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'Tahdhib al-Ahkam'
and 'Al-Istibsar' by Al-Tusi
Dr.
I. K. A. Howard
Al-Serat, Vol. 2 (1976), No. 2
The Author
Shaikh al-ta'ifa (the
teacher of the community) Abu
Ja'far Muhammad b. al-Hasan b.
'Ali b. al-Hasan al-Tusi was
born in Tus in Iran in the year
385 of the Islamic era. His
career marks the climax of a
very great period in Shi'ite
Islamic scholarship and
learning. It was during this
period that Shi'ite scholars
were without rivals in the
Islamic world. Al-Shaikh al-Tusi's
teachers included al-Shaikh al-Mufid,
and the two brothers, members of
Ahl al-bait and both
outstanding scholars, al-Sharif
al-Murtada and al-Sharif al-Radi.
This period of
great public Shi'ite Islamic
scholarship had begun with al-Kulaini
(died 328/9 A.H.), whose
collection of traditions, al-Kafi,
is the first of the four
major works of Shi'ite Islamic
traditions.[1]
It was then continued with al-Shaikh
al-Saduq lbn Babawaih (died 381
A.H.); his great collection of
traditions, Man la yahduruh
al-faqih, is the second of
the major works of traditions.[2]
The remaining two major
collections of traditions were
compiled by al-Shaikh al-Tusi
and they are Tahdhib al-ahkam
fi sharh al-munqi' a[3]
and al-Istibsar fima 'khtalaf
min al-akhbar.[4]
Al-Shaikh
al-Tusi grew up in Tus and began
his studies there. In 408 A.H.
he left Tus to study in Baghdad.
There he first studied under al-Shaikh
al-Mufid, who died in 413 A.H.
Leadership of the Shi'ite
scholars then fell to al-Sharif
al-Murtada. The latter remained
in this position until his death
in 436 A.H. During this time al-Shaikh
al-Tusi was closely associated
with al-Sharif al-Murtada. His
vast scholarship and learning
made him a natural successor of
al-Sharif al-Murtada as the
leading spokesman of Shi'ite
Islam. So impressive was his
learning that the Abbasid
caliph, al-Qadir bi-'llah,
attended his lectures and sought
to honour him.
In
the closing years of al-Shaikh
al-Tusi's life the political
situation in Baghdad and the
domains of the Abbasid caliphate
was in turmoil. The Saljuqids
fiercely anti-Shi'ite, were
gaining commanding power in the
centre of the Islamic Empire at
the expense of the Buyids who
had always seemed tolerant to
Shi'ite views. In 447
Tughril-bek the leaders of the
Saljuqids entered Baghdad. At
this time many of the 'ulama'
in Baghdad, both Sunni and
Shi'ite were killed. The house
of al-Shaikh al-Tusi was burnt
down, as were his books and the
works he had written in Baghdad,
together with important
libraries of Shi'ite hooks.
Fanaticism against the Shi'a was
great.
Al-Shaikh al-Tusi, seeing the
danger of remaining in Baghdad,
left and went to al-Najaf.
Al-Najaf, the city where 'Ali b.
Abi Talib had been martyred, was
already a very important city in
the hearts of Shi'ite Muslims.
However, it was al-Shaikh
al-Tusi's arrival which was to
give that city the impetus to
become the leading centre of
Shi'ite scholarship. This is a
role, which it has maintained
down to the present day.
Al-Shaikh al-Tusi
died in al-Najaf in 460 A.H. His
body was buried in a house
there, which was made into a
mosque as he had enjoined in his
will. Even today his grave is a
place of visitation in al-Najaf.
