An evaluation of the critics of al-Qefari on Hadith and Rejalof the Imamiyyah

Abstract

Nasir al-Qefari, a contemporary Salafist writer, in his most famous work, "The Principles of the Ithna Ashari Shi'a Doctrine - Exposition and Criticism" posed a set of problems regarding the hadith and narrators of the Imami Shi'ites, some of which are important and constructive, while others are partial and superficial:  the Claim to add a lot to Tahdheeb al-Akhbar and al-Kafi, disagreement of some Shiites about the partial of al-Rawdha to al-Kafi, the Shiites’ lack of old narratorial sources and the impossibility of evaluating the hadiths because of this deficiency, the loss of the Imami hadith chains of value,  the beginning of the hadith evaluation system since the eighth century, and the beginning of the emergence of the first Imami compilations in the hadith knowledge in the eleventh century,... are the most important problems of al-Qefari on the Shii Hadith and Reajal (narrators).

A careful study of the history of Shii Hadith and Reajal shows that Al-Qefari's critics are not true, and some of his problems are due to cutting the statements of Imami scholars and understanding them outside the original framework and structure. Despite the breadth of traceability in the Imami sources, al-Qefari either did not understand the details of the Imami Hadith and Rejal, or he neglected.