''Tahdhib al-Ahkam'' () is the third

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 ...

collection of

the Four Books The Four Books () are the four canonical hadith collections of Shia Islam. The term is used mostly by Twelver Shias. Shi'a Muslims use different books of hadith from those used by Sunni Muslims, who prize the six major hadith collections. I ...

Shia Islam Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...

. It was compiled by

Twelver Twelver Shi'ism (), also known as Imamism () or Ithna Ashari, is the Islamic schools and branches, largest branch of Shia Islam, Shi'a Islam, comprising about 90% of all Shi'a Muslims. The term ''Twelver'' refers to its adherents' belief in twel ...

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 scholar al-Tusi. This work is included among

the four books The Four Books () are the four canonical hadith collections of Shia Islam. The term is used mostly by Twelver Shias. Shi'a Muslims use different books of hadith from those used by Sunni Muslims, who prize the six major hadith collections. I ...

. It is a commentary on the al-Muqni'a by

Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Nu'man al-'Ukbari al-Baghdadi, known as al-Shaykh al-Mufid () and Ibn al-Mu'allim (c.9481022 CE), was a prominent Iraqi Twelver Shia theologian. His father was a teacher (''mu'allim''), hence the n ...

, who was a Twelver Shia theologian.

Title

''Tahdhib al-Ahkam'' is translated by Ludwig W. Adamec as ''confirmation of decision'' and by I.K.A Howard as ''The Refinement of the Laws (as Discussed)''.

Author

''Abu Jafar Muhammad Ibn Hasan Tusi'' () known as Shaykh al-Ta'ifah () or Shaykh al-Tusi was born in 996 AD in Tus,

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 ...

. He was a Persian Shia

scholar and authored two references of Shia collections of

tradition A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common e ...

, Tahdhib al-Ahkam and Al-Istibsar. Al-Shaikh al-Tusi died in

Najaf Najaf is the capital city of the Najaf Governorate in central Iraq, about 160 km (99 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2024 is about 1.41 million people. It is widely considered amongst the holiest cities of Shia Islam an ...

on the 22nd of

Muharram Al-Muharram () is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year when warfare is banned. It precedes the month of Safar. The tenth of Muharram is known as Ashura, an important day of commemoration in ...

on 2 December 1067.

Background

Al-Istibsar is one of the four major Shia collections of Hadith () authored by Shaykh Tusi. According to Ali Nasiri, when Shaykh Tusi transferred 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 ...

and participated in the class session of Shaykh al-Mufid, he found conflicting

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 ...

(traditions) in Shia sources. Due to his nomination at the introduction of ''Tahdhib al-Ahkam'', he wrote the book as a commentary on the Al-Muqni'ah for solving the crisis of contradiction in the Shia Islamic seminary in response to his friend request. Ali Nasiri give three reasons for selection Al-Muqni'ah by Shaykh Tusi: dignity of Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid, Al-Muqni'ah was based on Shia view and last reason is fruition of Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid’s intellectual and mental protection.

Content

Shaykh Tusi explained his style in authoring the ''Tahdhib al-Ahkam'' in the introduction of it. According to viewpoint of Ali Nasiri, Shaykh Tusi authored this book basis on the six phases: # Mention the jurisprudential issues by keeping the structure of the book al-Muqni'ah by Shaykh al-Mufid # Recounting their proof except tradition (Hadith): Shaykh Tusi nominated to three type of proof, the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

Sunnah is the body of traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time supposedly saw, followed, and passed on to the next generations. Diff ...

and consensus (agreement of the Muslim scholars basically on religious issues). The types of Quranic evidence was described by him. Also, according to his belief, Sunnah may contain Mutawatir tradition or Ahaad. In view of Shaykh Tusi, consensus referred to an agreement of

Muslim scholars. # Recounting the Hadith proof: one of the fundamental parts at Tahdhib al-Ahkam is to rely on the tradition that protects every issue. # Recounting the conflicting proof: rectifying the conflicting tradition was the main purpose of Shaykh Tusi for authoring this book. So he devoted the main part of his work to examine such tradition with a tradition that verifies every issue. # Describing the way of rectifying concordant and conflicting traditions: after determining this type of tradition, Shaykh Tusi inspect the way of rectifying. # Citing tradition in a bid to declare the interpretation: Shaykh Tusi used interpretation and rationalization to rectifying concordant and conflicting traditions. Therefore, Shaykh Tusi proceeded to his work in three step: # Transmitting tradition that verifies every issue # Transmitting tradition that contrasts the first set of tradition # Transmitting tradition that affirms the interpretation ''Tahdhib al-Ahkam'' contains the following: :I: Ritual purity in Islam ( (Taharah)) :II:

Prayer File:Prayers-collage.png, 300px, alt=Collage of various religionists praying – Clickable Image, Collage of various religionists praying ''(Clickable image – use cursor to identify.)'' rect 0 0 1000 1000 Shinto festivalgoer praying in front ...

:III: religious tax :IV: fasting regulated by Islamic jurisprudence :V:

Pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

:VI: Sacred War :VII: Judgements and Legal Requirements () :VIII: Acquisitions () :IX:

Trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...

() :X: Marriage in Islam :XI:

Divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

:XII: Manumission of Slaves :XIII: Oaths, Vows and Atonements :XIV: Hunting and Ritual Slaughter :XV: Endowments and Alms :XVI: Bequests :XVII: Formal Rules of Inheritance :XVIII: Punishment prescribed by Revelation :XIX: Indemnities for Bodily Injury According to

publication, ''Tahdhib al-Ahkam'' included 409 chapters, 13988 traditions and according to the counting of Muhaddis Noori it included 393 chapters, 13590 traditions. This variance between reports had led by mistake in counting.

References

{{Shia hadith literature, state=collapsed 11th-century Arabic-language books The Four Books Shia literature

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References