Introduction and Methodology of al-Khiṣāl by Shaykh Ṣadūq

Maaref, Majid; Ghasemi Hamed, Morteza; Zargham, Mohammad

doi:10.22034/hsr.2025.51790.1062

Introduction and Methodology of al-Khiṣāl by Shaykh Ṣadūq

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Professor, Department of Quran and Hadith Sciences, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

² Assistant Professor, Department of Quran and Hadith Sciences, Faculty of Quran and Hadith, University of Islamic Denominations, Tehran, Iran.

³ PhD Candidate in Quran and Hadith Sciences, Faculty of Quran and Hadith, University of Islamic Denominations, Tehran, Iran.

10.22034/hsr.2025.51790.1062

Abstract

Shaykh Ṣadūq is one of the great hadith scholars of the Shia Imamiyyah in the fourth century AH, who left behind nearly three hundred authored works, indicating his effective role in promoting the culture of the Ahl al-Bayt (AS). One of the comprehensive approaches in the early period was writing books with attention to solving a problem or meeting a scientific need. Therefore, Shaykh Ṣadūq, with this goal, authored the book al-Khiṣāl, which is a comprehensive collection of ethical and doctrinal narrations. Although the majority of the book consists of narrations and he did not intend to provide explanations beneath the text of the narrations, he employed specific methods in citing them. Extracting these methods, categorizing, and analyzing them, which is the main issue of this research, is of great importance for emulation in hadith compilations. This book categorizes and organizes narrations in a novel format based on number and numerical order. This article examines it using a descriptive-analytical method. Therefore, while introducing the book and its structure and categorizing narrations based on the main narrators, the author's method in citing narrations is extracted, considering how the author cites the narrations. After examining the content of the book, the results show that al-Khiṣāl is a relatively topic-oriented hadith compendium, compiled in 26 chapters and 1255 hadiths, and includes a collection of doctrinal, ethical, jurisprudential, historical, theological, and other narrations. Their commonality lies in the number of characteristics mentioned in the narrations. The author's method in citing narrations consists of: "Citing narrations with Isnād (chain of narration), utilizing Shia and Sunni narrations in selecting narrations, explaining narrations with the help of other narrations, utilizing the knowledge of Takhrīj in recording narrations, paying attention to Samāʼ (oral transmission) in narrating hadith, numerical categorization of narrations, collecting narrations with diverse topics, and an educational and instructive approach in citing narrations."

Keywords

Main Subjects

Hadith

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