How authentic do we consider Kafi? Is all that is in it sahih? I came across many weird and odd hadiths such as one saying the Quran has 17,000 verses.
How about Bihar al-Anwar by Majlisi?
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Assalamu Alaykum
The hadith collection Al-Kafi is the earliest of the four canonical Shia books. It was compiled by Sheikh Mohammed Al-Kulayni early in the fourth Hijri century, and contains around 16,000 traditions narrated by the Holy Prophet and the Imams.
The Shia do not consider any book to be free of imperfections and inaccuracies save the Holy Quran, which is the only completely authentic book in our eyes. Kitab al-Kafi is no exception, and not all the narrations found within it can be authentically attributed to the 14 Infallibles. Many of the narrations were transmitted to us by liars, extremists and other untrustworthy individuals such as Abul Bekhtari, and cannot be relied upon.
It is true that more than one scholar has asserted all the contents of al-Kafi are authentic, and that there is no opportunity for anything to be weakened by way of its isnad, and Sheikh Kulayni’s preface in the beginning of the book has frequently been brought forward:
I said, “You would like to have a book which would be sufficient (for your religious needs) which would include all kinds of knowledge of religion, which would be adequate for the student, and to which the teacher might refer. Thus it could be used by anyone who wanted knowledge of religion and of legal practice according to sound traditions from the truthful ones…Allah, Almighty and Glorious, has made the compilation of the book that you had wished for possible. I hope it will prove to be up to your expectations, and whatever is in it that falls short, it is not indicative that our intentions fall short, and that was to impart sincere advice which is obligatory to our brothers
(Preface of Al-Kafi)
From the preface, we gather that an individual requested that Sheikh al-Kulayni author a book that would contain information on the teachings of the religion based on the authentic traditions of the truthful ones, and so Al-Kafi was compiled. It seems that the preface was written after Kulayni finished gathering the book based on his saying, “Allah, Almighty and Glorious, has made the compilation of the book that you had wished for possible.” However, there appears to be a break in the preface, indicating it was written over a period.
As for what was said regarding the supposed authenticity of all of the contents of Kafi, “according to sound traditions from the truthful ones”, we respond by saying that this does not mean that Kafi does not contain any unsound and inauthentic traditions in the midst of the authentic ones. No where is it mentioned that the book will be free and devoid of weak narrations. An individual had asked for a book containing authentic narrations from the truthful ones, and Kulayni had fulfilled this request. This does not mean that the book cannot contain inauthentic narrations, or authentic narrations from non-Infallibles, as people like Abu Dharr, Hisham Ibn al-Hakam and others also have sayings of theirs present in Kafi. This is a proof that the authenticity of Al-Kafi was not vouched for by Kulayni.
Even if Sheikh Kulayni did consider all of what is present in Kafi to be authentic, he is not infallible and his view is not the bottom line which cannot be contradicted. A similar situation in Sunni Hadith is the book Mustadrak Alal Sahihain, compiled by al-Hakim. A few centuries later, Sheikh Dhahabi wrote a book weakening around 75% of the book and of what Al-Hakim declared authentic!
Al-Kafi contains thousands of strong, reliable narrations and thousands of weak, unreliable narrations. This is the view of the Shia. Sheikh Saduq did not consider all of what is in Kafi to be authentic, and neither did his teacher Mohammed Ibn Waleed, as is stated in Ma’jam al-Rijal Volume 1 Page 21 and Page 68. Imam Al-Khoei states in Volume 1 of Ma’jam al-Rijal, “It is unfounded that all of Kafi is authentic, and there are undoubtedly many weak narrations in Kafi,” and others have stated similar to this, such as Sheikh Mufid etc. Sayed Mortadha said in “Risael” Volume 1 Page 409, that a narration’s presence in Kafi does not mean it is authentically attributed to the Infallibles.
The question now arises as to how the narrations of al-Kafi can be authenticated and how they are weakened. There exists in Shia Hadith, as well as Sunni Hadith, a science and a system, expounded upon in the works of the like of Allamah al-Hilli and others, that enables narrations to be verified. That which contradicts the Holy Quran is “thrown against the wall”, and what is narrated by liars, and such people, is not trusted.
“…any narration that is against the Book of Allah is a lie.”
(Kafi Volume 1 Page 69)
The Commander of the Faithful, peace be upon him, said, “If you narrated a tradition then trace the chain of narrators and if it was true then it is for you and if it was a lie it will be his responsibility.”
