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In our continuous effort to propagate Islam through our numerous publications we have had a persistent desire to include amongst our publications translations of the most important reference books recog-nized by the Shī‘ah. To be able to publish such key books in the Shī‘ah heritage in foreign languages does not only give us great pleasure and pride but it conforms very well to our wishes and our true sincere objectives. No doubt the non-Arab speaking researchers would now have better access to the true Islamic heritage since such books contain the ahãdīth (traditions) of the holy Imãms (peace be upon them) and the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny). Moreover, these books constitute the second source - the holy Qur'an being the first - whereby one would have better understanding of the Islamic ideology, jurisprudence, history, tradition, manners, Islamic laws pertaining to worship, business, Islamic considerations for the individual, family and society...
One of the important books in question is al-Kãfi whose author was ash-Shaykh Abu Ja‘far Muhammad ibn Ya‘qub al-Kulayni ar-Rãzi ( 328/329 = 940/941). We need not introduce either the book or its author since the introduction to the book takes care of that and also shows its religious significance and its status in our heritage, namely the heritage transmitted to us through Ahlu'l-bayt (the House-hold of the Holy Prophet - p.b.u.t.).
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Our gratitude to Allãh, the Almighty, for being able to commence the translation of al-Kãfi to English. So far, the translation of the section pertaining to the “Reason and Ignorance” (‘aql and jahl) has been completed. No doubt we had to utilize all the means at our disposal and to rely on Allãh's unlimited strength in order to accomplish this translation. As a matter of fact, we had to do a lot of screening before coming up with this version. Furthermore, we took every possible effort to make sure that the translation is satisfactory and acceptable in terms of accuracy and grammar.
We do not wish to claim perfection in this humble effort to trans-late one section of al-Kãfi. Nevertheless, we have taken the first step and we are confident that subsequent steps would be taken, either by us or by somebody else, to both remove any errors and optimize the translation so that exactness in the narration process is improved.
We have decided to speed up the printing and publication of the translated section of al-Kãfi. The other sections, it is hoped, would be published in due course on individual basis; this process would be continued until all the sections of al-Kãfi are translated and published.
You will note that we have also included along with the English translation, the complete original Arabic version, this being placed at the top of each page with the corresponding English translation below.
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We believe, and so does everybody who studied it believe, that and so holy in the Shī‘ah circles and that the author is considered highly honest and highly reliable. However, we should emphasize that neither the ahadīth are equal in value and significance nor are the supporting evidence for the narrations or the persons relating the ahadīth equal in terms of reliability and credibility and in no way can one give them the same appraisal.
A glance at the book entitled mir’ãtu'l- ‘ugũl (reflection of the minds) would reveal to the researcher this very point in more detail. Mir'ãtu'l-‘uqul is an explanatory book to al-Kãfi and is authored by the great scholar Muhammad Bãqir al-Majlisi (1037/1628-1111/1700). al-Majlisi is one of the prominent scholars of hadīth (tradition) and one of the most loyal and faithful to the book (al-Kãfi) and its great author and one of the most faithful and pious scholars of Islam.
Because of this - that is, the question of unequal credibility of the ahãdith, narrations and narrators - and for completeness we have retained the complete supporting evidence of the ahãdīth as in the original Arabic text. We have not omitted any original support for any ahadīth, neither have we omitted any of the links in a narration chain. In order to reveal the credibility, or otherwise, of the support for a par- ticular hadīth, one has to refer to special books dealing with the biogra- phy and the religious and moral status of the narrator/s; such books also carry an appraisal of what the narrator transmits and relates. We would like to re-emphasize that the inference of any religious or ritual doctrine or any law pertaining to jurisprudence from these ahãdīth is a long process. To start with, the researcher would have to refer the nar- rations along with their supporting chain of evidence - to the special biographic books referred to above. The narrations would have to be cross-checked against one another. Later the researcher would have to consider all other declarations and citations on the same topic from other references and then use the holy Qur'an as the arbitrator. Of more significance still, one has to abide by the rules and regulations laid down by the specialists and which rules can never be ignored. Therefore, the researcher would have to go back either to the ideological and linguistic books or to the books of jurisprudence and legislation, that is, those books which cover the inference aspects and the evaluation of various proofs and evidence used to back-up any ideological principle or jurisprudence. This is the approach to be adopted if he wants his research to be systematic and if he wants the results to be sound, accurate and reliable, thus satisfying his scientific conscience and obliging others to honour and follow such inferences.
