Principles of Weakening Transmitters of Hadith in Behbūdī’s Ma‘rifat al-Ḥadīth

Studying the degree of authenticity of the transmitters of hadith is among the oldest hadith investigations, called ‘Ilm al-Rijāl. Among the contemporaries, Muhammad Baqir Behboudi has mentioned the weak transmitters in his Ma‘rifat al-Hadith and named 150 of hadith transmitters as ḍu‘fā (the weak) and then undertaken to state their weak aspects. This research is intended to study the transmitters who have been weakened in Ma‘rifat al-Hadith and find the principles and criteria for the invalidation of transmitters in view of the author of the book. The investigations indicate that such instances as the content of the traditions or the book quoted from the transmitter, the weakness of the narrators or the persons from whom the hadith has been narrated (marwī ‘anh), attribution of fabricated hadith to the transmitter are among the factors of weakening the transmitters of hadith in this book. Since familiarity with the criteria and standards of the rijāl experts in invalidation or declaring trustworthy (al-jarḥ wa al-ta‘dīl) of the narrators is essential for proper understanding, interpreting, judgment concerning their statements and procedure, the present article, while enumerating the author’s criteria and standards in calling the transmitters of hadith as weak, has undertaken to judge some of the evidences denoting the weakness of the transmitter in his opinion.