The Prophetic Hadiths In Al Khisal
Al-Khisal (lit. traits of character) of Shaykh Saduq is one of the most valuable early sources of hadiths (narrations) from Prophet Muhammad and his household. Shaykh Saduq, Muhammad b. Babawayh al-Qummi (d.329/940), was an outstanding jurist and a prominent scholar of hadith. He was given the title ”Imad Al-Din” by Shaykh Tusi. In Al-Khisal, Shaykh Saduq has prepared a collection of traditions in an interesting way. The main themes of the traditions are ethics, manners and good characteristics. All the traditions are presented with a complete record of transmission. Furthermore, they are divided into different groups according to numbers e.g. all the traditions related to the number one are gathered in one part then traditions related to number two and so on. It starts with one and ends with one million. Al-Khisalseems to be the first on record to be compiled with this style. Moreover, Al-Khisal is a great encyclopedia on Islamic knowledge and many authoritative works on Shi’ite traditions such as Bihar Al-Anwar have cited it as a reference. The following article is a collection of traditions from the Prophet, selected from Parts One to Twelve of Al-Khisal.