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Sulaym ibn Qays

Sulaym ibn Qays al-Hilālī al-ʿĀmirī(Arabic:سليم بن قيس الهلالي العامري,died before 714, was one of theTabi‘unand a companion ofAlitowards the end of the latter's life. Sulaym was also a loyal companion of Ali's sonsHasanandHusayn,the latter's sonAli Zayn al-'Abidin,andMuhammad al-Baqir.[1][2]

Sulaym ibn Qays al-Hilālī al-ʿĀmirī
Personal life
BornUnknown
Kufa,Iraq
DiedBefore 714
Now Bandegan,Iran
EraEarly Islamic period
Notable work(s)Kitab Sulaym ibn Qays(The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays)
Religious life
ReligionIslam

He is the purported author of an earlyShi'itehadith collection, theKitab Sulaym ibn Qays('The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays'),[3]the attribution of which to Sulaym is generally considered false. Scholars also dispute whether he ever existed as a historical figure.

Biography

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Historicity

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Much of the information about Sulaym comes fromShia Muslimtradition.[3]According to the modern historian Moktar Djebli, "the very existence of this man, and of his work, should be regarded with caution".Hossein Modarressicalls it "obvious that such a person never existed and that the name is only a pen name".[4]Other scholars, such asMohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi,have been more cautious in rejecting Sulaym ibn Qays' historicity, but do agree that the attribution of the extant Shi'i hadith collection to him is false.[5]

Ibn al-Nadim himself, as well as later biographers including al-Tusi, relied on theAlidwriter Ali ibn Ahmad al-Aqiq (d. 911).[3]TheMu'tazilischolarIbn Abi'l-Hadidquestioned Sulaym's existence, claiming "he had heard" certain Twelver Shi'a scholars assert that Sulaym was "pure invention of the imagination" and "his alleged book being nothing but the apocryphal work of a forger".[3]

The Twelver scholars Ahmad ibn Ubayda (d. 941) and Abu Abd Allah al-Ghadhanfari (d. 1020) based their denial of the existence of Sulaym's book on three factors: a segment in the book indicates there were thirteenimamsinstead of the traditionally held twelve; another segment statesMuhammad ibn Abu Bakrcondemned his dying fatherAbu Bakrdespite Muhammad being a three-year-old child; and the book was allegedly solely transmitted to Aban ibn Abi Ayyash, despite the fact that the latter was only fourteen-years-old.[3]However, the prominent Twelver scholaral-Hillirejected theories about Sulaym's non-existence, though Djebli asserts al-Hilli's "arguments were too unconvincing to sweep away such doubts".[3]Nonetheless, later Shi'a biographers produced al-Hilli's arguments verbatim, and Sulaym's book is considered by Shi'a scholars as among the oldest sources of Shi'a thought and equal to the four major works of Sunni tradition, namely theṢaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī,Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim,Musnad Ibn ḤanbalandMuwaṭṭaʾ Imām Mālik.[3]

Traditional account

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Early life

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Sulaym ibn Qays was born near the place whereKufawas later built.[6]The exact date of Sulaym's birth is not known. He belonged to theBanu Hilalbranch of theBanu 'Amirtribe.[3]

Immigration to Medina

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It is documented that Sulaym moved toMedinaduring thecaliphateofUmar.He is among the people who never metMuhammad.While in Medina, Sulaym became very attached toAli ibn Abi Talib.His attachment led him to become a partisan of Ali, along withAbu Dhar al-Ghifari,Salman al-Muhammadi,Miqdad ibn Aswad,andAmmar ibn Yasir.[6]Ibn al-Nadim stated that Sulaym ibn Qays was among the devout companions of Ali in his book about the early Muslim scholars andhadithcontributors.[2]

Final days

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In 694, Sulaym fled toPersiawith his writings becauseal-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf,theUmayyadgeneral and persecutor of the Alids, became the governor of Kufa;[6]Al-Hajjaj sought to arrest and execute Sulaym.[2]In Persia, Sulaym stayed inNobandegan.[6]There he found a fifteen-year-old boy, by the name ofAban ibn Abi-Ayyash.[6]He became rather fond of him and started to educate him about the teaching of theAhl al-Bayt.[6]Through Sulaym, Aban became a Shi'a.[6]Aban offered him shelter in recognition of him being a companion of Ali.[2]When Sulaym was inspired about his death, he told Aban,

