Bihar al-Anwar
Shia hadith collection by Muhammad Baqir Majlisi From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bihar al-Anwar (Arabic: بِحَار ٱلْأَنْوَار, romanized: Biḥār al-Anwār, lit. 'Seas of Lights') is a comprehensive collection of hadith (pl. ahadith) compiled by Shia scholar Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi (d. 1699 A.D.). It is the secondary Shi'ite hadith verification source after the Four Books.
| |
| Author | Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi |
|---|---|
| Language | Arabic |
Overview
Summarize
Perspective
Bihar al-Anwar is the most comprehensive hadith collections, documenting over 100,000 items of Twelver Shia hadith along with Majlisi's commentary on these narrations.[1][2] He used about 400 sources written by such Sunni and Shia scholars as Shaykh al-Saduq, Shaykh Tusi, Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid, Sharif al-Murtaza, Muhammad Jamaluddin al-Makki al-Amili, Sayyed Ibn Tawus, Al-Hilli, Zayn al-Din al-Juba'i al'Amili.[3]
The full title of the book is:
Biḥār al-ʾAnwār al-Jāmiʿah li-Durar ʾAkhbār al-ʾAʾimmah al-Aṭhār
(Arabic: بِحَار ٱلْأَنْوَار ٱلْجَامِعَة لِدُرَر أَخْبَار ٱلَأَئِمَّة ٱلْأَطْهَار)
(lit. Oceans of Lights: The Compendium for Pearls of Traditions of the Pure Imams)
This lengthy title indicates Majlisi collected anything he had access to in the book.[2][1] His primary goal was to preserve the knowledge for future generations and prevent forgery.[4] Majlisi has acknowledged the forgery issue in the preface of Bihar al-Anwar, emphasizing that the traditions collected were not included without extensive scrutiny, although a consequence of his approach was that he has gathered both "pearls" and "pebbles".
The compilation of Bihar al-Anwar took 36 years, during which Majlisi received aid from other scholars and his students.
Author
Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi was born in 1617 in Isfahan, the capital city of the Persian Empire. He was a student of Mulla Sadra. He has been described[by whom?] as the most influential Shia Ulems. On 1687, he was appointed as Sheikh ul-Islam of Isfahan by the emperor Sultan Husayn.[5] He developed the Twelver doctrine by investigating Shia and Sunni hadith. He wrote over 100 books in Arabic and Persian.[6][4]
Editions
- Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-, Biḥār al-nwār al-Jāmiʿahli-Durar Akhbār al-Aʾimmat al-Aṭhār [The Oceans of Lights: A Compendium of the Pearls of the Narrations of the Pure Imāms], 110 vols (Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Wafāʾ, 1983).
Commentaries
- Mashra'a bihar al-anwar by Muhammad Asif Mohseni
See also
References
External links
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