kheradnameh71

Ilm al-rijal is a peripheral science and a complementary field to the science of jurisprudence. It is also called rijal al-hadith and ilm al-rijal al-hadith. The word rijal refers to the narrators of hadith from the Prophet (s), whether those who were present at the time of the Prophet (s) himself, or those who narrated from the first group of narrators. The word "naql" means both expressing and transferring the words or hadiths of the Prophet (s). One must know that although the word "rijal" (plural of rajol) means "men", the masculinity of the narrator does not play a role here. In fact, it was because most of the narrators were men that they chose the word "rijal".

Many books have been written in the field of ilm al-rijal some of which are new and some are old. This discipline is, in fact, divided into two informal parts. One is on introducing great people and their value in terms of truth and honesty, and the other discusses certain principles based on which one can study the "validity of the narrator". This is necessary when the situation of the narrator is not much clear, and there are several contradictory ideas and judgments concerning him.

The validity of the narrator when narrating any event, particularly, Shar'i rules is extremely important. This is because he is the criteria for the truth and falsity of any news or historical event. The importance of this point is much greater in learning and knowing about Shar'i rules, and validity is a primary characteristic for a jurisprudent, who is an expert in Islamic jurisprudence and law and is responsible for studying and locating Shar'i rules for Muslims. The reason is that if the evidence for a Shar'i decree is false, it must be eliminated from the field of a jurisprudent's work. Hadiths or news are divided into two main groups: single news and widely transmitted news. The transmission of hadith from the Prophet (s) was sometimes done by a group[1] the members of which had no relationship with each other. Thus they could not conspire in order to create the hadith themselves. Here, the jurisprudent received a hadith in the form of "widely transmitted news" (i.e. in a cumulative and seriate manner). However, a hadith is sometimes transmitted or narrated by only one person, which is technically called "single news".[2]

The necessity of knowing the narrator of hadith for the sake of proving its truth is mainly for "single" news and narrations, which are the unique links between the Prophet (s) or his companions and others. Therefore, it is tried in ilm al-rijal to know and check the narrator from some important aspects:

First: Having a complete knowledge of his name, his father's name, his homeland, his year of birth and death, his fame, and the like so that he is not mistaken with similar people.

Second: Knowing about his ethical and psychological features and his personality. It should also be known if he observed justice in accomplishing his task in order to make sure that he did not lie and did not forge news. Moreover, it is necessary to know if he had any weakness in terms of his intellect, understanding, and memory.

Third: Knowing about the narrator's political and racial beliefs and attitudes. This is very important because they sometimes lead to the distortion of hadith.

Based on the above division, narrations and hadiths are divided into four primary and main groups: correct hadith, authentic hadith, good hadith, and weak hadith.

Hadith is called correct when all of its narrators in the chain of narration up to the Prophet (s) are either infallible (among the Imams of the Prophet's Household) or just (free from lies and sin). They should also be followers of the People of the Household.

A good hadith is one all narrators of which are well-known and have no ambiguous points in their lives. However, there is no explicit reference to the validity of any of them and none have been characterized directly by justice (although they were just people in reality).

An authentic hadith is one the narrator of which, although not a Shi'ite, has been confirmed as an authentic source by the Shi'ite. They should also have testified to his justice and the truth of his hadith. An authentic hadith or something close to it is also called a "strong hadith", i.e. acceptable.

A weak hadith (unacceptable hadith) is one the narrators of which or even only one of them is introduced as lacking in justice and true belief. Therefore, jurisprudents do not take heed of that hadith and do not act upon it even if its text is free from any defect.

Sometimes the weakness of the hadith lies in itself. For example, its content might be against what is written in the Qur'an or what jurisprudents believe in. Or, it might include contradictory and incomprehensible concepts or be against wisdom.

Narration of false hadiths from the Prophet (s) by some deviated friends was so common even in the time of the Prophet (s) himself that he said in a speech, "Beware people! Many lies have been told about me and quoted from me. Anyone who deliberately quotes any lies from me will burn in fire."

Imam Ali (a), the Commander of the Faithful, divided narrators into four groups only one of which is honest and acceptable and the other three must be rejected. The first consists of those who follow evil intentions in forging hadiths and attributing them wrongly to the Prophet (s). They mainly do so in order to attain their political purposes. The second group consists of those who do not tell lies but have failed to grasp the correct meaning of hadith and narrate it wrongly. They either lack a good memory or commit errors in terms of the content or form of hadith. The third includes those narrators whose hadith is correct but are unaware of some changes that have occurred in it, such as the alternations in the writing down of hadith and its losing the primary validity that it originally had. The fourth group is, however, other than the above three. Its members are authentic sources and can be trusted. Therefore, one can act upon their narrations.

