Sharh Usul al-kafi (Commentary upon the Usul al-kafi), Kitab al-Hujjah, Volumes 5
The book Hujjat is the third book of the Kafi series consisting of 46 chapters. Mulla Sadra wrote commentaries for 10 of its chapters and began writing one for the first hadith of its 11th chapter. However, he did not succeed in finishing it and, apparently, passed away before bringing it to an end.
We read in this book that God has two types of proof: external and unveiled proof and internal and hidden proof. The former is for sensual people and laymen, while the latter is for the people of the intellect and the chosen. The writer continues: the effect of a sensible miracle on ordinary people is much greater than that of one thousand arguments and reasonings, and the effect of a rational reasoning concerning faith on the chosen is much greater than the effect of a thousand miracles. Therefore, the prophets and favorites of God and their miracles are God's proofs of for His Creation, and rational arguments and divine lights are His proofs for the prophets and their interior. In Hujjat, Mulla Sadra reasons that proofs are necessary for people, and the world is not void of them. Moreover, the prophets are the same proofs of God at various levels, and the Imams are His vicegerents on the Earth.
This book consists of eleven chapters which have been commented on and interpreted by Mulla Sadra. Their titles are given below:
1. The Necessity of Proof.
2. The Levels of the Prophets, Messengers, and Imams.
3. The Differences between Messengers, Prophets, and Muhaddiths.
4. God's Proofs for People are Completed by the Existence of Imams.
5. The Earth is not Void of Proof.
6. If There are Only Two People on the Earth, One is the Proof of God.
7. The Imam's Knowledge, Taking Religious Affairs to him, and Complying with his Order.
8. It is Necessary to Obey the Imams.
9. The Imams are Signs Leading People to God.
10. The Imams are Guides.
11. The Imams are God's Legitimate Custodians of Authority and the Guardians of His Knowledge.
This volume of Sharh usul al-kafi has been published under the supervision of Professor Mohammed Khamenei in 373 pages by the Sadra Islamic Philosophy Institute. The editor and researcher of the book is Subhan Ali Kusha, who has also written an Introduction to it. Different lists of hadiths, people, and books are also given.