The Four Books

Distinguish from the Four Books of Chinese Confucianism.

Part of a series on Hadith collections v - d - e
Most famous
Sunni six major collections (Al-Sihah al-Sittah): Sahih al-Bukhari Sahih Muslim Sunan an-Nasa'i al-Sughra Sunan Abu Dawood Sunan al-Tirmidhi Sunan Ibn Maja Shi'a Twelver collections: "The Four Books" (Al-Kutub Al-Arb'ah) Kitab al-Kafi of Kulainy Man la yahduruhu al-Faqih of Shaikh Saduq Tahdhib al-Ahkam by Shaikh Tusi al-Istibsar by Shaykh Tusi Ibadi collections: al-Jami' as-Sahih by al-Rabi' ibn Habib Tartib al-Musnad by al-Warijlani
Sunni collections
Al-Muwatta Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal - 780-855 Sunan al-Darimi - 868 Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah - 923 Sahih Ibn Hibbaan - 965 Al-Mustadrak alaa al-Sahihain - 1014 Mawdu'at al-Kubra- 1128-1217 Riyadh as-Saaliheen - 1233 - 1278 Mishkat al-Masabih - 1340 Talkhis al-Mustadrak - 1274-1348 Majma al-Zawa'id - 1335-1405 Bulugh al-Maram - 1372-1449 Kanz al-Ummal - 1500th
Shi'a Twelver collections
The book of Sulaym ibn Qays - 600th Al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya - 678-713 Wasael ush-Shia - 1600s Bihar al-Anwar - 1600s Haqq al-Yaqeen - 1600s Ain Al-Hayat - 1600s Sharh Usul al-Kafi - ?-1081
Shi'a Ismaili collections
Qalam-e-Mowla Daim al-Islam
Mu'tazili collections
Nahj with comments - ?-1258

The Four Books (Arabic: الكتب الاربعة Al-Kutub Al-Arbʿah') is a Twelver Shiʿa term referring to their four best known hadith collections.

The books are:

Name	Collector	Size
Kitab al-Kafi (divided into Usul al-Kafi, Furu al-Kafi and Rawdat al-Kafi)	Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni al-Razi(329 AH)	15,176 hadith
Man la yahduruhu al-Faqih	Muhammad ibn Babuya	9,044
Tahdhib al-Ahkam	Shaykh Muhammad Tusi	13,590
Al-Istibsar	Shaykh Muhammad Tusi	5,511

Shi'a Muslims use this different set of hadith rather than the Six major Hadith collections followed by the Sunni because the majority of the companions who passed down the hadith in the Six major Hadith collections are considered to have erred by accepting the Caliphate of Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman in preference to Ali, and consequently Shia believe cannot be regarded as reliable transmitters of hadith. Shia trust traditions transmitted by the Imams, Muhammad's descendants through Fatima Zahra.^[1]

The Four Books have been praised by many notable Shi'a scholars. This is what some have said:

Shaikh al-Hur al-Aamili said, "The authors of the 4 Books of shia have testified that the Hadiths of their books are accurate (saheeh) , firm and well conducted from the roots that all shia agreed on , and if you consider those scholars (the authors of the four books) are reliable then you must accept their sayings and their narrations . " [Al-wasa'el, vol. 20, p. 104]

Abd al-Husayn Sharaf al-Din al-Musawi said: "Al-Kafi, Al-Istibsaar, Al-Tahzeeb and Mun La Yahduruhu Al-faqeeh are Mutawatirah and agreed on the accuracy of its contents (the Hadiths), and Al-Kafi is the oldest, greatest, best and the most accurate one of them." [The book of Al-Muraja'aat (A Shi'i-Sunni dialogue), Muraj'ah No. 110]

Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr said: "Although the Shia are on the unanimity of that the four books are accepted and all the narrations in them are accurate ( Saheeh ), But they did not call them by the name (Sihaah ) like Ahl-Sunnah did." [The Book of shia "Kitab al-shia" p. 127]

Al-Tabrosi (aka, Tabarsi) said:"Al-Kafi among the 4 shia books is like the sun among the stars, and who looked fairly would not need to notice the position of the men in the chain of hadiths in this Book, and if you looked fairly you would feel satisfied and sure that the hadiths are firm and accurate."[Mustadrak al-Wasail, vol. 3, p. 532]

References

^ Momen, Moojan, Introduction to Shi'i Islam, Yale University Press, 1985, p.174

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The Four Books

The Four Books

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References

The Four Books