Oyun Akhbar al-Reza

Oyun Akhbar al-Reza, is the name of an Arabic book on the 8th Shia Imam, Imam Reza’s biography and life, his traditions and also the traditions which had been said by his magnanimous ancestors (Holy Prophet and the previous Imams) all are mentioned in the book. It is written by Sheikh Saduq.

The author
Abu Jafar Muhammad Babwayh Qomi, known as “Ibn Babwayh” and “Sheikh Saduq” and “Ibn Babwayh”, a#### celebrated Shia jurisconsult and great traditionist in the 10th century. He was born in 900. After primary education, he studied jurisprudence and Hadith in the presence of great jurisconsults and traditionists of Qom such as: his father (Ali Ibn Babwayh Qomi), Muhammad Ibn Hossein Ibn Walid, Ahmad Ibn Ali Qomi, Hossein Ibn Idris Qomi and other great scholars. Sheikh Saduq lived in the reign of the Shia dynasty “Buyids” which ruled the great part of the Islamic world, therefore Sheikh Saduq travelled a lot to visit Shia scholars in different places. In 936, learnt Hadith from “Abul Hasan Muhammad Asadi” in Rey – Iran. In 941, he learnt Prophetic Hadiths from the great scholars of Neishabour: “Aqbu Ali Hossein Beyhaqi” and “Abdul Rahman Abdus”. Also in Marv from: “Abul Hasan Muhammad Faqih” and “Abu Yusuf Rafe”. And in other cities: Kufa, Mecca, Baghdad, Balkh and Sarakhs learnt more Hadiths. In 948, by request of the Buyid caliph “Rukn al-Dowleh Deylami”, Sheikh Saduq was resident in Rey and became the religious leader of Shias.

The book structure
The numbers of chapters in each manuscript are different, in some manuscripts, there are 69 chapters, in some of them there are 71, and in some other 73 and 139 chapters are listed. The book includes the following subjects:
- Imamate of Imam Reza
- His characteristic
- Debate of Imam’s ancestors with the opponents
- Imam’s miracles
- Imam’s attitude
- The status of crown-princeship

It was alos translated into Persian by Muhammad Taqi Najafi Isfahani (d. 1914) and was published in 1908 in Isfahan. Seyyed Ne;mat Allah Jazayeri wrote an explanation for this book, called “The Shiny Light”.

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