The Historical Authenticity of Kitāb al-Kāfi, Historical Pathology of Criticism

Al-Kāfi of Kulaini has been known as an authentic book by Imami scholars for a long time. But in the current period, some have denied the authenticity of the existing versions of al-Kāfi; Accordingly, considering the very important position of al-Kāfi, this research answers the question, what evidence weakens or strengthens the authenticity of al-Kāfi? According to the results of this article, the very high compatibility of al-Kāfi isnāds with Tahdhīb, the abundance of al-Kāfi narration documents, the high attention given to it in different classes and the similarity of the narrations of the hadith books and Fihrists from Kulaini with the existing al-Kāfi are among the reasons for the authenticity of the al-Kāfi version. The criticisms on the authenticity of al-Kāfi are based on wrong foundations, which consider the authenticity of ancient books to be only dependent on the age of the manuscripts or the connection of the isnāds. On the other hand, incorrect perceptions about the comprehensiveness of the old sources, has caused them to think that the totality of al-Kāfi should be quoted in sources such as Tahdhīb. This research, while explaining the Defects of critics' reasons, has shown that they have neglected extensive evidence to prove the authenticity of al-Kāfi, as they have neglected the evidential aspects of their own documents, and have presented wrong analyses.