Al-hadith

Collection of the Hadith By the Shi'a

It was during the Khilaafah of Abu Bakr and early Khilaafah of Omar that Imam Ali (a.s.) set to the task of registering the Hadiths. Imam Ali was incomparably strict about Islam, and could foresee the need to register the Hadith to be the source for future generations. Ali was fanatic about the accuracy of his writing, and in an agonizingly methodical manner he accomplished the following:

  1. During Abu Bakr's Khilaafah: Ali rendered in writing the following:

  2. Holy Quran: Chronological order of the Quran's revelations.

  3. Tafseer of the Holy Quran, 3 volumes: called Mus'haf Fatima.

  4. During Omar's Khilaafah: Ali rendered the following:

  5. Hadith of the Prophet (pbuh): Voluminous writing, called Saheefa of Ali.

  6. Fiqh: Al-Ah'kaam and Mu'aamalat, the Halal and Haram.

  7. During Uthman's Khilaafah: Ali rendered the following:

  8. History of the various Prophets as he learned from Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), called: The White Al-Jafr.

  9. Islamic rules and directives of Wars, called The Red Al-Jafr.

The books Ali rendered were called Al-Jaami'a (the Encyclopedia) and they were left with the Imams of Ahlul Bayt, each new Imam receiving them from the dying predecessor Imam. The Imams referred to these Hadiths and books over a period of about three centuries. Notable among them is Imam Ja'far Al-Saadiq, who was the teacher of Imam Abu Hanifah and Al-Maliki, and as many as 4000 scholars who graduated from his school. As many as 400 religious books were written by his students, referred to as the 400 Usool.

Because of the source and chain of narration of the Hadith, the Shi'a (Ja'fari) rely only on the Hadiths as narrated by Ahlul Bayt or those Hadiths in the Al-Sihaah Al-Sittah (Bukhari, Muslim and others) that are similar to what Ahlul Bayt had quoted.

THE CORPUS OF ISLAMIC KNOWLEDGE

* The Holy Quran in chronological order. * The Tafseer of the Holy Quran consisting of three large volumes, called Mus'haf Fatima. * The books of Hadith as Imam Ali had recorded them, called Saheefa of Ali. * The books about Al-Ah'kaam, detailing the rule and regulations of the Shari'ah.

* The books of Jafr:

o The White Jafr about knowledge of the Prophets, life happenings, and other special (mystic) matters. o The Red Jafr comprised of rules and matters about and involving wars.