, XX, p. 66). Shiʿites began to circulate their own Hadithliterature at about the time of Jaʿfar al-Ṣādeq. At this stage, it is not known whether the classification ḥadiṯ was applied to the Imams’ own utterances or only to their narrations about the Prophet. During this period the term aṣl (pl. oṣul) was applied to the Imams’ written traditions, to indicate that they represent the original documentation of their words (Kohlberg, p. 128). However, none of such writings now exist in any form, apart from about a dozen which have come down to us through the works of 4th/10th century Shiʿite authors. Among the earliest extant Shiʿite Hadith writings are Abu Jaʿfar Ṣaffār Qommi’s (d. 290/902) Baṣāʾer al-darajāt and Aḥmad b. Moḥammad Barqi’s (d. 274/887) Ketāb al-maḥāsen. However, such works are far from comprehensive, since they often focused exclusively on legitimizing the status of the Imams and the rituals of Shiʿism. GANZER ARTIKEL in der Encyclopædia Iranica HIER : iranicaonline.org/articles/hadith-ii
Posted on: Mon, 05 Aug 2013 10:41:44 +0000
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