(Kafi Volume 1 Page 52 Number 7)
Many scholars have made an effort of categorising the narrations of Kafi into authentic, strong, good, weak etc. Amongst them is Allamah al-Majlisi who wrote a commentary of Kafi known as Mirat al-Uqul, in which around 5000 narrations were authenticated, and 11000 narrations were weakened. More recently, Hisham Ma’roof Al-Hussaini concluded Kafi contains 5032 authentic narrations, 144 Hasan (good) narrations, 128 Muwathaq (trusted) narrations, 302 Qawi (strong) narrations and 9458 weak narrations. In 1981, Sheikh Mohammed Baqir al-Behboudi declared 4428 of Kafi’s narrations to be authentic, and compiled them into a book, and the process of authenticating and verifying Hadiths perpetuates in Shiism, whereas it is stagnant in Sunnism and all that is in Bukhari and Muslim, the two sahihs, are accepted by generation after generation, without questioning what is in it.
It has been mentioned that Imam al-Mahdi said regarding Al-Kafi, “It is sufficient for our followers.” This comment, found in books such as Mustadrak, cannot be verified to Imam al-Mahdi, and is mursal. There exists no chain of narrators, and cannot be authenticated. Furthermore, the content of the saying is incorrect, as it will imply no further books of Hadith are required.
Murtadha al-Askari said, “It is an unknown (majhool) narration…and implies the publication of hundreds of books of Hadith in the school of Ahlel Beit was incorrect.” (Moalim al-Modarisatain Volume 3 Page 283)
Sheikh Kulayni lived in Tehran whilst the deputy of Imam al-Mahdi resided in Baghdad, and although Kulayni moved there towards the end of his life, there is no evidence Kulayni verified al-Kafi with the deputy of the Imam. However, even if we were to accept the saying as authentic, this does not mean all what is in Kafi is authentic, as being sufficient does not requisite being completely authentic.
As for the Hadith you mentioned, the majority and more reliable opinions is that it is inauthentic:
Imam Jafar al-Sadiq said, “The Quran which came to Mohammed, peace and blessings be upon him and his household, by Gabriel, peace be upon him, is seventeen thousand verses.”
(Volume 2 Page 634)
However, commentators on this Hadith have said this does not imply the incompleteness of the Quran:
On the contrary we say that so much of revelation has come down, which is not part of the Qur'an, that were it to be collected, its extent would undoubtedly be 17,000 verses. And this, for example, is like the saying of Gabriel to the Prophet: Allah says to thee, 0 Muhammad, act gently with My creatures, in the same manner as I do. Or his (Gabriel’s) saying: Be careful of the bitter hatred of the people and their enmity. Or his (Gabriel’s) saying: Live as you desire, for verily you shall die. Love what you will, for verily you shall be separated. Act how you will, for verily you shall be faced with it. The nobility of man is his prayer by night; his honour is refraining from injury to human beings.
(Sheikh Saduq, I’tiqadat al-Imamiya Chapter 33)
It is worth noting that many of Kafi’s narrations and many Shia works in general, have been savagely ripped out of context and given false interpretations in order to suit Salafi agendas. Once, the Salafi rabbi Uthman al-Khamees mocked the Shias using the hadith in Kafi that says, “The rooster is the friend of every believer”. However, that son of adultery deliberately or out of ignorance failed to comprehend the Hadith was talking about how the rooster would wake people for the morning salat, which the believers would always wake up for.
As for Bihar al-Anwar, it is a 110-volume work extraordinaire compiled by Allamah al-Majlisi in the 10th century hijri. It contains authentic and inauthentic hadiths and his own commentary to them, as well as letters, Quran exegesis, and other such things, and is labelled as a voluminous encyclopedia.
Majlisi’s intention in compiling Bihar Al-Anwar was that the earlier Hadith collections could be gathered into one book, so that they would not be lost and would be saved for future generations. In this task, Majlisi was very successful and many thousands of traditions narrated by individuals of all sects and of varying levels of reliability are found. His intention was simply to collect, and not authenticate hadiths, and this is stated as such in the preface of the book.
It can be said that while Bihar al-Anwar perhaps contains the most authentic narrations, it also contains the highest number of inauthentic narrations than all the other Shia books. It is therefore inappropriate for Sunnis to quote from it in their polemics without verifying the authenticity of the narration in question.
And Allah knows Best.
How Authentic are Kafi and Bihar al-Anwar?
