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

‘Ilal al-Sharāyi’

al-Shaykh al-Saduq ،Muhammad b. Ali b. al-Husayn b. Musa b. Babawayh al-Qummi known as al-Shaykh al-Saduq was among the greatest Shi'a scholars of the 4th/10th century. Exact date of his birth is not known; however, it must have been after 305/917-8. His grave is in Rey. He has been considered the greatest scholar of Qom in hadith and jurisprudence and more than 300 scholarly works have been attributed to him, most of which are not available now. Man la yahduruh al-faqih which is among the Shia's Four Books is one of his works. His other important works are Ma'ani al-akhbar, 'Uyun akhbar al-Rida, al-Khisal, 'Ilal al-shara'i', and Sifat al-Shi'a.Some of his most famous students were al-Sharif al-Murtada, al-Shaykh al-Mufid, and al-Talla'ukbari.