O the son of my brother, I am about to leave this world, as Prophet has informed me so.[2]

Eventually, Sulaym entrusted all of his writings that he had compiled to Aban.[6]Aban had made a solemn oath not to talk of any of the writings during Sulaym's lifetime and that after his death he would give the book only to trustworthy Shi'a of Ali.[2][6]He died before al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, who died in 714 CE (95AH).[7]

Writings

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Main article:The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays

A book was falsely attributed to him, which became known as theKitab Sulaym ibn Qays(The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays). It is a collection of traditions, teachings, and eye witness accounts of historical events.[1]Kitab Sulaymbelongs to earliest knownhadith collections,having been composed in the second century after the death ofMuhammad.

The precise dating of this work is not clear. The modern scholar Hossein Modarressi dates the original core of this work to the final years ofHisham ibn Abd al-Malik's reign (r. 724–743), which would make it one of the oldest Islamic books that are still extant.[8]However, the fact that it contains so many later additions and alterations may render it impossible to reconstruct the original text.[9]Two individual passages which have been the subject of a case study have been dated toc. 762–780and to the late 8th or early 9th century, respectively.[10]

This book documents prophetic traditions concerning ImamMuhammad al-Mahdi.[1]It documents thatMuhammadhad promised his followers about a man from the lineage ofImam Husainwho would purify Islam by removing innovations, i.e. the distortion of Quranic interpretation and prophetic traditions (hadiths).[1]The work is also one of the first to document the political divide amongstMuslimsafter the death ofMuhammad,[2]and how certain figures inIslamallegedly distorted prophetic traditions in order to gain power.[2]One of the events recorded in the book is the event ofSaqifahin whichAbu Bakris said to have forcefully striped the rightful leadership ofImam Ali.[2]For instance, the book claims thatSalman al-Muhammadi,Miqdad ibn Aswad,Ammar ibn Yasir,Abdullah ibn Ja'far,Abu al-Haytham ibn Tayhan,Khuzaymah ibn Thabit,andAbu Ayyubstated thatMuhammadatGhadir Khummsaid,

"O people, the legal power (al-Wilaya) is granted only to Ali ibn Abi Talib and the trustees from my progeny, the decedents of my brother Ali. He will be the first, and his two sons, al-Hasan and al-Husayn, will succeed him consecutively. They will not separate themselves from the Qur'an until they return to Allah."[1]Most of the book is directly attributed to Muhammad himself.[1]

According to Modarressi, following in this the famous Shi'a Quran exegeteAhmad ibn Ali al-Najashi(born 372 afterHijri/982CE), the alleged indication in Sulaym ibn Qays' book that there were thirteenImamsinstead of the traditionally heldtwelve,is a later addition by an unknown fourth-century AH scholar who wanted to please hisZaydipatron, and who addedZayd ibn Alito the list as an Imam. According to Modarressi, it was not a part of the original book and was removed in successive editions.[11]

References

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  1. ^abcdefPagano, Jo Anne. Exiles and Communities: Teaching in The Patriarchal Wilderness. Ed. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Hamid Dabashi, and Seyyed Vali R. Nasr. Albany, New York: State University of New York, 1989. Print.ISBN1438414269Pg. 15 and 17
  2. ^abcdefghiIbn Qays, Sulaym. The Book of Sulaym Ibn Qays al-Hilālī. Trans. Muḥammad Bāqir. Al-Anṣārī. Bayrūt: Dār Al-Ḥawrāʼ, 2005. Print. Pg. 7 and 8
  3. ^abcdefghDjebli 1960–2007.
  4. ^Modarressi 2003,pp. 82–83.
  5. ^Gleave 2015,pp. 85–86.
  6. ^abcdefghiIbn Abi Talib, Ali. Nahjul Balagha: Path of Eloquence. Trans. Yasin Al-Jibouri. Vol. 3. Bloomington, Indiana: Authorhouse, 2013. Print.ISBN1481747878pg. 275 and 276
  7. ^Djebli 1960–2007;Modarressi 2003,p. 82.
  8. ^Modarressi 2003,p. 83.
  9. ^Gleave 2015,p. 86, citingMohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi.
  10. ^Gleave 2015,pp. 86, 102.
  11. ^Modarressi 2003,p. 84.

Bibliography

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