Tahdhib al-Ahkam (Arabic: تَهْذِيب ٱلَأَحْكَام فِي شَرْح ٱلْمُقْنِعَة, romanized: Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām fī Sharḥ al-Muqniʿa, lit. 'Rectification of the Statutes in Explaining the Disguised') is the third hadith collection of the Four Books of Shia Islam. It was compiled by Twelver Shia Hadith scholar al-Tusi. This work is included among the four books of Shia Islam. It is a commentary on the al-Muqni'a by Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid, who was a Twelver Shia theologian.[1][2]
Author | Abu Jafar Muhammad Ibn Hassan Tusi |
---|---|
Language | Arabic |
Media type | Book |
Tahdhib al-Ahkam is translated by Ludwig W. Adamec as confirmation of decision[3] and by I.K.A Howard as The Refinement of the Laws (as Discussed).[4]
Abu Jafar Muhammad Ibn Hasan Tusi (Persian: ابوجعفر محمد بن حسن توسی) known as Shaykh al-Ta'ifah (Arabic: شيخ الطائفة) or Shaykh al-Tusi was born in 996 AD in Tus, Iran. He was a Persian Shia Twelver scholar and authored two references of Shia collections of tradition, Tahdhib al-Ahkam and Al-Istibsar. Al-Shaikh al-Tusi died in Najaf on the 22nd of Muharram on 2 December 1067.[5]
Al-Istibsar is one of the four major Shia collections of Hadith (Persian: الكتب الاربعة) authored by Shaykh Tusi.[6] According to Ali Nasiri, when Shaykh Tusi transferred to Baghdad and participated in the class session of Shaykh al-Mufid, he found conflicting Hadith (traditions) in Shia sources. Due to his nomination at the introduction of Tahdhib al-Ahkam,[4] he wrote the book as a commentary on the Al-Muqni'ah for solving the crisis of contradiction in the Shia Islamic seminary in response to his friend request. Ali Nasiri give three reasons for selection Al-Muqni'ah by Shaykh Tusi: dignity of Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid, Al-Muqni'ah was based on Shia view and last reason is fruition of Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid’s intellectual and mental protection.[7]
Shaykh Tusi explained his style in authoring the Tahdhib al-Ahkam in the introduction of it. According to viewpoint of Ali Nasiri, Shaykh Tusi authored this book basis on the six phases:[7]
Therefore, Shaykh Tusi proceeded to his work in three step:[7]
Tahdhib al-Ahkam contains the following:[4]
According to Najaf publication, Tahdhib al-Ahkam included 409 chapters, 13988 traditions and according to the counting of Muhaddis Noori it included 393 chapters, 13590 traditions. This variance between reports had led by mistake in counting.[8]