Sulaym ibn Qays

Sulaym documented many aspects pertaining to teachings and experiences with Imam Ali and the Ahl al-Bayt.[3][2] He collected information such as Ali's sermon in the mosque of Kufa.[2][3][5] After the assassination of Ali, Sulaym remained in Kufa during Mu'awiyah's era.[5] Sulaym kept compiling works and documenting the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt.

The book became known as Kitab Sulaym ibn Qays (The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays). It is a collection of traditions, teachings, and eye witness accounts of events that occurred in history.[1] Kitab Sulaym is the earliest/oldest book pertaining to the collection of hadith, which was composed in the first Islamic century after the death of Muhammad.[1] It is older than al-Kafi, Sahih al-Bukhari, and the other books on hadith.

In his book, Sulaym documents Prophetic traditions concerning Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi.[1] He documents that Muhammad had promised his followers about a man from the lineage of Imam Husain who would purify Islam by removing innovations (distortion of Quranic interpretation and Prophetic traditions "Hadiths").[1] Sulaym is also one of the first to document the political divide amongst Muslims after the death of Muhammad.[2] And how certain figures in Islam distorted Prophetic traditions in order to gain power.[2] One of the events Sulaym documents is the event of Saqifah in which Abu Bakr forcefully striped the rightful leadership of Imam Ali.[2] For instance, Sulaym documents that Salman al-Muhammadi, Miqdad ibn Aswad, Ammar ibn Yasir, Abdullah ibn Ja'far, Abu al-Haytham ibn Tayhan, Khuzaymah ibn Thabit, and Abu Ayyub stated that Muhammad at Ghadir Khumm said,

"O people, the legal power (al-Wilaya) is granted only to Ali ibn Abi Talib and the trustees from my progeny, the decedents of my brother Ali. He will be the first, and his two sons, al-Hasan and al-Husayn, will succeed him consecutively. They will not separate themselves from the Qur'an until they return to Allah."[1]

The events documented in his book have either been observed by his own eyes or have been directly heard from those who have directly heard from the Divine tongues of the Muhammad or Amir al-Momineen Imam Ali ibn abi Talib.[2] Most of Sulaym's work is attributed to Muhammad.[1]

Ibn al-Nadim states and later investigation shows his book is "the oldest surviving Shi`ite book" which is written in the first Islamic century.[2]

Sulaym recorded many teachings of Imam Ali such as the following:

"God intended us by his saying, in order that you may be witnesses over humankind, for the Apostle of God is over us and we are God's witnesses over his creatures and his proofs in his earth. We are those of whom God said, 'Thus have we made you a community of the middle path.'"[6]

"Inform me of the most excellent trait (afdal manqaba) [conferred] on you (Imam Ali) by the Messenger of God, peace and blessing be upon him. He (Ali) replied, 'his appointment of me [as his successor] on the day of Ghadir Khumm when he spoke to me of walaya by the command of God the exalted and by his saying, 'You are to me of the same station as Aaron was to Moses."[7]

"Umar, resembles the Samiri, who made the Calf (an idol) for the Children of Israel."[8]

Sulaym is honored for his hard work, discipline, and support of the Ahl al-Bayt. So much so that even Ja'far al-Sadiq praise Sulaym. A report from al-Sadiq states:

"The ones from our Shiites and those that loves us, who does not have Kitab (Book of) Sulaym Bin Qays al-Hilali, then there is nothing with him from our matters, nor does he know anything from our reasons, and it is the Alphabet (Abjad) of the Shiites, and a secret from the secrets of the Progeny of Muhammed."[2]

Sulyam is also honored by many Muslims around the world for preserving the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt.

Much of the information about Sulaym comes from Shia Muslim tradition.[9] According to modern historian Mokhtar Djebeli, "the very existence of this man, and his work, should be regarded with caution, since apart from Ibn al-Nadim ... only a few Shi'is mention him, and then only in a very terse and laconic fashion".[9] Ibn al-Nadim himself, as well as later biographers including al-Tusi, relied on the Alid writer Ali ibn Ahmad al-Aqiq (d. 911).[9] The Sunni Shafi'i scholar Ibn Abi'l-Hadid, questioned Sulaym's existence, claiming "he had heard" certain Twelver Shi'a scholars assert that Sulaym was "pure invention of the imagination" and "his alleged book being nothing but the apocryphal work of a forger".[9]

The Twelver scholars Ahmad ibn Ubayda (d. 941) and Abu Abd Allah al-Ghadhanfari (d. 1020) based their denial of the existence of Sulaym's book on three factors: a segment in the book indicates there were thirteen imams instead of the traditionally held twelve; another segment states Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr condemned his dying father Abu Bakr despite Muhammad being a three-year-old child; and the book was allegedly solely transmitted to Aban ibn Abi Ayyash, despite the fact that the latter was only fourteen-years-old.[9] However, the prominent Twelver scholar al-Hilli rejected theories about Sulaym's non-existence, though Djebli asserts al-Hilli's "arguments were too unconvincing to sweep away such doubts".[9] Nonetheless, later Shi'a biographers produced al-Hilli's arguments verbatim, and Sulaym's book is considered by Shi'a scholars as among the oldest sources of Shi'a thought and superior to the much later four Sunni tradition, namely the Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Musnad Ibn Ḥanbal and Muwaṭṭaʾ Imām Mālik.[9]

Hossein Modarressi writes that the oldest, preserved and intact version of the Kitab Sulaym ibn Qays comes from the final years of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik’s reign.[10] He also points out in his work, after famous Shi’a exegesist of the Quran Ahmad ibn Ali al-Najashi (born 372 after Hijri/982 CE), that the alleged indication in the Ibn Qays’ book that there were thirteen Imams instead of the traditionally held twelve, is a later addition by one Islamic fourth century scholar who wanted to please his Zaydi patron, and added Zayd ibn Ali to the list as an Imam. It wasn’t a part of the original book and was removed in successive editions.[11]

• Kitab al-Sulaym ibn Qays (English)
• Kitab al-Sulaym ibn Qays (Urdu)
• Kitab al-Sulaym ibn Qays (Arabic)
• (English)