Islamic Traditions [IO Islamic 1302]

Tradition.

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 1302 in the India Office collections.

[metadata: Otto Loth, A Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, (volume 1), no. 166 here with further notations and hyperlinks].

166.

1302. Size 10 in. by 6 in.; foll. 225. Twenty-three lines in a page.

An account of the various controversies between the twelve Imâms and their opponents, according to the Shî’ah tradition. It is in all probability the کتاب الاحتجاج of Abu ‘Alî al-Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan ṬABARSÎ (d. A. H. 548).2

Although, as a rule, the Isnâds are omitted, yet that leading up to the eleventh Imâm, al- Ḥasan ‘Askarî, is given at full length at the beginning of the work (fol. 2v.) It runs thus:

ما حدثنی به السید العالم العابد ابو جعفر مهدی بن ابی حرب الحسینی المرعشی رضه قال حدثنی الشیخ الصدوق ابو عبدالله جعفر بن محمد بن احمد الدوریستی رحه قال حدثنی ابی محمد بن احمد قال حدثنی الشیخ السعید ابو جعفر محمد بن علی بن الحسین بن بابویه القمی رضه قال حدثنی ابو الحسن بن محمد القسم الاسترابادی المفسر قال حدثنی ابو یعقوب یوسف بن محمد بن زیاد و ابو الحسن علی بن محمد بن سیار و کانا من الشیعة الامامیة قالا حدثنا ابو محمد الحسن بن علی العسکری علیهما السلام.

Another Isnâd connects the author with Abu Ja’far Ṭûsî (d. A. H. 460), in the following way (fol. 25v.):

حدثنی السید العالم العابد ابو جعفر مهدی بن ابی حرب الحسنی (sic) رضه قال اخبرنا الشيخ ابوعلی الحسن بن الشیخ ابی جعفر محمد بن الحسن الطوسی رضه قال اخبرنا الشیخ السعید الوالد ابو جعفر قدس الله روحه.

The preface begins: .الحمدلله المتعالی عن صفات المخلوقین

The author complains of the slackening spirit of his sect. He quotes, by way of introduction, what is said in favour of religious contention in the Koran, to which he subjoins an account of the various disputes of the Prophet with idolaters, Jews, and Christians. He then proceeds to relate at great length the claims and arguments of ‘Alî, and subsequently those of the other Imâms in succession. Each of them is represented as pleading his cause in speeches and disputations, or in letters. The work is accordingly divided into sections (فصل), each of which is inscribed 1…احتجاج. The “pleading’ of the twelfth Imâm, al-Mahdî (الحجة القائم المنتظر المهدی صاحب الزمان), chiefly consists of his correspondence with Muḥammad b. ‘Abdallah Ḥimyarî1 and others, and is further supported by the arguments of Mufîd (d. A. H. 413) and Saiyid Murtaḍa (d. A. H. 436), two great Shî’ah divines.

Neatly written, and collated with another MS. Some notes.

[Hastings.]

2 See regarding him No. 61. On the title-page we find the inscription: احتجاج طبرسی.

1 Here follow the name of the Imâm and the subject of the controversy.