The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays

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The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays (Arabic: كِتَاب سُلَيْم ٱبْن قَيْس‎) is the oldest known Shia Hadith collection by Sulaym ibn Qays, who entrusted it to Aban ibn Abi Ayyash.

According to Shias, the book "has received endorsement from five Infallible Imams." The author researched and verified events before he penned them so that their authenticity is incontrovertible. The book was entrusted to only one person, Aban ibn Abi Ayyash who was held to a solemn oath not to talk of the book during Sulaym's lifetime and that after his death he would give the book only to trustworthy Shia.^[1]

Authenticity[]

Some Shia scholars consider the authenticity of the book to be valid, whilst others like Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid question its authenticity "This book (Kitab Sulaym) is not reliable, and it is not permissible to act upon most of it, and confusion and tadlees has occurred in it, so the pious should not act upon everything that is in it (at all), and not rely on what is written in it or imitate its narrations."^{[2][non-primary source needed]}

The author is also regarded as a trustworthy narrator to some such as Ibn al-Nadim, the famous 10th century CE book publisher, said that the book was among the well known Shia books.^{[3][non-primary source needed]} Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi has mentioned the book and the author in his book, Al-Ghaibah. In fact, the book is known among some Shia books of hadith and rijal (commentary on the life and trustworthiness of the hadith narrators) have regarded both the book and its author with high esteem.^{[citation needed]}

Currently, several variant manuscripts of this book exist, and it has been suggested that content was added to it and altered in it over time.^[4] Hossein Modarressi writes that the oldest, preserved and intact version of the Kitab Sulaym ibn Qays comes from the final years of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik's reign.^[5]

Historical errors[]

The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays does contain a number of historical errors and incongruities.

• Right before the Battle of Siffin, Muawiyah sends Abu Darda and Abu Hurayrah to send his salams to Ali.^[6] They convey the salams of Muawiyah to Ali and then return to Muawiyah.^[7] However, one of the two men sent by Muawiyah, Abu Darda, had already died 3 years before the Battle of Siffin^{[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]}
• At least twice in the Book of Sulaym ibn Qays, Abu Bakr is referred to as Amir al-Mu'minin^[16] This is despite the fact that the title Amir al-Mu'minin was first used by the second Caliph of Islam Omar. It is known historically that Abu Bakr was never referred to "Amir al-Mu'minin" or "Prince of the Believers" but instead was referred to as "Successor of the Messenger of God" ^{[17][18][19][20][21]}
• Abu Bakr, whilst on his deathbed, converses deeply with his son Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr^[22][23] This cannot be true considering that Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr was roughly 3 years old at the time of his fathers passing. According to Shia Muhaddith Al-Ghada'iri, it is implausible for a three year old child to enter into detailed discussions with his 60 year-old father and as a result he cites this as one of the proofs to show that the Book of Sulaym ibn Qays is a fabrication ^[24]
• The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays contains a historical figure by the name of Qunfud. He is mentioned 22 times in the Book of Sulaym ibn Qays and is mentioned to have belonged to the Banu Adi^[25] According to the book of Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi, Bihar al-Anwar, Qunfud was the slave of Abu Bakr^[26] whereas in the Book of Sulaym ibn Qays, he was the slave of Umar. According to the Book of Sulaym ibn Qays, Qunfud was the paternal cousin of Umar^[27] and a governor during the Caliphate of Umar.^[28][29] He is most widely known for his role in the attack on the house of Fatimah in which he apparently whipped Fatimah^[30][31] and alongisde partisans, pinned down Ali and tied a rope around his neck^[32][33] Despite this, there is no mention of a man named Qunfud during the Omar and all details given about him in the Book of Sulaym ibn Qays are unable to be found to be proven correct. There is no man in the Banu Adi called Qunfud according to biographical works^[34] Moreover, there is no governor by the name of Qunfud^[35] nor is there a paternal cousin of Omar called Qunfud^[36] Furthermore, there is neither a slave of Umar^[37] or Abu Bakr^[38] by the name of Qunfud . Therefore, it can be concluded that Qunfud was most likely a fabrication created hundreds of years after the death of the Prophet Muhammed who did not exist in reality considering that the first Shia work to mention Qunfud is dated to 932 AD.^[39] However, all Shia works mentioning Qunfud after the Book of Sulaym ibn Qays refer to him exlusively in the context of his role in the attack on the house of Fatimah
• According to the Book of Sulaym ibn Qays, at the Battle of Jamal the army of Aisha numbered to 120,000 men whereas the army of Ali numbered to only 12,000 men.^[40] However, this seems to be untrue considering that in Al-Tabari's account, the army of Aisha is much lower consisting of only 30,000 men. Moreover, the accounts of Al-Waqidi^[41] and al-Haytham ibn Adi^[42] both give even lower figures at 15,000 and 8,000 respectively. Additionally, Al-Tabari^[43] and Al-Waqidi^[44] both give a higher number of soldiers in the army of Ali at 20,000.

References[]

External links[]

• English Translation of Kitab al-Sulaym ibn Qays
• Rovshan Abdullaoglu. "İlk Kitab (II nəşr)" (in Azerbaijani). qedimqala.az. Archived from the original on 2015-08-19. Retrieved 2015-08-09.