Examination of Shaykh Ṭūsī's General Methodology in his Al-Fihrist

علوم قرآن و حدیث

Article 6, Volume 40, Issue 2 - Serial Number 81, November 2008   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/naqhs.v40i2.3199

Authors

Raḥīma Shamshīrī^* ; Mahdī Jalālī

Abstract

One of the four major works of Shī‘a biographical studies (rijālī) is al-Fihrist by Abū Ja‘far Muḥammad b. Ḥasan b. ‘Alī b. Ḥasan Ṭūsī known as Shaykh al-Ṭā’ifa. As implied from its title, this book was written to represent the names of Shī‘a works and compilations; however, since besides bibliographical information various biographical references are also included in this book, Muslim scholars have recognized it as one of the major four works of biographical studies.
In this article, however, we have considered Shaykh's Al-Fihrist simply as a catalog (fisrist) of principles (uṣūl) and works (muṣannafāt) and tried to figure out Shaykh Ṭūsī's methodology in expressing general information concerning the authors and their writings and the way it is presented.
Keywords: Shaykh Ṭūsī, cataloging, Al-Fihrist, Shī‘a writings.