A Textual and Documentary Review of Hebry's Exegetical Narrations

Hebry is among the Zaidiyyah hadith scholars and exegetes (3rd century A. H.). Based on the Zaidiyyah theological-doctrinal principles، he strongly believed that Imam Ali (a. s.) was the immediate successor of the Prophet (p. b. u. h.). The most important documents utilized by this exegete are the text of the Quran and the narrations with which Shiites agree unanimously. Based on the narration ‘Hassan (a. s.) and Hussein (a. s.) are Imams regardless of the course of action they follow’، he considered them to be Imams. Based on the views of the scholars of ilm-e rejal (the discipline which studies the biography of hadith transmitters) from among both Shiites and Sunnis، it was found out that most of the chains of transmitters are reliable ones; of course، a small number are not. Among these narrations، some are marfoo'' (their original transmitter is missing)، some are moqoof (neither acceptable nor deniable) and others are moanan (with a long chain of transmitters). In tradition to the narrations that originated from the Prophet (p. b. u. h.) and the other Infallibles، most narrations have been narrated from ibn-e Abbas and since he is not infallible، his narrations are considered neither acceptable nor deniable. The content analysis of this exegetical work indicates that the hadiths mainly deal with the virtues and glorious deeds of Imam Ali (a. s.). A small number of hadiths are related to the ‘cause of revelation’. Hence، a high frequency of ‘nazal fi’ (revealed about) in this exegetical work mainly concerns ‘the occasions of revelation’، not the ‘cause of revelation’. Since ‘cause of revelation’ narrations are alsopresented to highlight Imam Ali’s virtues and glorious deeds, they cannot be assessed on the basis of the common principles of fiqhal-hadith (the discipline which studies hadiths). In general, the contents of these narrations are only acceptable within the framework of Shiite beliefs and Imamate. Hebry’s exegetical narrations have been cited identically or with slight differences in wording or documentation in narrative sources of Twelvers and Zaidiyyah and even Sunni sources among which he following exegetic works are the most outstanding: Forat-e Kofi, Tafsir al-Borhan and Shavahed al-Tanzil.