Al-Kafi Book II: Knowledge & It's Merits

Author: Shaykh Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Yaqub al-Kulayni | Commentary and Translation By: Islamic Texts Institute under the direction of Shaykh Rizwan Arastu

Written in the 10th century, Al-Kafi is the most comprehensive collection of traditions from the formative period of Shi‘i scholarship. It is the fruit of Shaykh al-Kulayni’s lifelong labor to collect, vet, sort and compile traditions from Prophet Muhammad and his family. Its 35 books and more than 15,000 traditions cover the full gamut of Islamic knowledge, and it has been a primary source for the Shi‘ah ever since the beginning of the Major Occultation.

ITI’s work offers not only a precise translation of the text of al-Kafi, but a detailed commentary that aims to uncover each tradition’s meaning and implications and to place it in the broader context of Islamic teachings. The goal is to make the traditions accessible to non-specialists and to help them find guidance through the traditions.

Al-Kafi Book II: Knowledge & It's Merits collects traditions that speak about the obligation to learn, the virtues of learning and the learned, the etiquette of learning and teaching, the cosmic
position of scholars, the dangers of ignorance and the misappropriation of knowledge, the correct sources of knowledge, and the historic development of learning and teaching as Islamic institutions.