Sulaym ibn Qays
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Sulaym Ibn Qays (Arabic: سليم بن قيس‎) was one of the purported Companions of Ali but he "is widely considered an anti-Umayyad polemical invention" by Sunni scholarship. He has a well-known book known as The book of Sulaym ibn Qays. As Ibn al-Nadim says and later investigation shows his book is "the oldest surviving Shi`ite book" which is written in the first Islamic century. ^[1][2]

Biography

Sulaym is said to have been born near the place where Kufa was built later. He came to Medinah when Umar was caliph and couldn't see Muhammad. He became a partisan of Ali, together with Abu Dharr and Salman the Persian. Sulaym have written down what he learned and experienced with Ali, and his writing eventually became The book of Sulaym ibn Qays.^[2]

After Ali died, during Muawiyah era, Sulaym remained in Kufa. He gathered some information such as Muawiyah sermon in the mosque of Kufa. ^[2][3]

When Hajjaj ibn Yusuf became the governor of Kufa, he fled to Persia with his writings in 694. He stayed in Nobandegan. There he found a fifteen years old boy, Aban ibn abi-Ayyash. He became rather fond of him abd started to educate him and Aban eventually also became a Shi'a. Eventually, Sulaym entrusted all of his writings to Aban, after Aban had made a solemn oath not to talk of any of the writings during Sulaym’s lifetime and that after his death he would give the book only to trustworthy Shi'a of Ali.^[2]

He died in 70 AH(689).^[4] or 76 AH(695)^[2]

Footnotes

1. ^ Imamology
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} (preface of The book of Sulaym)
3. ^ Sulh al-Hasan
4. ^ Sulh al-Hasan

References

• Preface of The book of Sulaym by Ismael Ansari Zanjani (in Persian)

External links

• The book of Sulaym ibn Qays
• Sources of Nahj al Balaghah