کاظم استادی

The details of the life of Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Jaʻfar Nuʻmānī (b. 342 AH) are not entirely clear, and significant information about him is not readily available.  Furthermore, one of the unclear aspects surrounding Nuʻmānī 's life is the extent to which Imamiyyah writers and scholars paid attention to Nuʻmānī 's narrations and the current book al-Ghayba attributed to him. Therefore, since some consider Nuʻmānī to be among the prominent Imamiyyah scholars, it is necessary to investigate and research the "Status of Nuʻmānī 's narrations and narrators in early Shi'a hadith sources": ‘What narrations from Nuʻmānī exist among early Imamiyyah Shi'a hadith sources?’ ‘Who are Nuʻmānī 's narrators among the Imamiyyah Mashāyikh?’ And, focusing on Nuʻmānī 's narrations and narrators, ‘What is the extent of the attention paid by Imamiyyah scholars to Nuʻmānī and his works and narrations?’ The present study was conducted using a library-based approach, employing an inductive strategy and a descriptive-analytical method.  Existing Shi'a hadith sources were explored, ultimately revealing that only sixteen narrations (repeated and unrepeated) from Nuʻmānī exist in a few sources from the regions of Iraq and Syria. On the other hand, and separate from common Imamiyyah sources, in examining the heritage of the Ghulāt (extremists), sources were found containing narrations from Nuʻmānī ; however, none of these are found in Imamiyyah sources or Sunni sources.  The majority of the narrators in the chains of transmission of Nuʻmānī 's narrations in these sources are disreputable narrators, leaders of the Ghulāt , or those interested in the Ghulāt heritage.