Reappraisal of Textual Evidences of the Authoritativeness of Isolated Tradition in Light of the Intellectual's Attitude

As one of the most important Shī’a source, the isolated tradition (khabar al-wāḥid) has always been open to discussion in science of the principles of Islamic jurisprudence (‘ilm al-uṣūl) and hadith and its authoritativeness has been carefully examined. Proving the authoritativeness of the isolated tradition lies in the scholars’ past approach by means of the Qur’an and traditions, the result of which is the devotional acceptance of such a judgment. In view of some contemporaries, however, the means for uncovering rulings (denotations = imārāt) does not have a devotional aspect; rather, they are subject to the intellectuals’ stipulation, as the legislator’s function is to endorse them. With such an approach, the present paper has analyzed the isolated tradition as one of these means, the origin of whose authoritativeness is the intellectuals’ attitude, and explicated the role of other textual evidences (verses and traditions) as requirement for an attitude. The most evident outcome of this reappraisal is a new perspective about the criteria of the authoritativeness of hadith and the means for diversification of tradition; because by accepting the role of the intellectuals’ stipulation in the authoritativeness of tradition, the criteria for its acceptance is also left with the intellectuals, and the issuance authenticity is considered as the most important feature of the authoritativeness of tradition.