نشریه حدیث پژوهی
پیاپی 14 (پاییز و زمستان 1394)

Chronicling a hadith means assigning its date, place, its originator and its historical development. Western scholars often pay attention to the historical aspect of a hadith and consider it as one of the elements of reconstructing the history of Islam: the history its events, jurisprudence, dogmas, religious institutions, the interpretation of the holy Quran, etc. The main objective of historical criticism is finding out the original meaning of a text. In their analysis of religious texts and locating their historical context, critics follow a historical approach, which is a branch of literary criticism, and they try to find out the world which is behind the text by looking into older texts. In the 1970s when the formal analytical approach to reading the scriptures was introduced it also found its way into Islamic studies. Albrecht Note and his students introduced a kind of formal analysis, which is considered to be one of the best methods in narrational analysis, on the basis of the changes of the text in their research. In this method, the changes in narrations and their development from the first narrator to the complier of the narrative are studied and on this basis the approximate date of the narrative is estimated. This kind of historical analysis of narrative has a long history also in the analysis of the Muslim critics, and the scholars of hadith since a long time has referred to such cases. Nevertheless, considering such issues has not been much effective in determining the time of hadith and has not turned into a systematic analytical method. The analysis of the document-text on the basis of Albrecht Note theory, which has been developed by some of his students such as Shonler and Motski offers a good method for analyzing historical texts and identifying their date of origin. Since the best method for evaluating a theory is testing it on the basis of independent and external samples, in this research the mentioned method is tested on one sample narrative. This sample is the tradition “Hold to my tradition and the tradition of the righteous Caliphs,” which is reported by Arbadh Ibn Sariyeh.

One of the sources of interpretation of the holy Quran is narration. Some interpreters suffice with reporting narrations while some others critique and analyze them. Al-Manar by Abdoh and Rashid Reza and Al-Furqan by Ayotollah Sadeqi Tehrani belong to the second group which critically look into the evidence and text of the narrations. The aim of this research is to have a comparative study of the analytical methodology concerning the narrations in the exegeses of Al-Manar and al-Furqan to see the way Sheikh Abdoh¡ Rashid Reza and Sadiqi Tehrani have treated the interpretative narrations. Moreover¡ the similarities and differences in the methodologies of these exegetes in their treatment of contradictory narrations have been discussed. This research concludes that 1. unlike what is commonly understood¡ not only in both exegeses the narrations are used for the purpose of interpretation¡ but also the exegetes have critiqued and analyzed the narrations¡ and 2. although the exegetes have employed both the methods of critiquing the evidence and textual analysis¡ yet textual analysis has been their major approach to their critique of the narrations in these exegeses. For this purpose¡ they have introduced certain criteria¡ such as the agreement of the narration and the holy Quran¡ definitive tradition and the principles of religious law¡ the Intellect¡ and definitive history¡ though they did not ignore the contradictory narrations and have tried in different ways to explain away the contradiction.

There are some traditions in Shii sources of hadith indicating that there are as many levels in Paradise as the number of the verses of the holy Quran¡ and the reciter of the Quran will be told in the hereafter¡ “Recite and go up.” It is reported that Imām Musa Ibn Jafar¡ peace be upon him¡ has said¡ “Each of our followers who dies and does not know the Quran well will be taught in the grave.” If this hadith is true and other traditions about the levels of Paradise and raising the ranks of the reciter of the Quran in the other world¡ it can be said that Muslims are divided into two groups in the hereafter. One group is those who have learned the Quran well in this world¡ recited it and and acted according to its precepts. This group has prepared for their ascending the levels of paradise in this world. The other group have tried their best in this respect¡ but because of certain reasons such as short life¡ lack of facilities¡ or not having enough talent could not learn the holy Quran and act according to its precepts. Such people are going to be taught in the grave. According to this tradition¡ in order not to prevent this group from the higher levels of Paradise they are taught in the purgatory and measures are taken to teach them the pure sciences of the holy Quran¡ and then they are told to recite the Quran and ascend higher.

The narrational exegeses are a set of sources which Sheikh al-Kuleini has used in the composition of his …. . Some of these works are those of Hisham Ibn Salim¡ Yunis Ibn Abdol Rahman¡ Hussein Ibn Saeed¡ Abu Hamzeh al-Thomali¡ Mo’lla Ibn Muhammad¡ Muhammad Ibn Khalid al-Barqi¡ Wahib Ibn Hafs al-Jariri …. Muhammad Ibn Hassan….¡ Abdol Rahman Ibn Kathir¡ and some of the books by Hasan Ibn Rashid. Some of the points mentioned in some exegeses have also been reported in the exegeses of the succeeding generation¡ such as those by Abu al-Jarud¡ Ali Ibn al-Hassan¡ Muhammad Ibn Urmeh¡ Jabir¡ Munkhul¡ Ali Ibn Mahziyar¡ Ali Ibn Isbat¡ Abdullah Ibn Salt al-Qomi¡ Ali Ibn Abi Hamzeh al-Batainie and his son Hasan¡ al-Sukuni¡ Ibn Faddal¡ the Exegesis of Yasin Salameh Ibn Khattab¡ Thawab Al-Quran wa Al- Qara''at of al-Sayyari and some of the works of Abu Samineh.

