Hadith

Farīd Al-Bahraini (@farid_0v) Bismillāh Al-Raḥmān Al-Raḥīm, Background After the first generation of splits in the early Shia community, an important ground rule was set up in order to constrict the potential candidates for the Imamate. One of these conditions is [read more]

After publishing my work on the “Distortions of al-Ṣadūq”, I have received word of some responses that have been floating around the internet of partial refutations. After reading them, I only felt the urge to respond to one of the [read more]

In Sunni-Shia polemics, Sunnis and Shias often end up debating minute theological, historical and jurisprudential technicalities such that they often overlook the bigger picture. The implications of entire historical narratives are thus neglected as polemicists passionately debate specific details from [read more]

A major tradition that is upheld in the Twelver tradition and regularly cited in Suni-Shia polemics is the famous hadith known as “Hadith Al-Safinah” (hadith of the ark). In this report, the Prophet is quoted saying: “My household is like [read more]

In his book, Al-Du’faa Al-Kabir, Al-‘Uqayli (d. 322) mentioned a brief and interesting 2nd century discussion that took place between a Sunni and a Shi’ite on the status ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan, may Allah be pleased with him. The story involves [read more]

An “argument from ignorance” is a logical fallacy where a proposition is assumed to be valid simply due to the lack of evidence to the contrary of that conclusion. This fallacy essentially embodies an attempt to shift the burden of [read more]

Tِwelver polemicists today often attempt to incriminate Abu Hurayrah by desperately arguing that he was a forger of hadith who lied upon the Prophet. This debate has now become a fundamental aspect of Sunni-Shia polemics. Even though Abu Hurayrah never [read more]

A critical analysis of Kitab Sulaym b. Qays Al-Hilali, which allegedly is the earliest extant Shi’ite historical source today. The Book of Sulaym contains the earliest and most detailed account of the alleged attack on Fatimah’s house, and it also [read more]

‘Abdullah b. ‘Umar b. Al-Khattab is a companion of the Prophet who is regularly reviled in Twelver sources. He is constantly slandered and criticized by Twelver polemicists in an attempt to undermine his reliability as a transmitter of hadith and [read more]

Though the Imams of the Twelver sect are respected figures in the Sunni school, their image is not as exaggerated as they are perceived in the Twelver sect. Shi’ite scholarship, in fact, has continuously inflated the status of the Imams [read more]