When I was starting my journey of learning the science of hadith and narrators, I found the following guide from the contemporary rijāli scholar, Sh Mohammad Baqir Malekian very useful. Below is the translation of the guide with my footnotes at the end:
- Initial Familiarization
Over the course of a week to ten days, read 300–400 hadiths — only their chains of transmission (isnāds), not the texts.[1]
Use Wasa’il al-Shi‘a as your source. [2]
Make a list of all the narrators that appear in these hadiths, and memorize about 30–40 of the most frequently recurring names. - Basic Evaluations
Briefly study these 30–40 narrators from a rijāl perspective — just enough to know, for example, “Muhammad b. Muslim is trustworthy,” or “Ibn Sinān is disputed.”
Each narrator should have a one-word or one-phrase level of information associated with them. [3] - Foundational Principles
Alongside step two, learn a summary of the main principles of rijāl.
A suggested text is Kulliyāt by Āyatullāh Subhānī. [4]
Read it selectively, just enough to know, for instance, that some scholars consider the teachers of Ibn Abī ‘Umayr trustworthy, while others do not.
You don’t need to study the proofs of each opinion at this stage. - Re-examination and Application
Return to the same 300–400 hadiths from the first step.
As you encounter the recurring narrators, review your notes on them.
For the rest of the narrators, try to gain a general understanding using al-Mawsū‘ah al-Rijāliyya al-Muyassarah by Shaykh Turābī. [5]
At this point, apply the rijāl principles you learned.
For example: even if a narrator is not explicitly endorsed, since Ibn Abī ‘Umayr narrates from him, according to some scholars he is considered trustworthy. - Detailed Study of Narrators
Now study each narrator in detail.
The book Qabasāt contains a section devoted to key and controversial narrators — use it as a model.
For each narrator:
Start with primary sources.
Then consult Qabasāt to see how those details are analyzed.
The book Qāmūs al-Rijāl is also excellent for this purpose.
You should practice until you can analyze narrators in the same style as Qabasāt and Qāmūs al-Rijāl, without having to refer back to them.
At this level, you should also study theoretical foundations of rijāl in depth and with independent reasoning.
Use Kulliyāt by Subhānī as your framework, but supplement it with Qabasāt and the Introduction to Qāmūs al-Rijāl.
- Mastery of Isnād Analysis
Once you reach an ijtihād-level understanding of individual narrators and principles, move on to deep familiarity with isnāds (chains) themselves.
You should be able to detect textual errors or copyist distortions in chains.
Use Asānīd Mushkilah by Sayyid Jawād Shubayrī as a model to master the recognition of transcriptional errors and irregularities. - Advanced Correction of Corrupted Chains
Finally, note that many Sunni-origin chains found within Shī‘ī hadith collections suffer from structural flaws.
To learn how to correct and evaluate such isnāds, carefully study Taṣḥīḥ Turāthinā al-Rijālī.
After passing through these seven stages, you must continue to study, review, and revisit sources constantly — gradually raising your level until you reach ijtihād (scholarly independence) in the science of rijāl.[6]
Footnotes:
- I read the texts as well, although this slowed down the process, but I couldn’t spend time flicking pages of a hadith book and not at least skim the content. Though for the sake of establishing familiarity immediate with chains, his suggestion makes more sense.
- I used Usul al-Kafi mainly. Wasail makes more sense because of Fiqhi reports plus reports from all main 4 books, but chains of narration for Usul Kafi were more important to me.
- I ended up making a Google Doc of the top 100 narrators (highest frequency in chains) with a small description of their veracity and generation, but I have been too lazy to finalise and publish it.
- I recommend starting with Sh al-Irawani’s Durus Tamhidiyah, its more concise and achieves this goal faster and better. You can read Sh Subhani’s after this. Nowadays, there is al-Istinād of Sayyid Shubayri, which is more than just Rijāl, so I wouldn’t want that to be my first introduction.
- I love this book. Its one volume, A3 size, with a concise description of all narrators. You can find it online.
- I have not completed these advanced stages yet.