The importance of knowing reliable and trustworthy narrators and its impact on the truth of the hadiths quoted from the Prophet (s) and some of the Imams of his Household was the reason why some of the narrators who were contemporary with Imams (a) were among the first to develop a science (ilm al-rijal) to introduce reliable narrators. The story of this attempt has been told in the related books.[3]

The same care and meticulousness during the first periods of jurisprudence, which was the period of collecting the narrations related to Shar'i rules and prohibited and obligatory acts, existed in jurisprudents and the writers of jurisprudential books. This prompted them to do more research and write more accurate scientific books on the "knowledge of great men". From among them, we can refer to the famous and extensive works of Tusi (in about 11 centuries ago) and those of other jurisprudents in all periods, including that of Mulla Sadra. Both of his contemporary geniuses, Shaykh Baha al-Din 'Amili and Mir Damad were masters of this science and had some works in this regard. Mir Damad's Rawashih and Shaykh Baha'i's Khulasah were both among the books acceptable to jurisprudents. It is not strange if Mulla Sadra was also skillful in this field, which is an introduction to jurisprudence and ilm al-hadith.

Apparently, Mulla Sadra wrote no book on ilm al-rijal. This was perhaps because there were enough good books in this field, and if jurisprudents have a specific idea in relation to ilm al-rijal, they usually wrote it as glosses to the texts of narrations.[4] However, it appears from his Sharh-i usul kafi and the commentary that he wrote on Mir Damad's al-Rawashih (which we have not had access to) that he was an authority in this field. It is also possible that he agreed with the ideas and theories of his two masters.

For example, concerning Ali Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Hashim, who had aroused the doubts of some people because of not having been directly authenticated by great scholars in terms of correction of his narrations, Mulla Sadra followed the idea of Mir Damad in authenticating him and considers his hadith to be correct.

[1]. A widely transmitted hadith has been defined as one which has had so many narrators in each period that it would have been impossible for them to collude to forge a hadith and for the intellect to accept it.

[2]. There is also a third type called "mustafid" news, which has had several narrators but not as many as those of a "widely transmitted news".

[3]. Sadr, Seyyed Isma'il, T'asis al-Shi'ah lil-ulum al-Islam.

[4]. Aqa Buzurg Tehrani, Musaff al-maqal, p. 389.

Seyyed Mohammed Khamenei

Technically speaking, politics means the wise management and administration of society and has appeared in various forms. Some of these forms are close to the real meaning of politics and some of them are far from it. The best pattern for a political system is one with the most comprehensive program and law in order to provide for man's happiness in every aspect of life. That is why the patterns and systems rooted in human convenience, since man is not capable of dominating everything, are imperfect and are abolished one after the other. Therefore, the best political pattern belongs to the system which has been designed by an ultra-human source (God) and has been analyzed and legislated for human beings by His Prophets.

The historical development of the divine political system is divided into two general periods: The period of "prophethood", which covers the period of the presence of the Prophets, and the period of "guardianship", covering the period of the dominance of the heirs and representatives of the Prophets. In most philosophical schools and works reference has been made to these periods, their necessity, and features. In the field of Islamic philosophy, either explicitly or implicitly, philosophers have referred to the construction of political systems. As the most sublime and comprehensive of all philosophical schools in Islamic tradition, the Transcendent Philosophy sees itself needless of dealing with political discussions directly and extensively for several reasons. However, when necessary, it has touched this issue in the middle of many other discussions.

Mulla Sadra's political view, although similar to that of Farabi and Ibn Sina regarding its basic principles, is closer to a true philosophical view of politics because of being based on the specific principles of the Transcendent Philosophy. By "Utopia", he means society at the national level; by "virtuous people", he means regional communities, and by "inhabited land", he means the world society. Accordingly, his view is closer to the Islamic teaching of the "one people". The ruler of this society is a wayfarer who is united with God, has returned from the third mystic journey, and is now among the creatures of God.

The writer believes that, in addition to the two common methods in Mulla Sadra's works for the demonstration of the philosophical necessity of politics and the features of a divine ruler, we can adduce an ontological argument for it. This paper presents different interpretations of this argument.

Maqsud Muhammadi

The most important concern of the thinking man, after providing for his bare necessities in life, has always been to know the laws of the system of being. In this way, he can, firstly, predict future events and, secondly, understand and explain them. What initially seems to be taken for granted and presupposed is that the world is moved by the intellect. In other words, worldly events occur based on rational laws rather than by accident. More clearly, there exists in the world something called the network of the sequence of events or plan of happenings according to which all incidents are organized. Through discovering this plan with the help of the sciences of physics and mathematics, one can predict future events to some extent. However, man cannot be content merely with the prediction of future events; rather, he wishes to understand and explain them. He wants to know about the whatness of this workshop which is called the world. He also wishes to know why it works in this way and not in another way. It is at this point that man goes beyond the borderline of science and resorts to philosophy (where science leaves off and philosophy picks up). Based on his philosophical principles (principiality of existence, the graded unity of the reality of existence, the trans-substantial motion, etc), Mulla Sadra maintains that the essence of the system of being is the love of the Origin and the enthusiasm for perfection. He believes that the love of the Origin of the truth exists in the essence of all particles of existents. He also asserts that, in addition to this love, the passion for attaining perfection has also been placed in all material existents. The love of reaching ultimate perfection flows in all the constituent parts and pillars of the world. All the uproar and turmoil in the world originates in the power of love for pure perfection; a love that is accompanied with life and awareness. This love, on the one hand, protects the system of being and, on the other, is the cause of motion towards perfection.

