Review and Analysis of Imam Riḍā's Criteria in Criticizing the Narrations Presented to Him

With the systematic spread of fabricated and distorted hadiths in the time of Imam Riḍā (as), in many cases, the narrators sought the authenticity of the hadiths from that Imam. In case of falsification and distortion in the narration, the Imam (as) has methodically and by using reassuring criteria, has expressed its distortion and forgery. In general, the Imam has used two internal and external criteria in the critique of these narrations. He has done the internal critique, which is carefully done in the context of the hadith, with two categories of criteria: intra-religious criteria and extra-religious criteria. The intra-religious criteria are the Qur'an, religious certainties and narrations; and extra-religious criteria can be considered as intellect, sense and experience. External criticism, which is the evaluation of hadiths using references such as narrators of hadith and the source of hadith, has been realized in the life of Imam Riḍā (as) by criticizing the narrators. He has criticized the hadiths by referring to the source of forgery and distortion, which is the existence of false narrators. Imam (as) sometimes has used a combination of several criteria to critique the narrations, which among the criteria used, he has used the two criteria of "narrations and reason" more than other criteria.