the Four Books

{{Short description|Four canonical hadith collections of Shia Islam}}

{{Distinguish|text=the Four Books of Chinese Confucianism}}

{{Twelvers |Hadith collections}}

{{Hadith|Shi'ah}}

The Four Books ({{langx|ar|ٱلْكُتُب ٱلْأَرْبَعَة|translit=al-Kutub al-ʾArbaʿa}}) are the four canonical hadith collections of Shia Islam. The term is used mostly by Twelver Shias.

| Man La Yahduruhu al-Faqih

| Tahdhib al-Ahkam

| Al-Istibsar

| Total ahādith

class="sortable wikitable" !Name !Collector !No. of hadith
Kitab al-Kafi {{efn|Divided into Usul al-Kafi, Furu al-Kafi and Rawdat al-Kafi.}}	Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni al-Razi {{smaller|(329 AH)}}	align="right"| 16,199
Muhammad ibn Babawayh	align="right"|9,044
Shaykh Muhammad Tusi	align="right"|13,590
Shaykh Muhammad Tusi	align="right"|5,511
align="right"|44,344

Shi'a Muslims use different books of hadith from those used by Sunni Muslims,{{efn|However, for example Zaidi Shi'a also accept and hold Sunni Hadith collections in high esteem.Karimov, N.R., 2019. SOME BRIEF INFORMATION ON AL-SIHAH AL-SITTA. Theoretical & Applied Science, (5), pp.611-620.}} who prize the six major hadith collections. In particular, Twelver Shi'a consider many Sunni transmitters of hadith to be unreliable because many of them took the side of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali instead of only Ali (and the rest of Muhammad's family) and the majority of them were narrated through certain personalities that waged war against Ahlul Bayt or sided with their enemies such as Aisha that fought Ali at Jamal, or Muawiya who did so at Siffin. Hussain (grandson of Muhammad and son of Ali ibn Abi Talib) was martyred at the Battle of Karbala.Momen, Moojan, Introduction to Shi'i Islam, Yale University Press, 1985, p.28-31 Shia trust traditions transmitted through the Imams, Muhammad's descendants through Fatima Zahra.Seyyed Hossein Nasr, A young Muslim's guide to the modern world, KAZI Publications, Inc Chicago, IL, 2003, p. 19

The content of most of the Hadiths in “Four Books” is nearly the same as that in “Six Books”, the Sunni Hadith collections. Only differing in the chain of transmission in many cases.