Homonymity and its Role in Divergent Judgments of Najashi and Shaykh Tusi on Salem b. Mokram

Abstract

Abu khadijeh Salem b. Mokram, nicknamed as Abu Salamah, is one of the transmitters whose authority has been subject to doubt. Regarding the numerous legal traditions, authenticity of which depends on that of Salem b. Mokram and also the weak transmitters with similar names which at times have been mistaken with Salem b. Mokram and subsequently have led to undermining some isnad and even Salem himself, it is necessary to study this authority more deeply. Based on the information about the transmitters and reflecting on isnad while considering homonimity, this article has concluded that Tusi’s judgment on weakness of the above mentioned transmitter can be neglected due to the probability of not referring to authenticity. Despite the internal inconsistency of Tusi’s judgment, considering Salem as authentic is the result of “summation” and “preference” principles. It seems that Sheykh Tusi has considered Salem b. Mokram as weak due to misidentifying him with Salem b. Abu Salma who has been weakened in different rijal books. As a result, Najashi’s acknowledgment of his authenticity remains without any conflict.

Keywords

• contradictory judgments on transmitters
• salem b. mokram
• homonymity
• najashi
• shaykh tusi