The Extent of the Validity of Isolated Tradition (Khabar) in Muḥaqqiq Ardabīlī’s School of Thought

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Ḥāmid Na‘īmī
• Maḥmūd Jamāluddīn Zanjānī

10.22067/fiqh.v0i0.7794

Abstract

One of the most highly applicable evidences for inference of legal precepts is
the isolated tradition, whose acceptance, rejection, or limitation is highly effective in the consequences of inference. Muḥaqqiq Ardabīlī, as one of the geniuses of Imāmī jurisprudence in tenth/ sixteenth century, with his special attitude toward this source of inference of precepts, has regarded only the validity of the supremely sound tradition as acceptable and has rejected the other validity of traditions in basics of jurisprudence methodology (‘ilm al-uṣūl). This approach has left a great influential impact on his jurisprudence, in such a way that he has given up the legal judgment of sanction in proving the decree of sanction due to the unsoundness of the tradition, and in most cases he has maintained a decree of repugnance due to his scholarly and practical caution arising from his asceticism and piety. Similarly, because of this same opinion, he has been very cautious in designation of generalities of the Book and the frequently narrated (mutawātir) traditions by means of the isolated tradition and has regarded only the specific and explicit isolated tradition as authorized (ḥujja) for designation of generalities. In this research, we intend to examine the viewpoint of Muḥaqqiq Ardabīlī concerning the isolated tradition and its evidences and analyze its outcome and applications in his jurisprudential school of thought.

Keywords

• Muḥaqqiq Ardabīlī
• basics of jurisprudence
• isolated tradition
• supremely sound tradition

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