Analyzing the tradition lā-tajtami`u ummatī `alā al-ḍalālah from the aspects of isnad and denotation

The tradition "My community do not agree on misguiding" (lā-tajtami`u ummatī `alā al-ḍalālah) that has been transmitted and published by means of Sunni hadith collections, is used today as the evidence of jurisprudential consensus along with the Book, the Sunnah and the judicial reasoning by analogy (qiās). It has been deemed for long the official evidence for legitimacy of the performance of the companions, particularly the caliphs after the Prophet (ṣ.`a.w.). The Sunni scholars have permanently used this tradition in their theological disputations to refute the argumentations of the Shi'a scholars. This tradition has also crept in some of later Shi'a hadith collections. Having studied the isnad of the above tradition this article has proved the weakness of its different transmission paths (ṭuruq). Taking the historical view and the denotation of the tradition text into consideration, not only it is not deemed that this tradition denotes the concept and legitimacy of ijmā`, but also the misreading (taṣḥīf) or forgery due to political motivations is understood.