Muhammad Ibn Ya'qub Al-Kulayni - His Legacy

His Legacy

The influence of Kulayni on his contemporaries and successive generations has been tremendous and among followers of Shia Imamia faith in particular. His influence has probably been single most important due to the number of reasons. The first being his importance as Mujadid of his age places him at the highest position among his contemporaries and therefore his influence. His contemporaries and generations that followed into his footsteps based on the foundations he laid down in the field of hadith are indebted to him. According to Waheed Akhtar:

"Al-Kulayni took up the work of compilation of the traditions for the sake of arming the believers with sufficient body of hadith that could serve as a guide. He himself did not write any commentary on the traditions he compiled, but his preference for the traditions emphasizing the importance of reason and knowledge in placing them before all other traditions shows his own inclination towards rationalism."

And he brought balance between dogmatism and rationalism:

"He tried to save the faith from the arrogance of rationalism, which refused to accept any other authority except intellect. He aimed to strike a balance between dogmatism and extreme type of rationalism."

And on issues dealing with human problems:

"al-Kulayni's discourse on the duties and responsibilities of human beings prescribed by the law of Shari-ah is based on his rationalist approach to the problem, underlying the principle that God does not saddle human beings with impossible duties. The lack of this realization has led Muslim Ummah to accept many ideas and beliefs that are alien to Islam. Even in his brief introduction he emphasized the significance of knowledge and- reason."

According to Dr. M. Ismail Marcinkowski, "...the celebrated Abu Ja‘far Muhammad b. Ya‘qub al-Kulayni (d. 329/941) had compiled his Al-Kafi, a collection of Traditions which is counted among the 'canonical' Four Books of the Twelvers. Although Ibn Babawayh was not one of his direct disciples he seemed to have benefited to a high degree from al-Kulayni as a transmitter of Traditions. Ibn Babawayh himself was among the teachers of the celebrated Twelver scholar Muhammad b. Muhammad b. al-Nu‘man, known as al-Shaykh al-Mufid (336-413/948-1022), who is famous for his usuli-rationalist approach in legal theory. Interesting in this context is al-Mufid's controversy with his teacher in theological questions and in matters of procedure Al-Mufid gave Twelver Shi‘ite theological studies a new impetus and direction: he is said to have emphasized the role of discursive theology before or better side-byside with that of the science of Traditions.

His work and his approach in dealing with various problems in the light of al-Kafi paved the way for generations in varied fields of Islamic science and philosophy. This is the reason why Shia contribution to Islamic science and philosophy has been so significant despite being always a minority.