Al-Tusi was succeeded by his son
al-Hasan, who was known as
al-Mufid al-Thani, and was
himself an outstanding scholar.[5]
The
learning of al-Shaikh al-Tusi
extended over the whole of
Islamic studies. He was a
learned traditionist, whose two
compilations will be discussed
below; but he was not only a
traditionist, he was also an
authoritative jurist, who could
interpret traditions to meet the
needs of jurisprudence, and many
of his works on jurisprudence
and the principles of
jurisprudence still survive, in
particular al-Mabsut and
al-Nihaya. In addition,
he was the leading Shi'ite
theologian of his time. As well
as writing works of a general
theological nature, he also
wrote specific works on
individual topics. On the
Imamate, he wrote Talkhis al-Shafi,
which was based on al-Sharif
al-Murtada's al-Shafi fi
'l-imama. He wrote a work on
al-Ghaiba, the
occultation of the 12th Imam. As
a traditionist, he naturally had
an interest in the men who
related traditions, in his
Kitab al-rijal, he tries to
list most of the important
Shi'ites. His Fihrist is
an important work of Shi'ite
bibliography. In it he lists
many of the works of early
Shi'ite writers and sometimes
gives an account of their
writers and the contents of the
works. This work may to some
extent reflect al-Tusi's own
library before it was so
tragically destroyed.
Tahdhib al-ahkam fi sharh
al-muqni 'a
The
title of this work could be
translated as "The Refinement of
the Laws (as Discussed) in Terms
of the Explanation of the
Sufficiency". "The
Sufficiency" or al-Muqni'a
was a work on traditions by
al-Shaikh al-Mufid, the teacher
of al-Tusi, who has been
mentioned earlier. Thus the
original intention of al-Tusi
had been to write a commentary
on al-Muqni'a of
al-Mufid. However, he makes it
clear in his introduction that
his work would only concern the
furu' of Islamic law,
i.e. the practical regulations
for carrying out the sharia,
the holy law of Islam. He
said: "I went first to the
chapter which was connected with
ritual purity (tahara),
leaving aside the (chapters)
which preceded it, which
were about the Unity of God
(tawhid), Justice ('adl),
Prophethood (nubuwwa)
and the Imamate (imama),
because the explanation of these
would be too lengthy, and also
because it was not the intention
of this book to elucidate the
principles of religion
(al-usul).[6]
In his
introduction, al-Tusi makes it
clear that the principal motive
for writing this work and
limiting it to the furu',
was the great differences which
were arising in Shi'ite
traditions. He mentions that
these differences were being
used against the Shi'a by their
opponents as an argument against
the truth of Shi'ite beliefs.
The situation had become so
critical that al-Tusi reports
al-Mufid's account of one
Shi'ite adherent who had left
the community because of the
contradictory traditions.
Al-Tusi set himself the task of
analysing the traditions
concerned with furu',
explaining which traditions were
deficient and reconciling
apparent contradictions in sound
traditions. He used al-Mufid's
al-Maqni'a as the basis
for this task.[7]
However, he did not only deal
with the traditions used in
al-Muqni'a; he analysed many
more traditions which he
included at the end of various
sections, appendices of
traditions not mentioned by
al-Mufid, which he also
discusses.
The
method used is to quote the
traditions and then al-Mufid's
comments on them. This is often
followed by al-Tusi's
explanation of al-Mufid's
comments. Sometimes, it is not
always clear whether the
explanation belongs to al-Mufid
or al-Tusi. However, he quite
often makes it clear that it is
al-Mufid when he says: "Al
Shaikh said..." But sometimes a
discussion is introduced by the
ambiguous terms: "He said..."
This could refer to either al-Mufid
or al-Tusi. In the appendices
al-Tusi makes it quite clear
that he is making the comments,
for he says: "Muhammad b. al-Hasan
said..."
The discussions
on the traditions are sometimes
of considerable length. An
example is the discussion of the
method of performing ritual
ablutions, there quotations are
made from Arabic verse to
support the Shi'ite version of
rubbing the feet instead of
washing them.[8]
The
work is divided into chapters
(kutub) and the chapters
into sections (abwab)
with appendices following when
appropriate. The work is a very
comprehensive study of Shi'ite
traditions and consists of the
following chapters: |
