Jumalal-‘Ilm wa al-‘Amal and Its Annotations

One of the most important books among Sayyid’s works in theology and fiqh is Jumalal-‘Ilm wa al-‘Amal, which deals with the religious beliefs and fiqh. As it is implied from the introduction, the book seems to have been written based on the request of Sayyid’s teacher, ShaykhMufid. There are various annotations written for this book, including Shaykh Tusi’s annotation, Al-Tamhid, which is exclusively limited to the beliefs part of the book; therefore, Najashi mentioned it with the title of Tamhid al-Usul. Furthermore, one can refer to Abulfath’s annotation on the beliefs part, and Qadiibn Baraj’s annotation on the fiqh part. Sayyid, himself, has annotated the beliefs part.  The introduction of the annotation to Jumalal-‘Ilm wa al-‘Amal implies that, Sayyid wrote it following the request of one of the students. Jumalal-‘Ilm wa al-‘Amal was published in the third volume of the collection of Rasa’il al-Sharif al-Murtada; and The Annotation toJumalal-‘Ilm wa al-‘Amal, along with Shaykh Ya’qub Ja’fari Maraghi’srevisions was published by Dar al-Oswah (sponsored by the Institute of Endowments and Charities) in ۱۴۱۹ AH. Of course, there are some differences between the text of the Jumal al-‘Ilm wa al-‘Amal published in Rasa’il al-Sharif al-Murtada and what has been presented as the main text in The Annotation to Jumalal-‘Ilm wa al-‘Amal.[۱]

 

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[۱] For instance, in the version published in the collection of Rasa’il al-Sharif al-Murtada, the last issues of Imamat are absent; so the version seems incomplete because these issues are present in Shaykh Tusi’s al-Tamhid, which is an annotation to Sayyid’s book. These final issues include: the Imamat of the twelve imams, the issues concerning the occultation of Imam Mahdi, the judgment concerning the rebellions against Imam Ali, and the issues concerning Ajal, Arzaq and Asfar.