Imam Khomeini and Hadith-e Morsal (Tradition without Narrator’s Name)

Abstract

Hadiths or traditions attributed to the Infallible Household of the Prophet (pbuh), whom Shia Muslims regard as “The Speaking Quran”, are a means of guidance. Carelessness or fault in narrating the deeds, creeds and works of the Infallibles has resulted in fabrication, accusation, conspiracy, lies and baseless accusations against them because of the worldliness and other political and non-political factors during and after the living period of the Infallibles. This necessitates the existence of scientific principles and strong criteria to distinguish real traditions from fake ones. The traditions that do not have the name of the narrator, technically called Morsal, are not referable per se, but have been sometimes considered trustable and referable due to some reasons as reference by a reputable person, some jurists, and hadith experts. This research paper has been developed with the aim of clarifying Imam Khomeini’s views through a descriptive-analytical method to investigate quality of narration of Morsal traditions, existing viewpoints on its validity, and finally Imam Khomeini’s views on these traditions. In response to the differences of opinion on validity of Morsal traditions, Imam Khomeini has in some way made an explanation and avoided their absolute rejection or acceptance. He has put forward certain conditions for correctness of their attribution and argues that they are trustable only when firmly attributed to the Infallibles..

Keywords

• hadith
• document
• morsal
• people of consensus
• imam khomeini