Besides many Qur’anic verses¡ there are many traditions in Shii and Sunni sources about mother and her invaluable position. One of the most famous traditions which is attributed to the Messenger of Allah¡ peace be upon him and his household¡ is “Paradise is underneath the feet of mothers.” This article attempts to have a look at the documents and the text of this narration. It is surprising that such a well-known saying has no place in valuable Shii and Sunni sources. After doing some research it becomes clear that this saying has been fabricated by two narrators who have report the hadith only by its meaning in Sunni sources and its evidence has been been given by those who are known for being either false or are unknown. The article concludes that this saying cannot be attributed to the Messenger of Allah¡ peace be upon him and his household.

Speaking of the fortune of the days has a long history. One of the days of the week which is known to be ill-starred in some cultures is Monday. According to this belief doing some actions on this day will lead to dire consequences. In Islamic culture such a belief more or less exists and its roots can be traced apparently to some traditions which indicate the unfortunate Monday¡ and forbids doing certain practices on this day¡ as well as recommending some acts of worship for evading its bad luck. This article by studying the documents and content of the traditions on this subject tries to investigate the validity of this claim and attempts to to find out the causes and reasons of the emergence of such narrations. Finally¡ this research proves the invalidity of the tradition of unfortunate Monday.

Although Mirdamad is mainly known for his philosophical writing¡ he has many other works on narrational sciences¡ which are important to discuss and study. While writing his book Glosses on Al- Usul Al- Kafi¡ which considering the title of the book and its introduction seems to be written to explain the traditions collected by al-Kafi in his magnum opus of hadith¡ he understood that an investigation of the documents of the traditions should come prior to the study of the traditions themselves. Therefore¡ he decided to express his views on the technical terms of hadith and important issues related to the transmitters of hadith in a collection titled Al- Rawasheh Al- Samawiyyah in which he sometimes offers views that are opposite or at least different from those of earlier scholars. Having explained and analyzed the views of Mirdamad¡ this article by comparing his views with those of other earlier Shii scholars of traditions has come with significant conclusions¡ such as documenting Ibrahim Ibn Hashim al-Qomi and endorsing what he has transmitted¡ explaining with precision the firm term¡ which from the viewpoint of earlier scholars had a wide meaning but Mirdamad has narrowed it down¡ obliterating the difference between well-documented and well-known tradition¡ introducing the term inferring¡ and a different explanation of the difficult hadith. Moreover¡ new classification and verbal precisions are some other innovations of Mirdamad in the subject of Understanding hadith.

Looking at the traditions about Imām al-Mahdi¡ peace be upon him¡ in the Sunni and Shii books one can see one common tern that is used for the appearance of Imām al-Mahdi ¡ peace be upon him¡ which has a religious significant meaning. The term “Sending” which is used for him in many Prophetic traditions is precisely the same term which is used by people only for divine Prophets and their deputies. Besides¡ in the speech of the Prophet¡ peace be upon him and his household¡ it is mentioned that Allah will send Imām al-Mahdi¡ peace be upon him¡ and he will be definitely sent at the end of time. These are issues which are only compatible with Shii dogmas on the Immaculate Imāms¡ peace be upon them¡ and the last of them¡ Imām al-Mahdi and his occultation and appearance. This article which is a descriptive-analytic research finally concludes that on the basis of of traditions reported from the Imāms there are many similarities between the sending of the last Imām and other divine Prophets. The article refers to 23 cases of similarity between the Imām al-Mahdi and other divine Prophets.

One of the traditions reported from the Prophet of Islam¡ which has caused much controversy¡ is the well-documented hadith ordering the Muslims to stand against the heretics in religion and to show their opposition to them by cursing¡ insulting¡ slandering and backbiting them. This research is an attempt to study the documents and the content of this hadith so that it may answer the question to what extent this hadith is at variance with the principles and values known in religion. This article concludes that the hadith of heresy and slander is neither at variance with the values known in religious teachings nor incompatible with the rational principles ruling social relationships in human societies.

Although Imām Khomeini has not authored an independent book on exegesis and Qur’anic sciences¡ his works abound in deep Qur’anic and interpretative discussions. Moreover¡ he has interpreted some Suras such as al-Fatiheh¡ al-Ikhlas and Al-Qadr in separate works in his youth and also interpreted some verses of al-Fatiheh verbally in five sessions in the wake of the Islamic Revolution. One of the most important sources of non-narational exegesis¡ including mystical exegeses¡ in the history of the interpretation of the holy Quran is the traditions of the holy Prophet¡ peace be upon him and his household¡ and the Immaculate Imāms¡ peace be upon them. This article is an attempt to explain the various works of Imām Khomeini¡ especially interpretative and mystical works¡ and also his views on hadith and tradition of the Immaculate Imāms and the frequency of reference to hadith in the interpretative works and the method of using them and its principles. The article concludes that in the view of Imām Khomeini¡ to understand the pure divine and Qur’anic mysticism there is no other way than turning back to the hadith and tradition of the holy Prophet¡ peace be upon him and his household¡ and the Immaculate Imāms¡ peace be upon them.