concerning that over which these others have differed, clarifying and explaining it, and adducing quotations and evidence in support of it. After that I will present the doctrine of each group, the arguments they have adduced in support of those doctrines, refutation of the positions they have taken in which they have strayed from the Truth, and the doctrine of the people of truth regarding these positions, according to what we have learned on the authority of our Imams, peace be upon them. I seek thereby nothing but the reward for serving this goal and for undertaking to provide the means to reach it. However, proof belongs to the wards of God, who alone are able to provide it and open the doors that lead thereto.
الباب الأوّل
ذكر علّة الاختلاف
Chapter One
The Cause of Disagreement
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قصدت في هذا الكتاب قصد الاختصار، وحذفت منه الأسانيد والتكرار ليخفّ على قاريه١ ومتأمّل٢ ما فيه، واقتصرت من٣ الأخبار على ما كان منها مشهورًا ومعروفًا مأثورًا، فمن ذلك ما يدخل في هذا الباب٤ الحديث المأثور عن عليّ عليه السلام أنّه قال وقد رأى اختلاف الناس بعد رسول الله صلّی الله عليه وعلی آله وسلّم أمّا لو ثُنيت لي وسادة وجلست للناس لقضيت بين أهل القرآن بالقرآن ، وبين أهل التوراة بالتوراة ، وبين أهل الإنجيل بالإنجيل، ولما اختلف منكم اثنان في حكم من أحكام الدين، والحديث المأثور عن رسول الله صلّى الله عليه وعلى آله أقضاكم عليّ، وأنّه بعثه الى اليمن فقال يا رسول الله بعثتني إلى قوم ذوي أسنان وأنا حديث السنّ ولا علم لي بالقضاء، فضرب بيده على صدره وقال اللهمّ فقّهه٥ في الدين واهده إلى الحقّ المبين، فقال عليّ صلوات الله عليه وعلى الأئمّة من ولده فما أشكل عليّ بعدها قضاء بين اثنين.
١ ز، خ: قاريه ؛ ل، م: قارئه. وأثبتّ الكلمة بدون همزة للسجع. ٢ ز، خ، ل: ومتأملي. وأثبتّ صيغة المفرد لتوازي كلمة قارئ قبل ذلك ولكن قد يكون الاثنان بصيغة الجمع: على قارئيه ومتأمّلي ما فيه. ٣ ل: عن. ٤ ز: الكتاب. ٥ ل: فقّه.
In this book, I have chosen to follow the path of concision, omitting the chains of authority from oral reports as well as repetition, so that readers and examiners of this work might find it easy to follow, and citing only such oral reports as are well known, widely accepted, and transmitted reliably. To this category belong the following: the reliably transmitted report from ʿAlī, God’s blessings upon him, that he said, upon witnessing the people’s disagreement after the passing of the Messenger of God: “Were the mat for dispensing justice folded for me, and were I to sit before the people, I would judge among the people of the Qurʾan by the Qurʾan, among the people of the Torah by the Torah, and among the people of the Gospel by the Gospel. No two of you would disagree over a single ruling of the religion”;16 the reliably transmitted report from the Messenger of God: “The best judge among you is ʿAlī”;17 and the report that when the Prophet Muḥammad sent ʿAlī to Yemen, the latter remonstrated, “O Messenger of God, you have sent me to people who are experienced elders, yet I am young and have no knowledge of judgeship!” The Prophet struck ʿAlī’s chest with his hand, blessing him, “O God, make him learned in the religion and lead him to the manifest truth.” ʿAlī, God’s blessings upon him, remarked, “After that, no case between two parties was difficult for me to judge.”18
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والقضاء يجمع جميع ما يحتاج الناس إليه من علم حلال الله وحرامه وفرائضه وأحكامه. فمن شهد له الرسول بعلمه ودعا له به وجب على الناس التسليم إليه فيه. فقد كان مدّة حياته بعد رسول الله صلّى الله عليه وآله يحتاج إليه فيه من تولّاه من قبله ويسأله، ولم يحتج هو في ذلك إلى أحد قطّ بعد رسول الله صلّى الله عليه وعلى آله ولا سأله١، وذلك بعض ما نقمه عليه من تعوّد أن يُسأل ويردّ الناس إليه فيما اختلفوا فيه، ومن ذلك الحديث المأثور عنه أنّه كان كثيرًا ما يقول: سلوني قبل أن تفقدوني. وقال عليه السلام: ما دخل عينيّ غمض ولا رأسي نوم أيّام حياتي مع رسول الله صلّى الله عليه وسلّم يومًا من الأيّام حتّى علمت في ذلك اليوم ما نزل به جبرئيل عليه السلام من حلال وحرام أو سنّة أو كتاب ، فاسألوني فإنّكم لن تجدوا أحدًا أعلم بما بين اللوحين منّي . وما في القرآن آية إلّا وقد علمت متى نزلت وفيما نزلت. والأخبار بمثل هذا تخرج عن حدّ هذا الكتاب.
١ كذا في م، وفي ز، خ، ل: يسأله.
In the ability to judge is combined all knowledge that people require regarding God’s lawful and unlawful things, the obligations He has imposed, and His rulings. Concerning these things, the people must submit to the one whose knowledge was attested to and prayed for by the Messenger. During the entire extent of ʿAlī’s life after the passing of the Messenger of God, those who had followed the Messenger before him found themselves needing to consult him concerning the religious law, while ʿAlī had no need to consult or ask anyone at all about such matters. This is one of the things that engendered anger toward ʿAlī on the part of those who had been regularly consulted and to whom people referred concerning matters about which they disagreed. An example of this is the reliably transmitted report attributed to ʿAlī according to which he often used to command, “Ask me before you lose me.”19 He also stated, “My eyelids never shut, nor did sleep ever enter my head even one day during the days of my life with the Messenger of God until I had learned the permitted and forbidden things that Gabriel, peace be upon him, had brought down that day, whether a report from the Prophet or a citation from the Scripture. So ask me, for you will not find anyone more knowledgeable about what is between the Scripture’s two covers than I. There