Kitāb al-Kāfī
Arabic:ٱلْكَافِي
Cover of the first volume of a modern edition ofAl-Kafi
Information
Religion	Islam (TwelverShī‘ah)
Author	Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Kulaynī
Language	Arabic
Chapters	35 (in 3 sections)

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Al-Kafi (Arabic:ٱلْكَافِي,al-Kāfī, Translated from Arabic means 'The Sufficient') is ahadith collection of theTwelverShī‘ah tradition, compiled in the first half of the 10th century CE (early 4th century AH) byMuḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Kulaynī.^[1] It is one of theFour Books (Kutub al Arba'a) in Twelver Shi'i Islam.

It is divided into three sections:Uṣūl al-Kāfī, dealing withepistemology,theology,history,ethics,supplication, and theQurʾān;Furūʿ al-Kāfī, which is concerned with practical andlegal issues; andRawdat (orRawḍah al-Kāfī, which includes miscellaneous traditions, many of which are lengthy letters and speeches transmitted from theimams.^[2] In total,al-Kāfī comprises 16,199 narrations.^[3]

The first eight books ofal-Kāfī are commonly referred to asUṣūl al-Kāfī,Uṣūl meaning 'Fundamental'. The first typeset edition of theal-Kāfī, which was published in eight volumes, placedUṣūl al-kāfī in the first two volumes. Generally speaking,Uṣūl al-kāfī contains traditions that deal with epistemology, theology, history, ethics, supplication, and theQurʾān.

Books 9 through 34 are referred to asFurūʿ al-Kāfī and are found in volumes three through seven of the first typeset edition.Furūʿ al-Kāfī contains traditions that deal predominantly with practical and legal issues.

The final book stands alone asRawdat orRawḍah al-Kāfī, which is found in volume eight of the first typeset edition.Rawḍah al-Kāfī contains nearly 600 miscellaneous traditions, many of which are lengthy letters and speeches, not arranged in any particular order.

MostShī‘ah scholars do not make any assumptions about the authenticity of a hadith book. Most believe that there are noṣaḥīḥ ('sound', 'truthful') hadith books that are completely reliable. Hadith books are compiled by fallible people, and thus realistically, they inevitably have a mixture of strong and weak hadiths. Kulaynī himself stated in his preface that he only collected hadiths he thought were important and sufficient for Muslims to know, and he left the verification of these hadiths up to later scholars.

According to theImami scholarZayn al-Dīn al-ʿĀmili, known asash-Shahīd ath-Thāni (1505–1559 CE, 911–966 AH), who examined theasanād or the chains of transmission ofal-Kāfi traditions, 5,072 are consideredṣaḥīḥ; 144 are regarded asḥasan ('good'), second category; 1,118 are held to bemuwathaq ('trustworthy'), third category; 302 are adjudged to beqawi ('strong') and 9,485 traditions which are categorized asḍaʿīf ('weak').^[5]

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The author,Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Kulaynī, stated in his preface toAl-Kafi:^[6]

You said that you would love to have a sufficient book [kitābun kāfin] containing enough of all the religious sciences to suffice the student; to serve as a reference for the disciple; from which those who seek knowledge of the religion and want to act on it can draw authentic traditions from the Truthful [imams] – may God's peace be upon them – and a living example upon which to act, by which our duty to God – almighty is he and sublime – and to the commands of his Prophet – may God's mercy be on him and his progeny – is fulfilled .... God – to whom belongs all praise – has facilitated the compilation of what you requested. I hope it is as you desired.

ImamKhomeini (a prominent 20th centuryShī‘ah scholar and statesman) said:^{[7][full citation needed]}

Do you think it is enough [kafi] for our religious life to have its laws summed up inal-Kāfī and then placed upon a shelf?

The general idea behind this metaphor is that Khomeini objected to the laziness of many ignorant people who simply keptal-Kafi on their shelf, and ignored or violated it in their daily lives, assuming that they would somehow be saved fromHell just by possessing the book. Khomeini argued that Islamic law should be an integral part of everyday life for the believer, not just a stale manuscript to be placed on a shelf and forgotten. The irony of the allusion is telling; Khomeini implicitly says thatal-Kāfī (literally 'the Sufficient') is notkafi ('enough') to make one a faithful Muslim or be counted among the righteous, unless one uses the wisdom contained within it and acts on it.

Shī‘ah scholarShaykh Sadūq did not believe in the complete authenticity ofal-Kāfī.Khoei points this out in hisMu‘jam Rijāl al-Hadīth, orCollection of Men of Narrations, in which he states:^[8]

Shaykh as-Sadūq did not regard all of the traditions inal-Kāfī to beȘaḥīḥ ['truthful']

Scholars have made such remarks to remind the people that one cannot simply pick the book up, and take whatever they like from it as truthful. Rather, an exhaustive process of authentication must be applied, which leaves the understanding of the book in the hands of the learned. From theShī‘ah point of view, any book other than theQurʾān, as well as individual hadiths or hadith narrators can be objectively questioned and scrutinized as to their reliability.

Kulaynī stated in his preface that he only collected hadiths he thought were important and sufficient for Muslims to know, and he left the verification of these hadiths up to later scholars. Kulaynī also states, in reference to hadiths generally:^[9]

whatever [hadith] agrees with the Book of God [theQurʾān], accept it. And whatever contradicts it, reject it

The author ofal-Kāfi never intended for it to be politicized as "infallible", but compiled it to give sincere advice based on Islamic law (regardless of the soundess of any one particular hadith), and to preserve rare hadiths and religious knowledge in an easily accessible collection for future generations to study.

Al-Kāfi is the most comprehensive collection of traditions from the formative period of Islamic scholarship^{[citation needed]}. It has been held in the highest esteem by generation after generation of Muslim scholars.Shaykh al-Mufīd (d. 1022 CE) extolled it as "one of the greatest and most beneficial of Shia books".Al-Shahīd al-ʾAwwāl (d. 1385 CE) andal-Muḥaqqiq al-Karāki (d. 1533 CE) have said, "No book has served the Shia as it has." The father of ʿAllāmah al Majlisī said, "Nothing [else] like it has been written for Islam."

• Sharh Uṣul al-Kāfi, a commentary onUṣul al-Kāfi byMohammad Salih al-Mazandarani (17th century CE)
• Mir'at al-Uqul ('Mirror of the Mind'), a commentary onal-Kāfi byMohammad-Baqer Majlesi (17th century CE)
• Sharh Uṣul al-Kāfi byMulla Sadra (17th century CE)
• Șaḥīḥ al-Kāfi by Muhammad Baqir al-Behbudi (20th century CE)

• List of Shi'a books

Wikimedia Commons has media related toKitab al-Kafi.

• Al-Kafi English Translation (Volumes1,2,3,4,5Archived 2023-04-01 at theWayback Machine,6,7,8), compiled by Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Kulaynī, translated by Hub-e-Ali organization, publicly available for free.
• 'Usul al-Kafi English Translation, E-Book Volumes 1-8', compiled by Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Kulaynī, translated by Muḥammad Sarwar, published by the Islamic Seminary INC NY, available for purchase.
• 'Al-Kafi with translation and commentary by Islamic Texts Institute'
• Selections from Usul al-Kafi
• 'Kiṫâbu-l-Kâfî', compiled by Muḥammad Ya`qûb Kulaynî, published by the Islamic Seminary INC NY, translated by Muḥammad Sarwar.
• How reliable is our Hadith Corpus? | Ayatullah Sayyid Kamal Al-Haydari

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