The Great Rijal Books

How scholars know today: How do scholars today know whether a narrator who lived 1,200 years ago was trustworthy? Because earlier scholars wrote it all down in books of Rijal.

The most important Rijal books: The most important Shia Rijal books are:

• Al-Kashshi — Rijal al-Kashshi, one of the oldest books, full of reports about the companions of the Imams (as).
• Al-Najashi — Rijal al-Najashi, which lists hundreds of narrators and the books they wrote.
• Al-Tusi — Al-Fihrist and Rijal al-Tusi, by Shaykh al-Tusi, who organised the narrators and their works.
• Al-Allama al-Hilli — Khulasat al-Aqwal, which summarised the earlier books and gave each narrator a grade.
• Al-Mamaqani — Tanqih al-Maqal, a very large later book that gathered almost everything said about the narrators.

A library of character references: These books are like a library of character references. A modern scholar opens them, finds a narrator's name, and reads what the early scholars said about him.

Example

Hiring a teacher: Imagine you want to hire a teacher for your child. You do not know him, but there is a folder in the school office with reports from every headteacher he ever worked for. You open the folder and read: "Honest, hard-working, excellent memory."

The Rijal books are the folder: The Rijal books are that folder — written reports about each narrator, kept for over a thousand years.

Key Terms

• Rijal al-Kashshi (رجال الکشی) — one of the oldest Shia Rijal books
• Rijal al-Najashi (رجال النجاشی) — a book listing narrators and their works
• Al-Fihrist (الفہرست) — Shaykh al-Tusi's catalogue of narrators and books
• Khulasat al-Aqwal (خلاصۃ الاقوال) — al-Allama al-Hilli's summary with grades
• Tanqih al-Maqal (تنقیح المقال) — al-Mamaqani's large later collection

Quran or Hadith

None used in this topic.

Fresh diagram to be drawn: A bookshelf with five named books in order of time — al-Kashshi, al-Najashi, al-Tusi, al-Hilli, al-Mamaqani — with a small timeline underneath.