This very point has been ignored - intentionally or otherwise - by many researchers and we are stressing it here in order that other researchers would neither make the same mistake of ignoring it nor suffer the same deviation.
And for several considerations we refrained from introducing unnecessary explanatory notes, except where it was absolutely necessary, so as to stick to our .original aim of merely translating and publishing the book.
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In the translation we have retained the Islamic format and Arabic pronunciation of the names and proper nouns encountered in various ahãdīth. We were not content with the Biblical equivalents, but, instead, retained the Islamic articulations in the text, following each proper noun or name (especially those mentioned in the holy Qur'an) like, Musã (Moses), ‘Isã (Jesus), Maryam (Marry), Jibrīl (Gabriel)...with its Biblical equivalent in brackets.
We took this measure because we strongly believe in preserving the original Islamic character even with respect to names and proper nouns. We believe in originality even when it comes to appearances, and we will completely avoid imitation and reproduction even if it were merely with respect to pronunciation and expression...
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We have put a table at the beginning of each section giving general particulars and information in tabular form about the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.a.h.p.) and Fãtima az-Zahra' (p.b.u.h.) and the twelve Imãms (p.b.u.t.). For each of them we have assigned a number according to their sequence.
It is hoped that this table would help the reader - even the non-specialist to understand some important expressions encountered in the process of the narration of hadīth.
Furthermore, we have included four indexes at the end of each section:-
a) The first index lists the originators of the ahadīth to be found in the section - the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.a.h.p.) and the Imãms (p.b.u.t.).
It begins with a number corresponding to the serial number of the originator of the hadīth, the originator being the Prophet or one of the Imãms. The serial number has already been assigned in the table at the beginning of the section.
After the number, the format of the name used in the hadīth appears.
After that, the serial number's of ahadīth related to the originator is/are listed.
For example, in the first index of this section:
(7) - Abu Ja‘far, 1, 7 ...etc.
The number (7) preceding the name (Abu Ja‘far) indicates that the originator is Imãm Abu Ja‘far Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al-Bãqir (p.b.u.t.) who was assigned with this number in the table at the beginning of the section. The number following the name are the serial number of the ahadīth in the book (or section) related to him: that is, the first and the seventh hadīth are related to him...etc.
b) An index containing symbols for terminology commonly encountered in the process of narration of hadīth. We have introduced these because scholars of hadīth often use them. In this index we have also explained some of those terminologies for which no simple English equivalent can be found. We have explained such terminology in the index and when it appears in the text we also mention the Arabic text in the Latinized form: e.g. “rafa ahu” - Ref. Index no.3
c) Index of the names of key personalities. Following each name the serial numbers of ahãdīth in which such a name appears are cited. We were content with citing only those names that appeared in the contexts of the ahãdīth proper and ignored the names of narrators.
d) Index of key places, names of tribes and families and sects.
Finally, it is Allãh, the Almighty, from Whom we seek help and guidance and upon Whom we rely for the success of our efforts. Moreover, we pray that He paves the way for us to complete what we have commenced and to redeem us in order to achieve what we have planned...We strongly believe that He is the reconciliator and that He is the best guide and the best artisan.
WORLD ORGANIZATION FOR ISLAMIC SERVICES
Tehran - IRAN.
6/2/1398
16/1/1978
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![AL-KAFI (Arabic & English) [Hasan Rizvi's Translation]](books/0473_al_kafi_volume_one/images/cover.jpg "AL-KAFI (Arabic & English) [Hasan Rizvi's Translation]")
Author: Sheikh Abu Jafar Muhammad Ibn Yaqub Ibn Ishaq Al-Kulayni Ar-Razi
