Document Type : Original Article
Author
Associate Professor, Department of Shiʻa History Studies, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, NeyshAbūr University, NeyshAbūr, Iran.
10.22034/hsr.2024.51596.1032
Abstract
The writings of Shaykh Ṣadūq (d. 381 AH) increasingly contain narrations from "Faḍl ibn Shādhān "(d. 260 AH) from Imam Riḍā (AS). Over the past centuries, theologians and jurists have relied on these reports as a basis for their arguments and interpretations in theological and jurisprudential matters. However, Professor Muḥammad Baqir Behboudi, citing the Rijāl of Kashshī and Ṭūsī, claims that "Ibn Shādhān "was born after the martyrdom of Imam Riḍā (AS) and thus considers those narrations to be unreliable. In his view, the responsibility for attributing the narration of "Faḍl" from Imam Riḍā (AS) lies with "ʻAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Qutayba," whom he deems to be a false and untrustworthy individual. In contrast, the author of this article, through a review of the Rijāl of Kashshī and Ṭūsī and other sources, and by considering various evidences, reaches a different conclusion in both areas, positing that Ibn Shādhān was born around the year 180 AH or earlier, which would allow for the possibility of reporting from Imam Riḍā (AS) (who died in 203 AH). Moreover, the reports from "ʻAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Qutayba "recognized as a Shiʻa narrator and theologian contemporary with Imam Hādī and Imam ʻAskarī (AS), are transmitted in "Tehdhīb al-Aḥkām," "al-Istibṣār," "Man Lā Yaḥḍuruhul Faqīh," and the writings of Shaykh Ṣadūq as well as other foundational Hādīth sources. The author, through a deep exploration of the statements of Kashshī, Najāshī, Ṭūsī, Ḥillī, and other experts in the field of Rijāl such as Mirdāmād, Wahid Behbahani, Shūshtarī, and Zanjani, firmly establishes that "Ibn Shādhān "is a highly esteemed scholar, trustworthy, and one of the eminent luminaries of the Ahl al-Bayt school of thought.
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