Thread by @KaraSeyfeddin

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THREAD- THE SCROLL OF ʿALĪ IBN ABĪ ṬĀLIB: THE STUDY RESULTS
I have now completed my study of the Muslim narratives (derived exclusively from Sunni sources) regarding the Scroll of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib. Across thirty-five hadiths forming five distinct clusters, they convey that ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib inherited two things from the Prophet: the Qur’an and a scroll containing the Prophet’s knowledge. On one occasion, shortly after the Battle of the Camel, ʿAlī delivered a sermon to dissuade his followers from plundering or enslaving the defeated army of ʿĀʾisha (as I have discussed in earlier posts).

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In that sermon, he stressed that killing fellow Muslims is impermissible, particularly when they have already been granted protection in a conflict. Subsequently, various individuals approached ʿAlī with further inquiries about this knowledge, and on each occasion, he recited different passages from his Scroll, suggesting it had a comprehensive archetype.

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Importantly ʿAlī is said to have carried this scroll, likely in the form of sheets, attached to his sword Dhū al-Faqār, which he likewise inherited from the Prophet. Some sources conflate this scroll with a parchment that the Prophet is said to have affixed to the sword before gifting it to ʿAlī, but that parchment, according to al-Shāfiʿī’s Musnad, was rather an instructional text on the sword’s proper use and not the same as ʿAlī’s scroll:

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“Al-Shafi’i informed us... “Found on the hilt of the sword of the Messenger of Allah was a written message: “Indeed, the worst enemy of Allah, the Exalted, is the one who kills someone who did not kill him (retribution), the one who strikes someone who did not strike him, and the one who gives allegiance to someone other than his rightful allies (who betray their allies). Such a person has disbelieved in what Allah, the Exalted, has revealed to Muhammad.” (Imam Shafi’s Musnad)

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It is striking that in this golden chain (narrated through the family of the Prophet), al-Shāfiʿī recorded the ethics of war, and if these ethics were applied in today's conflicts, many Muslims who have deliberately killed unarmed civilians would be considered among the worst enemies of God and classified as disbelievers.

It is also important to note that there is a striking resemblance between the Scroll and the articles of the so-called "Constitution of Medina" (CM).

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This similarity may suggest that the Scroll to which ʿAlī referred was the CM. However, some narrative clusters contain information absent from the CM, raising the possibility that ʿAlī’s scroll included the CM among other teachings. He probably recorded and preserved these teachings himself, as part of his practice of retaining whatever he learned directly from the Prophet. I have reconstructed the segments of the Scroll and attached them here.

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Shiʿi sources provide more detailed information about the contents of the Scroll, describing it as consisting of twenty-four chapters, mostly addressing legal matters. The study by M. S. Bahmanpour, "The Book of Imam ʿAlī" , offers an excellent analysis of the relevant narratives and their content.

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Employing the isnād-cum-matn analysis, my research dates the Scroll back to ʿAlī himself. Thus, ʿAlī may have compiled the earliest known legal text in Islamic history, preserving within it the Prophet's original legal teachings. Crucially, the Constitution of Medina seems to have been preserved in this Scroll, as ʿAlī used its stipulations to resolve disputes during the Battle of the Camel. Therefore, this scroll holds great significance for the study of early Islamic history and the formation of Shiʿi identity, as it demonstrates that, from an early period, Shiʿis believed ʿAlī possessed special knowledge inherited directly from the Prophet.
I will now send this draft to colleagues for review and feedback, and thus my findings at this stage are provisional. I plan to share the full paper following the conference in July 2025. Please do let me know about your thoughts!