An Introduction to the Manaqib Writing

A remarkable portion of our hadith heritage is formed by manaqib and virtues of the infallible Imams. This group of hadith speaks of superiority of an individual or a group over other individuals or groups. Common sense and man's pure instinct always confirms the superiority of afzal over mafzul. Therefore from the early Islam, they have have tried to present the virtues and manaqib of the Infallible Imams, peace be upon them. Since the issue of manaqib and virtues prepared a suitable ground for forgers to forge hadiths. This unpleasant phenomenon has polluted a fraction of hadith heritage in this regard. In the history of Islam, many authors have written and compiled books on the merits of the infallible Imams and the bad behaviors of their enemies. As a result, there are variousand different views in writing of manaqibs as there are in other fields. In this paper we discuss the above mentioned issues.