Statistical Investigation of the Role of Freed Slaves of Ash’ari Family in the Four Shiite Books

The subject of the present study is a statistical investigation of the role of freed slaves of the Ash’ari family in the four Shiite books wherein it studies the number of hadiths quoted from transmitters of Qom in the third century and early fourth century AH, including Ahmad bin Muhammad Khalid Barqi, Muhammad bin Hassan Saffar Qomi, Ali bin Ibrahim bin Hashim Qomi and Muhammad bin Yahya al-Attar in four collections of Shiite traditions, entitled al-Kafi, Man La Yahduruhu-l-Faqih, Tahdhib al-Ahkam, and al-Istibsar fi Makhtulifa min al-Akhbar, as well as the role and effect of those transmitters. Considering the importance and prominence of the hadith school of Qom and the transmitters in that city in that historical period, the main topic of this study is the level of influence of Qomi transmitters on the writing of those books as well as the effect of the condition of that Shiite group on the traditions quoted from those transmitters. The research method was descriptive, and the process of data-gathering was based on library sources. The results of the study show that apart from the common hadiths, we see the names of those transmitters in the authority chain of more than 43% of the hadiths in the Four Books, and the number increases to 75% in al-Kafi, which shows the prominent role of Qomi transmitters. The greatest number of hadiths quoted from those transmitters is related to religious laws regarding marriage, and the least number is related to the laws of Jihad. On the contrary, however, the greatest percent of the traditions quoted from them are about Jihad.