(), also known as the (), is a Twelver Shi'ite work of biographical evaluation () originally written by Muhammad ibn Umar al-Kashshi ( 854–941/951) and abridged by Shaykh Tusi (995–1067 CE).
Al-Kashshi's original work is now lost. The reason given by Tusi to abridge al-Kashshi's work is that it contained many errors.Adibi Mehr, 1384 solar, p. 132. The abridged work as extant today contains 1115 hadiths and refers to 515 companions of the Shi'ite Imams.Ma'aref, Majid, 1376 solar, pp. 43–44.
It is one of the four books of Shi'ite biographical evaluation which are regarded as authoritative in Twelver Shi'ism.
Title The work was abridged by Shaykh Tusi in 1064 as , which means "The Selection of the Knowledge of the Men". The "Men" (Arabic: ) in the title refers to early transmitters of hadith and other historical figures who knew the Shi'ite Imams. It is also sometimes called ("al-Kashshi's Men"), to point to al-Kashshi's original authorship. Ibn Shahr Ashub referred to it as (), meaning "The Knowledge of Those Who Transmitted from the Sincere Imams".
Content The work deals with the biographical evaluation () of a wide variety of early Muslim figures. Though most of these figures are early Shi'ite hadith transmitters, it also covers other contemporaries of the Shi'ite Imams, as well as a number of people who were not considered to be particularly reliable or praiseworthy. The biographies are organized according to the central Muslim figures to whom the subjects of the biographies were companions, thus starting with the companions of the prophet Muhammad and ending with the companions of Hasan al-Askari (the 11th Imam according to Twelver Shia tradition) and some of the scholars from the time of the Minor Occultation.
See also Al-Majdi Ahmad ibn Ali al-Najashi (c. 982–1058), author of a similar work called the Qamus al-Rijal (book) Al-Kamal fi Asma' al-Rijal Usd al-ghabah fi marifat al-Saḥabah Biographical evaluation Eʿteqādātal-Emāmīya The intellectual and political life of Shia Imams Atlas of Shia History of Islamic Iran Political History of Islam Reflection on the Ashura movement
References
External links Muhammad b. 'Umar al-Kashshi Kashshi Editions for 'Ikhtiyār maʻrifat al-rijāl al-maʻrūf bi Rijāl al-Kashshī The Occultation of the Twelfth Imam al-Rijal : Bio-Bibliographical Books and Literatures An Investigation of Ikhtiyar Ma,rifat-ual-Rijal