A
SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF THE COMPILER
Mohammed
Ibne Yakoob Kulayni
| On
the outskirts of the city of Tehran, the capital of the
Islamic Republic of Iran, with a population of about then
million, lie the ruins of a by gone town, in the ninth and
tenth centuries of the Christian era and several centuries
before and after that, this town, Kulayn, was also a flourishing
and booming centre of learning.
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| In
the year 862 A.D. which corresponds to 250 A.H. , Allah
bestowed a son to Sheikh Yakoob Kulayni, a brilliant and
erudite research scholar of that time. Sheikh Yakoob named
his son Mohammed. In this family of learned and pious men,
the newborn Moahammed was destined to become a great luminary.
He was a contemporary of the eleventh Imam Hazrat Hassan
al-Askary A.S. He was bestowed with a firm resolution and
a gifted memory. He took stock of the Islamic literature
of that age and decided hat the scattered beads of this
illustrious rosary should not remain like strewn jewels
but should be threaded in pieced together in the form of
a rosary. This was not an ordinary task. The monumental
effort made by Sheik Mohammed ibne Yakoob Kulayni surmounted
this difficulty. His heart was set to achieve his goal.
He collected and compiled the sayings of the Prophet and
he Holy Imams fro all available sources. He traveled far
and wide for twenty years and completed the book ‘al-Kaafi’(
which means, ‘principles, necessary and sufficient’).
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| Kulayni
took meticulous care to satisfy himself and other honest
critics regarding the authenticity of each and every tradition
which he included in his work. We learn on good authority
that in order to establish the authenticity of just one
tradition he took arduous journey and at long last was successful
in his mission. Such was his love and determination for
keeping his book free from errors of omission and commission.
In addition to his own desires and determination it was
also the request of the prominent scholars of his age to
have a comprehensive book containing all information of
Islamic literature. He was an outstanding jurist and an
authority on traditional science. He was a man of piety,
integrity and a paragon of virtue. He was a historian of
no mean caliber and was well versed in categorizing the
narrators of traditions and assessing their credibility.
This important factor made his work an indispensable treasure
of study, reference and research.
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| Al-Kaafi
is a reliable source of Islamic code of ethics and jurisprudence
and Islamic philosophy. After making the best possible use
of the gift of life from Alah, Mohammed ibne Yakub Kulayni
left this material world at the age of 80. His fitting epithet
is ‘Siqtul Islam’ which means that Muslims can
rely on his words and work. His Shrine is situated in the
eastern part of Baghdad on the bank of the river Tigris(Dajlah)
near”jisral Ateeq’ (the Old Bridge).
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| May
Allah bless his soul and shower His choicest blessings on
him.
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