The Virtues of Imam Ali and the Ahl al-Bayt in Firdaws al-Akhbar
Very little information is available on the life of Abu Shuja Shiruya b. Shahrdar Daylami Hamadani (445-509/1053-115). Only some of his teachers and students are mentioned in the sources, and three books are ascribed to him, i.e. Tarikh-i Hamadan [A History of Hamadan], Riyad al-Uns and the famous book Firdaws al-Akhbar. According to him, there are 10,000 hadiths of the Prophet in Firdaws al-Akhbar, covering traditions and practices, rituals, sermons, parables, and virtues, all mentioned in brief and without documents and references. This work was written on the basis of Shahab al-Akhbar of Qudai Shafii. The present article is devoted to extract the hadiths on the virtues of Imam Ali and the Ahl al-Bayt, as mentioned in Firdaws al- Akhbar. In it, the writer first gives the (successive) hadith number in the book, together with the name of the hadith transmitter and the very text of the hadith. He then Locates the hadith in Firdaws al-Akhbar as well as in the other sources which contain it, all mentioned in footnotes.
Key Words: Virtues, Imam Ali, Ahl al-Bayt, Firdaws al-Akhbar, Shahab al-Akhbar, Qudai Shafii.
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