al-Kāfī

Abū Jaʿfar, Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb b. Isḥāq al-Kulaynī Al-Rāzī (Arabic: ابوجعفر، محمّد بن یعقوب بن اسحاق الرازی) (c. 255/868-9 - 329/941) was among the greatest Shi'a hadith scholars and the author of al-Kafi, the most authentic Shi'a hadith collection and one the Four Books. He was born after the martyrdom of Imam al-'Askari (a), at the time of Imam al-Mahdi (a) and met some hadith transmitters who directly had heard hadiths from Imam al-Hadi (a) and Imam al-'Askari (a). It is said that al-Kulayni was very accurate in transmitting hadiths. Ibn Qulawayh, Muhammad b. Ali Majilawayh al-Qummi, Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Zurari were among his students.

1386

Dar al-Hadith

Sheikh Mufīd, al-Amālī

Abu ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. al-Nuʿmān al-ʿUkbarī al-Baghdādī (Arabic: محمد بن محمد بن النُعمان العُکبَري البغدادي) (b. 336/948 or 338/950 - d. 413/1022) known as al-Shaykh al-Mufīd (Arabic: الشيخ المفيد) was among the greatest Twelver Shi'a scholars of the second half of the forth/tenth century and early fifth/eleventh century. He was among great revivers of Islamic sciences and among the hardworking preachers of Shi'a culture and jurisprudence. It is said by compiling the principles of jurisprudence, he founded a new approach in ijtihad which was a middle way between two other approaches namely extreme rational approach and hadith-based approach without applying the intellect. Al-Shaykh al-Saduq, Ibn Junayd al-Iskafi, and Ibn Qulawayh are among the greatest teachers of al-Shaykh al-Mufid. Al-Shaykh al-Tusi, al-Sayyid al-Murtada, al-Sayyid al-Radi, and al-Najashi are his most famous students. His most important works are Al-Muqni'a in jurisprudence, Awa'il al-maqalat in theology, and al-Irshad in the history of Imams.

1371

Sheikh Mufid Congress