le Dorare Akhbaril-A'emmah al-At'haar (a.s.)
Allameh Majlesi [Mowla Muhammad Baqer son of Muhammad Taqi] (1037-1110 A.H)
Encyclopedia of "Hadiths" [Traditions or Sayings of the Holy Prophet (s.a.) and his infallible Household] and Islamic Topics ranging from the "Holy Koran" and its "exegesis" [Tafseer] as well as "Islamic History" to "Fiqh"(Islamic Jurisprudence) and "Kalaam"(Theology), among similar others.
This book contains one of the relatively more comprehensive, methodically-presented and well-disseminated collections of Shiite Traditions (Hadiths) from the relevant books. Allameh Majlesi's explanations and interpretations of the Hadiths and Narrations are based on the original sources of their wordings, Fiqh [Jurisprudential judgments], Tafseer, Kalaam, history [of Islam], ethics, etc.
Due to the abundant sources which were at his disposal because of his high rank at his time, Allameh Majlesi has been able to search and select the best and most authentic scripts of each title.
The quotations in the book are very accurate and complete in all respects, as is to be expected of his trustworthiness and full awareness of the standard manner of extraction.
On the whole, "Biharul-Anwar" represents in itself a library of standard books and compilations by Shiite Ulema, the contents of which are presented in a consolidated and logical manner.
In this book, repetitions, too, have been omitted, while mentioning only the sources of similar narrations.
After assimilating famous Narration Books of his day, Allameh Majlesi began his search for the original and not widely-read sources of Narrations/Hadiths. He realized that many contemporary Ulema did not refer or pay due attention to such books and sources. So he decided to bridge this gap. For this purpose, he delegated some groups to different remote Islamic countries and cities in search of inaccessible sources of Narrations in secluded corners of libraries. Thus, this great Islamic scholar was able to gather and transcribe with diligence and perseverance several copies of valuable Hadiths/Narrations. These would not have come to our knowledge today without his efforts. That is why there are numerous manuscripts of different Islamic books available from 11th and 12th centuries A.H. In this process, he encouraged his students to make copies of Narrations/Hadiths. One of his students, Sayyed Nematullah Jazayeri, transcribed tens of such books of Narrations. One major deficiency - the readers and researchers of that time faced sometimes - arose from the variety of titles and topics, which required much scrutiny to arrive at the material they wanted. Allameh Majlesi and his assistants made great efforts in consolidating selected Narrations, Hadiths, and other relevant material, in the book entitled "Biharul-Anwar": an everlasting treasure he bequeathed to posterity.
In his entire endeavor, the Late Allameh was motivated by the need to promptly accomplish the writing lest the individual transcriptions get mislaid or lost over a period of years in the event of postponement of this tiresome task - or over decades of the material remaining unused, which would make the efforts futile.
Allameh Majlesi, who was fully dedicated to the traditions and the way of the Holy Prophet (SA) and sayings of Imam Ali (AS), despite years of studies and research on different branches of science, at last again focused his attention on the sayings and elaborations of the Ahl-ul-Bayt (a.s.). Allameh Majlesi writes in the "Introduction" of the "Biharul-Anwar" as follows: "In the beginning of my youth I was very keen on learning various sciences. I have spent a considerable part of my life in trying to make beneficial use of what I have learned of these sciences. Yet, pondering over usefulness of a science towards the Hereafter, I realized that the genuine, pure science is obtainable uniquely through the mainspring of the Divine Revelation and the explications and teachings of the Ahlul Bayt (AS)."
Thus, Allameh Majlesi, with his mastery of the contemporary rational and traditional sciences of different kinds, focused his attention on the sayings of the Infallible Ahlul Bayt (AS). He devoted his efforts towards assimilation and dissemination as well as saving of tens of thousands of the relevant valuable Hadithss/Narrations from "disuse" and "destruction".
"Biharul-Anwar" is divided into several "books"; every topic on the whole is treated as a single, separate book. Every such book has its own main chapters, which contain sub-chapters. Same of the subsidiary chapters are subdivided into their own sections. The arrangement has much resemblance to that of the noble book of Shiah entitled "Al-Kafi", while there are also differences. Among the differences, one is that some of the chapters are included for the first time, as in the case of the one on chapter entitled "al-Samaa wal-'Aalam" [The Sky and the Universe] and "The History of Prophets and Imams (AS)."
