Non-Physical Causes of the Loss of Imami Sources of History until the Thirteenth Century

Several major Imami sources of history, dating back to the early Islamic centuries, are not available to us. This article is concerned with the main non-physical causes of the loss of these sources, such as formation of hadith communities, negligence of historical works, and excessive focus on theology and jurisprudence. The research is done with the descriptive-analytical method based on library sources, book catalogues, bibliographies, and the views of scholars. The hypothesis put forward in this article is that change of attitude on the part of Imami scholars led to the enrichment of some fields of study and impoverishment of others. The findings confirm this hypothesis for the main non-physical cause of the loss of historical sources, as opposed to certain alleged physical causes. Since citation is a significant criterion for accreditation of research data, then if these missing sources were available to us, the findings of historians could be more accurate and cogent and there would be no ground for reliance on famous historical accounts.

Keywords:

Historical Sources , Shiism , Missing Sources , physical causes , non-physical causes