Thawāb al-Aʿmāl wa ʿiqāb al-Aʿmāl
Two complementary works of Shaykh al-Ṣadūq (d. 381/991), written to be read together and usually printed as one: the rewards promised for particular acts, and the punishments warned of for particular sins. The pairing is the design — the same ground covered from both directions, so a subject can be met as encouragement and as warning. Entries are short and concrete, which is why they are among the most quoted sources in sermons, and also why they draw criticism: several chains are weak, and al-Ṣadūq transmitted more readily in this genre than in law. A map of what the tradition treats as consequential, rather than a legal authority.
Parts
About this collection
Thawāb al-Aʿmāl wa ʿIqāb al-Aʿmāl
Two complementary works by al-Shaykh al-Ṣadūq (d. 381/991), written to be read together and printed as a single volume ever since: Thawāb al-Aʿmāl on the rewards promised for particular acts, and ʿIqāb al-Aʿmāl on the punishments warned of for particular sins. In this edition the pair runs to 1,106 narrations across 592 short chapters.
The pairing is the design. The same ground is covered from both directions, so a subject — a prayer, an act of charity, a lie, a severed tie of kinship — is met once as encouragement and once as warning. Chapters are brief, often a single report, and headed by the act itself rather than by a legal category, which makes the book a reference on conduct rather than on law.
Its reception follows from that. It is among the most quoted sources in preaching and devotional writing, and among the most criticised on chains: a number of its reports are weak, and al-Ṣadūq transmitted more freely in this genre than in his legal works. As a map of what the tradition treats as consequential it is invaluable; as a source of binding rulings it is not what it was written to be.