Bihar al-Anwar
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| Author | Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi |
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| Language | Arabic |
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| Hadith |
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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.
Overview
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]- 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
[edit]- Mashra'a bihar al-anwar by Muhammad Asif Mohseni
See also
[edit]- Al-Hurr al-Aamili
- Al-Sharif al-Radi
- Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid
- Amina Bint al-Majlisi
- Du'a al-Kumayl
- ibn Babawayh
- List of Shi'a books
- Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni
- Nahj al-Balagha
- Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam
- Sharif al-Murtaza
- Shaykh Tusi
- Umdat al-Talib fi Ansabi Ale Abi Talib
References
[edit]- ^ a b Ansari, Nasiruddin. "Bihar al-anwar (Oceans of Lights) is".
- ^ a b Kohlberg, Etan. "BEḤĀR AL-ANWĀR".
- ^ Muntazir Qa'im, Mahdi. "Sources".
- ^ a b Youngman Skreslet, Skreslet, Paula, Rebecca (2006). The Literature of Islam: A Guide to the Primary Sources in English Translation. Scarecrow Press (September 20, 2006). ISBN 978-0810854086.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Debating Muslims: Cultural Dialogues in Postmodernity and Tradition. University of Wisconsin Press; 1 edition (February 17, 2002). 1990. p. 471. ISBN 978-0299124342.
Mu 'jam al-mufahras li-alfaz ahadith Bihar al-anwar.
- ^ MATSUNAGA, Yasuyuki. "EXAMINING THE VIEWS OF 'ALLAMAH MAJLISI ON LEGITIMATE POLITICAL AUTHORITY (SULTANAT-I MASHRU'AH) AND THE GUARDIANSHIP OF THE JURIST (WILAYAT-I FAQIH)".
External links
[edit]- Bihar al-Anwar Volumes 1 – 74 English Translation, compiled by Allamah Majlesi, translated by Hub-e-Ali organization, publicly available for free.
- Bihar Al-Anwar, Kitab al-Ghaybah (Vols. 51, 52 & 53) – The Promised Mahdi, English Translation Part 1 and Part 2, compiled by Allamah Majlesi, translated by Athar Husayn S.H. Rizvi, publicly available for free.
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