Principle of Truth in its Simplicity and its Applications in the Transcendent Philosophy

The principle of "truth in its simplicity" is one of the fundamental principles of the Transcendent Philosophy which has been very useful in solving some complicated philosophical problems. Mulla Sadra employed it in solving certain problems such as divine knowledge, Almighty Necessary as the Source of all things, and the soul as the whole faculty. Inquiring into these principles and their applications in Sadrain philosophy plays a very important role in scrutinizing and examining the Transcendent Philosophy. A real referent of this principle is Almighty Necessary; however, its application to other cases is relative. In other words, other cases are not truly simple but are, rather, simple in comparison to cases lower than themselves. Therefore, they are not true referents of the principle of truth in its simplicity. In this paper, after referring to the historical background of this principle and analyzing it, the writers have dealt with its applications in Sadrian philosophy. Finally, they have provided a new interpretation of this principle based on the individual unity of existence.

The Relationship between the Perfection and Truth of the Soul and the Knowledge of Universals in the Transcendent Philosophy

In the Transcendent Philosophy, the knowledge of the soul is the "mother of wisdom", "principle of happiness", and "luminous wisdom". Mulla Sadra believes that the human soul lacks quiddity and argues that the knowledge of it is an important condition for the knowledge of the truth of objects. In order to attain this purpose, in addition to strengthening intellectual powers, practical purification is also necessary. Based on the principles of the trans-substantial motion, these two factors comprise man's truth. Accordingly, a clear perception of universals has a direct relationship with the essential perfection and soulish immateriality of human beings. However, most of them remain at the level of purgatorial immateriality and fail to have a clear perception of universals. According to Mulla Sadra, these universals are the same Platonic Ideas, and universal concepts originate in observing them from a distance. Thus only a few people who have reached the supreme levels of immateriality succeed in perceiving universals. In this paper, the writer has explored the reality of the soul in Mulla Sadra's view as well as the relationship between the soul and the perception of universals. At the end of his discussion, he concludes that the disagreements among philosophers in this regard are rooted in a sense of universals that Mulla Sadra calls "diffused universal" and is a common product of imagination and the intellect. This sense and level is lower than the level of the perception of the things firmly rooted in knowledge, which are known through the perception of Ideas.

An Analysis and Comparison of Two Sources of Knowledge in Sadrian and Cartesian Philosophies

One of the important issues in contemporary epistemology is the discussion of the sources of knowledge. According to most epistemologists, these sources consist of sense perception, intellect, introspection, testimony, and memory. Following a comparative approach, this paper intends to explore and discuss two important sources of knowledge, that is, sense perception and intellect, based on the epistemological principles of Sadrian and Cartesian philosophers. Both groups consider sense-perception and the intellect as the sources of knowledge. They view intellectual perception higher than sense perception and the intellect as the main source of attaining the truth. At the same time, there exist some disagreements among them. For example, some of them believe that sense perception is the source of all sciences, and some others deny the famous view of Scholastic philosophy as to "Whatever is in our intellect must have previously been in the senses."

The theory of "creation out of nothing" is one of the central discussions in Mulla Sadra's ontology. Based on the theory of the trans-substantial motion and through resorting to the Qur'an, he maintains that the world is temporally originated. However, in the Peripatetic philosophy, the world is temporally eternal and essentially originated. In Illuminationist philosophy, the world is considered to be the manifestation and epiphany of the light of all lights and essentially posterior to God. Moreover, in gnosis, through resorting to immutable entities, creation out of nothing is accepted and interpreted. In the Transcendent Philosophy, by criticizing and exploring the ideas of mutikallimun and philosophers based on the theory of continuous creation and through using intellectual reasoning and illuminationist intuition, it is proved that, no other existent, except the One God, is essentially and temporally pre-eternal. The followers of this school also argue that believing in pure oneness is only possible through believing in the theory of creation out of nothing and the essential and temporal creation of the world.

Alireza Kohansal and Zeynab Armakan

The "derivative" is one of concepts that has attracted the attention of thinkers in the field of Islamic sciences and made them inquire into its constituent parts. Since Mulla Sadra's view of the derivative has influenced his philosophical system regarding several theoretical issues such as the principiality of existence, demonstration of the trans-substantial motion, and a new approach to causality, a study of the various aspects of this concept is of great importance. Here, the writers first present the common ideas of philosophers concerning the derivative including the following: 1. The derivative consists of essence, the source of derivation, and relation, 2. The derivative consists of the source of derivation and relation, and 3. The derivative is simple and the same as the source of derivation. Then they refer to the applications of Mulla Sadra's view concerning the concept of derivative, including some issues such as the principiality of existence, a new approach to causality, the critique of the theory of dhawq ta'alluh (taste of being devout), unity of the annexation and the annexed, demonstration of the trans-substantial motion, negation of the subject in the trans-substantial motion, unity of knowledge, the knower, and the known, and denying synthesis to the essence of the Necessary.

Mulla Sadra's Life, Works, and Philosophy

Prof. S. M. Khamenei

Seyyed Mohammed Khamenei

Maqsud Muhammadi

Alireza Kohansal and Zeynab Armakan