In the beginning of discussion on individual topics, the relevant Koranic verse is cited, followed by an explanation or exegesis, where necessary. For "exegesis", Allameh Majlesi largely used that which had been presented by Allameh Tabarsi in "Majma' al-Bayan" and also in "Mafatih al-Ghaib" of Fakhre Razi. These are followed by the Narrations and Hadiths pertaining to each topic/chapter in detail, which, in turn, are identified according to their sources.
Repetitions in Narrations/Hadiths are excluded and only their sources are identified. Where similar Narrations/Hadiths are involved, their differences are mentioned, as to their sources and their contents, taken from various books.
In many cases, Allameh Majlesi has written some Notes and explained the Hadiths in detail, which are varied in their nature and content. The magnitude and range of such comments are to the extent that collecting them could well be voluminous in themselves.
The initial writing of "Biharul-Anwar" took place in the year 1070AH. It continued up until 1103 A.H. The arrangement of the material in volumes did not follow the sequence of writing. For example, volume 2 was completed in 1077 A.H. Then the fifth and the eleventh volumes were prepared. The tenth volume's material was completed in the year 1079 A.H., followed by the ninth. The third volume was completed in 1080 A.H. The fourteenth [last volume] to be completed was finished in the year 1103 A.H. (These volumes follow the numbering given by Allameh Majlesi to the 25 volumes involved).
NUMBER OF VOLUMES
"Biharul-Anwar" was written in 25 volumes. If the voluminous 15th volume is bifurcated, the total will be 26 volumes. The publisher "Darul-Kutub al-Islamiyyah" has printed these 26 original volumes in 110 volumes, out of which volumes No. 54 to 56 pertain to Index and References.
Unfortunately Allameh Majlesi did not have the opportunity to make a fair copy of the second part of volume No. 15 up until end of the book (excepting volumes No. 18 and 22). Fair copies of the uncompleted manuscripts were prepared by Mirza Abdullah Affandi, the author of "Riyazul-Ulema", who was a pupil of the Late Allameh Majlesi. For the same reason, the style of writing in these chapters is much different from the chapters compiled by Allameh himself, and thus, the fair copying of Mirza Abdullah Affandi misses some headings of chapters and even the relevant Hadiths/Narrations. Furthermore, Allameh's explanations are conspicuous by their absence. These are in contrast with the other volumes of Biharul-Anwar.
Allameh Majlesi has specified sources of "Biharul-Anwar" in its Introduction's first chapter. He named 375 books in this regard, leaving the rest under the indication: "and others".
The sources contain multifarious topics; they include books of Hadiths, Fiqh, Osool [fundamental precepts of Islam], Koranic exegesis, Rijal [chains of narrators], Ansaab [genealogy], history, Kalaam, philosophy and vocabulary.
Allameh Majlesi did not include much material form "Kutub Arba'eh" [the four main reference books of Shiah], except one of the four books entitled "al-Kafi", to which 3500 references were made. All the sources, except the book "Shahab al-Akhbar", are Shiite sources.
Many of Allameh Majlesi's references to Sunnite sources were either in support and elucidation of Shiite Hadiths or in rejecting the other sects' quoted Narrations.
Extent of utilization of different sources by Allameh is not uniform. He pinpointed 80 sources as the original ones of "Biharul-Anwar", and highlighted them with specific codes.
The whole text of some of the sources are included in Biharul-Anwar like the books entitled "Tibb al-Reza (AS)" [Medicine, as prescribed by Imam Reza (a.s.)] "Tawhid Mufazzal" [a series of monotheistic lessons taught by Imam Al-Sadiq (a.s.) to his disciple, Mufazzal], "Masaa'el Ali ibn Jafar (A.S.)" [Questions of Ali son of Imam Ja'far Al-Sadiq (a.s.)], "Fehrest" [list of names and relations between the narrators of Hadiths] by Sheikh Muntajabuddin, and the book: "Ahleeljah".
His utilization of other source materials was limited to the extent of discussing on some Hadiths only.
Some of the sources mentioned in the beginning of the book were not used at all in "Biharul-Anwar. Such books include "Jamal al-Ilm wal-Amal", Sayyed Murtaza's "Al-Moqne'", "Montaqi al-Juman", and many of Ibn Tawus' works. (Perhaps Allameh Majlesi intended to use them, but the pressing need to complete "Biharul-Anwar" and its explanations, did not enable him to use all the books in his possession.)
Allameh Majlesi has taken pains to specify the authenticity or otherwise of his sources. In the book "Biharul-Anwar", he discussed the credibility of his sources of transcriptions and quotations. The relevant points include the following: 1) He mentioned that most of the books he quoted from were written by very famous authors, inasmuch as he had no doubt about the credibility of what he quoted from their works. 2) With regard to books in which the sources of Hadiths/Narrations were omitted, like in "Ehtijaj" and "Ghorar al-Hikam", he accepted them as credible since the narrations therein conformed to the same in other books of Narrations. 3) He did not make much use of books in which Shiite and Sunnite Narrations were put together, like in "Awali al-Laali" and "Tanbih al-Khawatir". 4) Narrations of some books, like that of Qazi Nurollah Shushtary, are quoted, as they are authenticated in the more well-known sources. 5) Very little quotations were drawn from the books entitled "Misbah al-Shari'ah" and "Diwane Imam Ali (AS)", since they were undocumented, and their contents did not fully conform to the sayings of the Infallible Ahlul Bayt (AS). 6) Allameh Majlesi supported his position that the best possible manuscripts and transcriptions were obtained by him by including evidence of authenticity and credibility of sources utilized by him in "Biharul-Anwar". However, this is not to be construed as something applicable to all the quotations in the books used as sources, since Allameh himself in some of his explanatory notes has mentioned weaknesses of some of the narrations.
As it can be perceived from Allameh Majlesi's comments, he had intended to write "SHARH BIHARUL-ANWAR" [a detailed, comprehensive commentary on Biharul-Anwar] simultaneously with compilation of the book itself. This idea is supported by the fact that Allameh's explanatory notes are very rare in 13 volumes of Biharul-Anwar, and it becomes obvious that he had not found an opportunity to write them. He also did not have the time and opportunity to fulfill what he had in mind in writing a supplementary book entitled "Mustadrak Al-Bihaar", comprising of new Hadiths/Narrations or several more Narrations/Hadiths in his possession which were not included in "Biharul-Anwar". Unfortunately, he died before he could accomplish the same.
Numerous translations of "Biharul-Anwar" exist. These include the following: 1) A translation by an Islamic scholar of Hindustan [India] made for Prince Sultan Muhammad Buland Akhtar.
2) Translation entitled: "'Aynul-Yaqeen" by Haaj Sheikh Muhammad Taqi Aqa Najafi Esfahani (d. 1332 A.H.) 3) Translation entitled: "Kashf al-Asrar" by Sayyed Ismael Musawi Zanjany 4) Translation entitled "Banadirul-Bihar" by Sayyed Ali Naqi Fayzul-Islam (d.1406 AH.) [Translator of "Nahjul-Balaghah" and "Sahifeh Sajjadiyyeh] 5) Translations of some portions of "Biharul-Anwar," like "Towhid Mufazzal" by Allameh Majlesi himself.
NOTE: Some of such translations from one or more volumes of "Biharul-Anwar" represent "random selections".
The most outstanding work
The most outstanding and famous work, which has been written on the "Biharul-Anwar" is a book entitled "Safinatul-Bihar" by Sheikh Abbas Qommi (d. 1359 A.H.)
Other Works
Many other surveys and works have been conducted on this valuable book [Biharul-Anwar], including various translations, abridged versions, indexes, supplementary books of Narrations, etc.
1- "Biharul-Anwar" was published for the first time in 25 volumes. This lithographic printing is well known as "Company" type.
2- Another print of "Biharul-Anwar was made by "Darul-Kutub al-Islamiyah" in 110 volumes, with repetitive offset print. This same print exists in the market.
3- Yet another publisher: "The Aal-ul-Bayt (AS) Institute" used the same offset print of Darul-Kutub al-Islamiyah, with the difference that it placed the "Index" [volumes 54 to 56] of "Biharul-Anwar" at the end of its issue. So the volumes' numbers [from vol. 54 on] are different from that of "Islamiyyah" publications