The Network of Concepts Related to the Imamat of Imam Ali (as) Based on Thematic Analysis of Traditions in the Book "Kifāyat al-Athar"

Among the hadith works that have received less attention in the history of Islam is the book "Kifāyat al-Athar fī Naṣ 'lā al-a'immat al-athnā 'ashar". Khazāz Rāzī wrote this book during the period of writing the four Shia hadith books. He is one of the hadith scholars of the 4th century AH, who collected hadiths in this book with the aim of proving the imamate and the succession of Ahl al-Bayt (as) in a special order that shows that her primary audience were the opponents of the Twelver Shia religion. However some scholars have weakened the hadiths of this book and have not paid serious attention to it, bu in this article, an attempt has been made to use the thematic analysis method in order to validate the text and content of the hadiths of the book. Therefore, while extracting the network of themes of its hadiths, the proofs of all themes have been stated from reliable sources such as the Holy Quran and other hadith books. The results of the research show the pivotal relationship of imamate with monotheism, Prophecy, divine piety, submission to the truth, faith and the truth of worship. The most important categories classified from the theme network are Viṣāyat, Vilāyat, imamate and being the heir of Imam Ali (as) after the Prophet of Islam (pbuh). Since verifying the content of this book plays an important role in textual validating and re-introducing it in the Islamic society, the necessity of this research and its applicability is determined.