Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb ibn Iṣḥāq al Kulaynī ar Rāzī ( Persian: ar, أَبُو جَعْفَر مُحَمَّد ٱبْن يَعْقُوب إِسْحَاق ٱلْكُلَيْنِيّ ٱلرَّازِيّ; c. 250 AH/864 CE – 329 AH/941 CE) was a Persian

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mos ...

hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...

collector.

Life

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

Rey Rey may refer to: *Rey (given name), a given name *Rey (surname), a surname * Rey (''Star Wars''), a character in the ''Star Wars'' films *Rey, Iran, a city in Iran * Ray County, in Tehran Province of Iran * ''Rey'' (film), a 2015 Indian film *The ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

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

Minor Occultation The Minor Occultation ( ar, ٱلْغَيْبَة ٱلصُّغْرَىٰ, '), also known as the First Occultation ( ar, ٱلْغَيْبَة ٱلْأُولَىٰ, '), refers in Twelver Shia Islam to a period of nearly seventy years (874–941 CE, ...

of Hujjat-Allah al-Mahdi, the last of

the Twelve Imams The Twelve Imams ( ar, ٱلْأَئِمَّة ٱلْٱثْنَا عَشَر, '; fa, دوازده امام, ') are the spiritual and political successors to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Twelver branch of Islam, including that of the Alawi ...

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 ...

and will certainly appear before the Day of Judgment). He is claimed to have greatly benefited from al-Mahdi's divine knowledge by interacting with him through the Imam's

Deputies A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for e ...

. Syed Waheed Akhtar: 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 (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

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 ''Al-Kafi'' ( ar, ٱلْكَافِي, ', literally "''The Sufficient''") is a Twelver Shia hadith collection compiled by Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni. It is divided into three sections: ''Uṣūl al-Kāfī'', dealing with epistemology, theolo ...

''.

Work and contribution

Although Shaykh al-Kulaynī is most famous for al-Kāfī, 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'' Sadly, 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

Life

Work and contribution

See also

References

External links