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Al-Kafi, Volume 2 of 8: English Translation
Al-Kafi, Volume 2 of 8 (Usul al-Kafi) - Compiled by Thiqatu al-Islam, Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Ya’qub al-Kulayni; English Translation by Shaykh Muhammad Sarwar. Al-Kafi - The first and foremost comprehensive book of Hadith of the Holy Prophet, with his Ahl al-Bayt as narrators, dealing with issues of theology and ethics, practical laws such as laws of taharat (cleanliness), laws of worship (prayer, zakat, fasting, hajj and jihad), laws of business, laws of family and social relations, and judicial laws.
586 pages, Paperback
First published January 31, 2015
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February 7, 2017
like Volume 1, this must have been a lot of work to make, translate and pass down a these ahadith throughout history. Some kudos is deserved for the sheer magnitude of effort.
However, content wise, the Al-Kafi, and Shi'a Islam with it, sets new standards for what kind of bullshit you can purvey.
It is nauseatingly repetitive in its terrible advice. Advice to 'fear Allah' and only Allah. This advice keeps you from investigating the mechanisms upon which the universe and the human body, and its microbiome works -- after all if you stub your toe, it's just Allah punishing you for being insufficiently humble. There's no need to design better shoes to keep you from stubbing your toe -- that would be infringing upon Allah's right to punish you. It encourages and condones slavery, blames adulterers for earthquakes, famines, and economic shortages, impiety for poverty, and teaches you that your life in fact the whole of the universe has no value except through their lens ("This world is worth less to Allah azwj than this goat is upon its owners"). It harkens from the day when we believed in angels, not experiment as a means for guiding us towards truth.
It is very much the written records from within a perceived celestial dictatorship, where the great cosmic dictator Allah is willing to punish infractions, at his whim, for generations after the fact -- collective punishment on descendents of descendents of descendents of people who never had anything to do with the original crime, if one was committed. It is also contradictory, which makes sense for a book this long with diverse authors (right after listing all the major, unforgivable sins, it says that the only one that allah does not forgive is stealing from orphans and spilling blood), but which doesn't make sense if you consider it inspired in a truth-bearing way.
This book, and its moral lessons belong in the dustbin of history. There is nothing new or remarkable in it that other peasant revolutionary movements do not offer. In its defense, it does at least dedicate about 2 pages to its critics, though mostly by doing so accuses those critics of being broken in some way and avoids any claims which might raise uncomfortable questions. Those who are Shi'a might do well to raise those questions.
However, content wise, the Al-Kafi, and Shi'a Islam with it, sets new standards for what kind of bullshit you can purvey.
It is nauseatingly repetitive in its terrible advice. Advice to 'fear Allah' and only Allah. This advice keeps you from investigating the mechanisms upon which the universe and the human body, and its microbiome works -- after all if you stub your toe, it's just Allah punishing you for being insufficiently humble. There's no need to design better shoes to keep you from stubbing your toe -- that would be infringing upon Allah's right to punish you. It encourages and condones slavery, blames adulterers for earthquakes, famines, and economic shortages, impiety for poverty, and teaches you that your life in fact the whole of the universe has no value except through their lens ("This world is worth less to Allah azwj than this goat is upon its owners"). It harkens from the day when we believed in angels, not experiment as a means for guiding us towards truth.
It is very much the written records from within a perceived celestial dictatorship, where the great cosmic dictator Allah is willing to punish infractions, at his whim, for generations after the fact -- collective punishment on descendents of descendents of descendents of people who never had anything to do with the original crime, if one was committed. It is also contradictory, which makes sense for a book this long with diverse authors (right after listing all the major, unforgivable sins, it says that the only one that allah does not forgive is stealing from orphans and spilling blood), but which doesn't make sense if you consider it inspired in a truth-bearing way.
This book, and its moral lessons belong in the dustbin of history. There is nothing new or remarkable in it that other peasant revolutionary movements do not offer. In its defense, it does at least dedicate about 2 pages to its critics, though mostly by doing so accuses those critics of being broken in some way and avoids any claims which might raise uncomfortable questions. Those who are Shi'a might do well to raise those questions.
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