Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq al-Kulaynī ar-Rāzī (; ; c. 250 AH/864 CE – 329 AH/941 CE) was a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

collector.

Life

Al-Kulayni was born in Kulayn, a village or small town situated near Rey,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. His father was Ya'qub al-Kulayni, who is buried at Rey. He lived in the era of the

Minor Occultation The Minor Occultation (, '), also known as the First Occultation (, '), refers in Twelver Shia Islam to a period of nearly seventy years (874–941 CE, 260–329 AH) during which the Hidden Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, is believed to have communicat ...

Hujjat-Allah al-Mahdi Muhammad al-Mahdi () is believed by the Twelver Shia to be the last of the Twelve Imams and the eschatological Mahdi, who will emerge in the end of time to establish peace and justice and redeem Islam. Hasan al-Askari, the eleventh Ima ...

, the last of

the Twelve Imams The Twelve Imams (, '; , ') are the spiritual and political successors to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Twelver branch of Shia Islam, including that of the Alawite and Alevi. According to Twelver theology, the Twelve Imams are exemplary ...

who, according to Shia belief, is currently in

occultation An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden from the observer by another object that passes between them. The term is often used in astronomy, but can also refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground blocks f ...

and will appear before the

Day of Judgment The Last Judgment is a concept found across the Abrahamic religions and the '' Frashokereti'' of Zoroastrianism. Christianity considers the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to entail the final judgment by God of all people who have ever lived, res ...

). He is claimed to have greatly benefited from al-Mahdi's divine knowledge by interacting with him through the Imam's Deputies.

Syed Waheed Akhtar Syed Waheed Akhtar (12 August 1934, in Aurangabad ( Deccan) – 13 December 1996) was an Urdu poet, writer, critic, orator, and a Muslim scholar and philosopher. Works According to Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, "Wahid Akhtar, regarded by many a ...

: Early Imammiyah Shiite Thinkers Kulayni received his early religious education in his native town and went to Rey for further education. According to Shia view he is among a special class of muhaddithin known as ''Rihalah-ye hadith'' (which means those who travelled in order to collect a hadith and met the persons considered to be the authority on hadith)''.'' He travelled to

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

for this reason and lived there for twenty years, engaged in teaching and pursuing academic work, until he died in 329 AH/941 CE. He is considered the foremost

compiler of

and was the author of ''

Kitab al-Kafi (, , literally 'The Sufficient') is a hadith collection of the Twelver tradition, compiled in the first half of the 10th century CE (early 4th century AH) by . It is one of the Four Books. It is divided into three sections: , ...

''.

Work and contribution

Although Shaykh al-Kulaynī is most famous for

al-Kāfī (, , literally 'The Sufficient') is a hadith collection of the Twelver Shi'ism, Twelver tradition, compiled in the first half of the 10th century Common Era, CE (early 4th century Anno Hegirae, AH) by . It is one of the :en:The Fo ...

, this opus was not his only accomplishment. The following is a list of his known works: * ''Kitāb al Kāfī'' * ''Rasāʾil al ʾaʾimmah'' * ''Kitāb ar-rijāl'' * ''Kitāb ar radd ʿalā al qarāmitah'' * ''Kitāb mā qīla fī al ʾaʾimmah min ash-shiʿr'' * ''Kitāb taʿbīr al-ruʾyā'' Of these only al-Kāfī has survived in its entirety.

References

External links

Classical Islam: A Sourcebook of Religious Literature by Norman Calder, J A Mojaddedi, Andrew Rippin

The Formative Period of Twelver Shi'Ism: Hadith As Discourse Between Qum and Baghdad by Andrew J Newman

* ttp://www.hadith.net/english/knowledge/authors/koleyni.htm 'Al-Kafi' by Al-Kulayni by Dr. I. K. A. Howard Al-Serat, Vol. 2 (1976), No. 1
The Trustworthy of Islam Kulayni
No such page found – October 24, 2012
The Buyid Domination as the Historical Background for the Flourishing of Muslim Scholarship During the 4th/10th Century by Dr. M. Ismail Marcinkowski*
October 24, 2012

Islamic Texts Institute

"Al-Kafi Book I: Intellect and Foolishness"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammad Ibn Yaqub Al-Kulayni 860s births 941 deaths People from Ray, Iran Iranian Shia scholars of Islam 10th-century Islamic religious leaders 9th-century Iranian people 10th-century Iranian people Hadith compilers 10th-century Twelvers

Life

Work and contribution

See also

References

External links