Abstract:

Islamic heresiography has a rich accumulation. As a matter of fact, we have seen that many studies have been written about sects for hundreds of years. Many of these studies have been edited and published, and many of them are waiting for their turn to be researched. The subject of our study is probably named by scribe as “Sharhi qavli alayh as-salam: Sataftariqu Ummatī alā Salāsa wa Sab‘īna Firqa wa ta‘dīdiha bi asmāihā” attributed to Abū al-Qāsim Abd al-Wāhid b. Ahmad al-Kirmānī, probably written in the 4th-5th/10th-11th. centuries. It is understood from the content of the risalah that the author seems belong to the Ashâb al-Hadīth line. In our study, we aimed to make evaluations by examining this epistle, which was attributed to al-Kirmānī and prepared on the axis of the "73 sects" hadith. For this reason, we first discussed the place of the epistle in the history of Islamic Sects. Afterwards, we gave information about the general characteristics of the epistle. Afterwards, we discussed the classification system of the epistle and made comparative evaluations with the works of the previous and subsequent periods. In addition to this, we have mentioned the method and content of the epistle in detail and added its Turkish translation and manuscript versions at the end of the text.

Keywords: