Bihar al-Anwar


is a comprehensive collection of hadith compiled by Shia scholar Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi. It is the secondary Shi'ite hadith verification source after the Four Books.

Overview

Bihar al-Anwar is the most comprehensive hadith collections, documenting over 100,000 items of Twelver Shia hadith along with Majlisi's commentary on these narrations. He used about 400 sources written by such Sunni and Shia scholars as Shaykh al-Saduq, Shaykh Tusi, Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid, Sharif al-Murtaza, Muhammad Jamaluddin al-Makki al-Amili, Sayyed Ibn Tawus, Al-Hilli, Zayn al-Din al-Juba'i al'Amili.
The full title of the book is:
Biḥār al-ʾAnwār al-Jāmiʿah li-Durar ʾAkhbār al-ʾAʾimmah al-Aṭhār
This lengthy title indicates Majlisi collected anything he had access to in the book. His primary goal was to preserve the knowledge for future generations and prevent forgery. Majlisi has acknowledged the forgery issue in the preface of Bihar al-Anwar, emphasizing that the traditions collected were not included without extensive scrutiny, although a consequence of his approach was that he has gathered both "pearls" and "pebbles".
The compilation of Bihar al-Anwar took 36 years, during which Majlisi received aid from other scholars and his students.

Author

Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi was born in 1617 in Isfahan, the capital city of the Persian Empire. A student of Mulla Sadra, he was described in the journal Orient as "an unprecedentedly influential author in the world of Imami Shi'ism". On 1687, he was appointed as Sheikh ul-Islam of Isfahan by the emperor Sultan Husayn. He developed the Twelver doctrine by investigating Shia and Sunni hadith. He wrote over 100 books in Arabic and Persian.

Editions

  • Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-, Biḥār al-nwār al-Jāmiʿahli-Durar Akhbār al-Aʾimmat al-Aṭhār, 110 vols.

Commentaries

Mashraʿa Biḥār al-Anwār – by Muḥammad Asif MohseniDurrar al-Biḥār – by al-Mawlā Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn MurtaḍāCommentary on Biḥār al-Anwār – by ʿAbd al-Aʿlā al-Mūsawī al-SabzawārīGharīb al-Ḥadīth fī Biḥār al-Anwār – by Ḥusayn al-Ḥusaynī al-BīrjandīAnwār al-Biḥār – by Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Hādī al-NāʾīnīManāhil al-Abrār fī Talkhīṣ Biḥār al-Anwār – by Ḥusayn DargāhīTalkhīṣ al-Biḥār – by al-Mīrzā Muḥammad Ṣādiq al-ShīrāzīḤadīqat al-Azhār fī Talkhīṣ al-Biḥār – by al-Mīrzā Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Nabī al-NīshābūrīTalkhīṣ al-Anwār – by al-Mawlā Muḥammad Taqī, known as Āqā Najafī IṣfahānīMashrūʿ Biḥār al-Anwār – by Muḥammad Āṣif MuḥsinīTalkhīṣ al-Biḥār – by al-Mīrzā Ibrāhīm ibn Ḥusayn ibn Ghafār al-Dunbulī al-KhūʾīDurrar al-Biḥār – by al-Mawlā Muḥammad Taqī ibn Muḥammad al-KhūʾīBanādir al-Biḥār – by Fayḍ al-IslāmMuntakhab Biḥār al-Anwār – by Muḥammad Hādī ibn Murtaḍā al-Kāshānī