خلاصة:
The Encyclopaedia of Islam (Leiden) can be regarded as one of the most significant examples of transformation and specialization in Western Islamic studies, holding a prominent position among Western reference works related to Islam. Among its notable entries is the article “Imam Husain” authored by Laura Veccia Vaglieri. A part of this entry, titled “Legends”, recounts narratives that reflect particular aspects of the spiritual life of Imam Husain. A critical examination of this section is necessary because the portrayal of such narratives under the label of "legends" not only risks fostering a distorted perception of the ideological foundations of Shi‘ism in academic circles but may also contribute to the reduction of the spiritual and religious stature of Shi‘i leaders in the eyes of readers. This study, employing a descriptive-analytical method, seeks to answer the question: To what extent does the content of the “Legends” section in the aforementioned article possess academic credibility and lend itself to scholarly critique and evaluation? The findings suggest that much of the material in this section is based on weak or sparsely cited sources—an issue partly rooted in the repeated and at times uncritical transmission of unreliable reports found in certain Shi‘i texts.
ملخص الجهاز:
The only work that has somewhat addressed this is the critical article by Dr. John Ahmadi in the collection "The Image of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and Lady Zahra (SA) in the Encyclopaedia of Islam," where coincidentally a small percentage of this researcher's content relates to the actual flow of the legends concerning Lady Zahra (SA), because the author did not truly consider himself obligated to enter into such discussions and, in the process of evaluating these reports, cited similar cases in pre-Islamic history to prove them.
This Italian author has numerous publications on various subjects, of which a few of her historical works are mentioned as examples: The History of Civilization in the Orient published in Rome, The Book of Islam published in Naples, The Book of Islam from the era of the Prophet (s) to the sixteenth century AD published in Milan, The Book of the Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphs published in London, the article "The Battle of Ali (as) and Muawiyah and the Emergence of the Kharijites" in the Yearbook of the Naples Institute, the article "Imam Yahya and Yemen" in the journal New Orient, "Kharijites in the Abbasid Era" in the journal Oriental Investigations, the article "Observations on Nahj al-Balagha" in the International Congress of Oriental Studies, and more than 35 articles in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, including the entry on the first three Imams of the Shiites, are considered among the important works of this European Islamologist (for detailed information on Vaglieri's works, see: Al-Aqiqi, 1964, p.
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