The Words of the Imams: al-Shaykh al-Ṣadūq and the Development of Twelver Shīʿī Hadith Literature by Dr George Warner

Ibn Babawayh – also known as al-Shaykh al-Saduq – was a prominent Twelver Shi'i scholar of hadith. Writing within the first century after the vanishing of the twelfth imam, al-Saduq represents a pivotal moment in Twelver hadith literature,  as this Shi'i community adjusted to a world without a visible imam and  guide, a world wherein the imams could only be accessed through the text  of their remembered words and deeds. George Warner's study of  al-Saduq's work examines the formation of Shi'i hadith literature  in light of these unique dynamics, as well as giving a portrait of an  important but little-studied early Twelver thinker. Though almost all of  al-Saduq's writings are collections of hadith, Warner's approach  pays careful attention to how these texts are selected and presented to  explore what they can reveal about their compiler, offering insight  into al-Saduq's ideas and suggesting new possibilities for the wider  study of hadith.