Shi’ite Authors On Religions And Religious Sects
Shi’ite Authors On Religions And Religious Sects: Among those writers who were pioneerrs in this field was Hisham Bin Muhammad bin Sa’ib al-Kalabi. Ibn-un-Nadim has mentioned a book Adyan-ul-Arab written by Hisham.
He died in 206A.H.
Ibn Sukait Abu Yusuf Ya’qub bin Ishaq wrote Kitab-ul-Firaq.
His death occurred in 244 A.H.
Abu Qasim Nasr bin Sabbah al-Balkhi, as per information given by An-Najashi wrote a book titled Firaq-ush-Shi’ah.
He died during the century.
Al-Hasan bin Musa Nawbakhti compiled a book titled Al-Firaq Wad-Diyanat.It has been published from Istanbul.
He died in 310 A.H.
Abul Hasan Ali bin al-Husain al-Mas’udi is the writer of a well-known book titled Muruj-udh-Dhahab. He also wrote Kitab-ul-Miqalat Fi Usul-id-Diyanat, which he has referred to in Muruj-udh-Dhahab. Najashi has also considered him to be the writer of another book titled Al-Ibanah which deals with the Principles of Religions. At-Tusi, Najashi and others have testified his being a Shi’ite. He has also written book in proof of the Imamate of the Twelve Imams.
He died in 346 A.H.
All these writers contributed to this field before anyone from among the Non-Shi’ites, for instance Abu Bakr al-Baqilani (died in 403 A.H.). Abi Mansur Abdul Qadir bin Tahir al-Baghdadi (died in 429 A.H.), Ibn Fawrak al-Isfahani (died in 451 A.H.), Ibn Hazam(died in 456 A.H.), Abil Muzaffar Tahir bin Muhammad al-Isfara’ini who also belonged to the later period and Ash-Sharastani (died in 548 A.H.).
Some others from among our friends have written books in this field, for instance Muhammad bin Ahmad Na’imi who, according to An-Najashi, was a Shi’ite and an historian. He wrote a book titled Firaq-ush-Shi’ah. He might have been senior to the writers mentioned just above. Similarly, Shaiman bin Abdullah al-Mahuzi -al-Bahrani who is known as Muhaqqiq-ul-Bahrani, wrote Nikat-ul-Badi’ah Fi-Firaq-ish-Shi’ah.
He died in 1121 A.H.
Source:
Hasan al-Amin,Shorter Shi’ite Encyclopaedia