Tahdhib al-Ahkam () is the third hadith collection of the Four Books of Shia Islam. It was compiled by Twelver Shia Hadith scholar Shaykh Tusi. This work is included among the four books of Shia Islam. It is a commentary on the al-Muqni'a by Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid, who was a Twelver Shia theologian.
Title
Tahdhib al-Ahkam is translated by Ludwig W. Adamec as
confirmation of decision and by I.K.A Howard as
The Refinement of the Laws (as Discussed).
Author
Abu Jafar Muhammad Ibn Hasan Tusi () known as Shaykh al-Ta'ifah () or Shaykh al-Tusi was born in 996 AD in Tus,
Iran. He was a
Persian people Shia
Twelver scholar and authored two references of Shia collections of
Hadith, Tahdhib al-Ahkam and
Al-Istibsar. Al-Shaikh al-Tusi died in
Najaf on the 22nd of
Muharram on 2 December 1067.
Background
Al-Istibsar is one of the four major Shia collections of Hadith () authored by Shaykh Tusi.
According to Ali Nasiri, when Shaykh Tusi transferred to
Baghdad and participated in the class session of
Shaykh al-Mufid, he found conflicting
Hadith (traditions) in Shia sources. Due to his nomination at the introduction of
Tahdhib al-Ahkam,
he wrote the book as a commentary on the Al-Muqni'ah for solving the crisis of contradiction in the Shia Islamic seminary in response to his friend request. Ali Nasiri give three reasons for selection Al-Muqni'ah by Shaykh Tusi: dignity of Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid, Al-Muqni'ah was based on Shia view and last reason is fruition of Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid’s intellectual and mental protection.
Content
Shaykh Tusi explained his style in authoring the
Tahdhib al-Ahkam in the introduction of it. According to viewpoint of Ali Nasiri, Shaykh Tusi authored this book basis on the six phases:
-
Mention the jurisprudential issues by keeping the structure of the book al-Muqni'ah by Shaykh al-Mufid
-
Recounting their proof except tradition (Hadith): Shaykh Tusi nominated to three type of proof, the Quran, Sunnah and Ijma (agreement of the Muslim scholars basically on religious issues). The types of Quranic evidence was described by him. Also, according to his belief, Sunnah may contain Mutawatir tradition or Ahaad. In view of Shaykh Tusi, consensus referred to an agreement of Shia Muslim scholars.
-
Recounting the Hadith proof: one of the fundamental parts at Tahdhib al-Ahkam is to rely on the tradition that protects every issue.
-
Recounting the conflicting proof: rectifying the conflicting tradition was the main purpose of Shaykh Tusi for authoring this book. So he devoted the main part of his work to examine such tradition with a tradition that verifies every issue.
-
Describing the way of rectifying concordant and conflicting traditions: after determining this type of tradition, Shaykh Tusi inspect the way of rectifying.
-
Citing tradition in a bid to declare the interpretation: Shaykh Tusi used interpretation and rationalization to rectifying concordant and conflicting traditions.
Therefore, Shaykh Tusi proceeded to his work in three step:
-
Transmitting tradition that verifies every issue
-
Transmitting tradition that contrasts the first set of tradition
-
Transmitting tradition that affirms the interpretation
Tahdhib al-Ahkam contains the following:
- I: Ritual purity in Islam ( (Taharah))
- II: Prayer
- III: Zakat
- IV: Sawm
- V: Hajj
- VI: Jihad
- VII: Judgements and Legal Requirements ()
- VIII: Acquisitions ()
- IX: Trade ()
- X: Marriage
- XI: Divorce
- XII: Manumission of Slaves
- XIII: Oaths, Vows and Atonements
- XIV: Hunting and Ritual Slaughter
- XV: Endowments and Alms
- XVI: Bequests
- XVII: Formal Rules of Inheritance
- XVIII: Punishment prescribed by Revelation
- XIX: Indemnities for Bodily Injury
According to Najaf publication, Tahdhib al-Ahkam included 409 chapters, 13988 traditions and according to the counting of Muhaddis Noori it included 393 chapters, 13590 traditions. This variance between reports had led by mistake in counting.
See also
