| Author | Unknown (falsely attributed toSulaym ibn Qays)[a] |
|---|---|
| Language | Arabic |
| Subject | Hadith |
| Genre | Hadith collection |
Publication date | partly 8th century, with many later additions |
The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays (Arabic:كِتَاب سُلَيْم بن قَيْس,romanized: Kitāb Sulaym ibn Qays) is the oldest knownShiahadith collection. It was attributed toSulaym ibn Qays al-Hilali (died 678), who purportedly entrusted it toAban ibn Abi Ayyash.[1]
Scholars largely consider the attribution of this work to Sulaym ibn Qays, who himself may have been a legendary figure or apseudonym, to be false.[a] The earliest known reference to the book was in theKitāb al-Ghayba byMuhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Nu'mani (tenth century).[2][better source needed]
The precise dating of the work is not clear.Hossein Modarressi dates the original core of this work to the final years ofHisham ibn Abd al-Malik's reign (r. 723–743), which would make it one of the oldest Islamic books that are still extant.[3] However, it contains many later additions and alterations of unknown date, which may render it impossible to reconstruct the original text.[4] Two individual passages which have been the subject of a case study have been respectively dated to c. 762–780 and to the late 8th or early 9th century.[5]
Sources indicate that the book was well known, but not always held in high esteem.Ibn al-Nadim (d. 995) said that the book was among the well-known Shia books,[6] andMohammad-Baqer Majlesi mentioned the book and the author in his book,Al-Ghaibah.[citation needed]
However, the scholars Ahmad ibn Ubayda (d. 941) and Abu Abd Allah al-Ghadhanfari (d. 1020) considered the book to be unreliable on the basis of three factors: a segment in the book indicates there were thirteen Imams instead of the traditionally held twelve; another segment states thatMuhammad ibn Abi Bakr rebuked his dying fatherAbu Bakr despite Muhammad being a three-year-old child; and the book was purportedly transmitted by Aban ibn Abi Ayyash at a time when the latter was only fourteen years old.[7]
Currently, several variant manuscripts of this book exist, and it has been suggested that content was added to it and altered in it over time.[8]
An analysis of atafsir-related passage suggests that this passage dates to the early 9th century, or perhaps the late 8th century CE.[9]
