Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
Sources

Al-Shaykh al-Mufid, Kitab al-Irshad, The Book of Guidance, trans. I.K.A. Howard

Scholarly translation, medieval primary text

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Shaykh al-Mufid's Kitab al-Irshad (The Book of Guidance), composed in the eleventh century, is the classical Twelver Shia account of the lives of the twelve Imams, and I.K.A. Howard's translation for the Muhammadi Trust makes the text available in English. Its strength is that it is the standard reference within the Shia tradition itself for the Imams' biographies, drawing on earlier collections of reports. Its limit is that it is a devotional and doctrinal work written from within the tradition it describes, centuries after the earliest Imams it covers, rather than an independent historical study.

Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier
2
The standard classical Shia biographical source for the Imams, in a scholarly published translation, weighed against its status as a devotional work of the tradition it describes rather than an independent historical analysis.
Notes
Scholarly translation of al-Mufid's classical Twelver Shia biography of the twelve Imams, the Muhammadi Trust of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Citation
Author
al-Shaykh al-Mufid (trans. I.K.A. Howard)
Publisher
The Muhammadi Trust of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Publication Year
1981
Source Type
Primary text in translation
Claims Backed By This Source (13 claims)

This source backs 13 claims across the atlas. As facts: 10 well-attested. Plus 3 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.

Disposition By Topic

  • Sources, 7 claims: 7 well-attested.
  • Figures, 6 claims: 3 well-attested, 3 general references.
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