Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 2 of 2

'Ali ibn Abi Ttlib 549
and evaluate the narrators, as the scholars of hadith did. At the same
time that they reject the collections of sound hadithsof Bukhari and
Muslim and the books of the Sunnah that are authenticated and
sound, they rely for their hadiths on what was narrated by al-Kulayni,
whose comments on many of their beliefs we have quoted above.
They regard him as one whose view is binding and sound beyond any
doubt, and his book al-Kcifi loo' is one of the oldest hadith books of
the Shia and one of the most authentic in their view.
One of the Shia described the status of this book among them
when he said: 'The lmamis and the majority of Shia are agreed on the
superiority of this book and on following it, trusting its reports and
being content with its rulings. They unanimously agreed that it is of a
supreme status and high level, and it is the main basis for all the
narrations of the trustworthy reporters who are known for their
precision and knowledge until today."'001 For them, it is better than
all the other books of hadith, knowing that most of what is in al-Kcifi
-as Abu Zahrah says -are reports that ended with the Imams. We
cannot say that there is any hadith with a chain of narrators that goes
hack all the way to the Prophet (g) or claims that these are the words
of the Prophet (g), except on the basis that the words of their Imams
are the same as the words of the Prophet (@J and are part of the
religion of Allah (B). Most of what is narrated in al-Kcifi stops at as-
Sidiq, and very little of it goes back to his father al-Biqir. Even less
goes back to Amir al-Mu'mineen 'Ali (&), and that which goes
back to the Prophet (g) is very rare.
There is also a book called Man la yuhduruhu al-Faqeeh,
which was compiled by Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn
Bzbawayh, whom they call ash-Shaykh as-Sadooq, one of their
greatest scholars in Khorasan (d. 381 AH). Other main references of
the Shia include Tahdheeb al-Ahkcim and al-Istibjiirfima ukhtulifa
min al-Akhbcir, by Muhammad ibn al-Hasan at-Toosi. These Shiite