The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays

The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays
Kitāb Sulaym ibn Qays
AuthorUnknown (falsely attributed to Sulaym ibn Qays)
LanguageArabic
SubjectHadith
GenreHadith collection
Publication date
partly 8th century, with many later additions

The Book of Sulaym ibn Qays (Arabic: كِتَاب سُلَيْم بن قَيْس, romanizedKitāb Sulaym ibn Qays) is the oldest known Shia hadith collection. It was attributed to Sulaym ibn Qays al-Hilali (died 678), who purportedly entrusted it to Aban ibn Abi Ayyash.[1]

Scholars consider the attribution of this work to Sulaym ibn Qays, who himself may have been a legendary figure, to be false.[2] The earliest known reference to the book was in the Kitāb al-Ghayba by Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Nu'mani (tenth century).[3][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 of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik's reign (r. 723–743), which would make it one of the oldest Islamic books that are still extant.[4] However, it contains many later additions and alterations of unknown date, which may render it impossible to reconstruct the original text.[5] Two individual passages which have been the subject of a case study have been dated to c. 762-780 and to the late 8th/early 9th century, respectively.[6]

  1. ^ Modaressi 2003, p. 85.
  2. ^ According to Djebli 1960–2007, "the very existence of this man, and of his work, should be regarded with caution". Modaressi 2003, pp. 82–83 calls it "obvious that such a person never existed and that the name is only a pen name". Other scholars, such as Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, have been more cautious in rejecting Sulaym ibn Qays' historicity, but do agree that the attribution of the work to him is false (see Gleave 2015, pp. 85–86).
  3. ^ Khetia (2013, p. 61–62).
  4. ^ Modaressi 2003, p. 83.
  5. ^ Gleave 2015, p. 86, citing Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi.
  6. ^ Gleave 2015, pp. 86, 102.