6) History and the Biographies of the Holy
Prophet (s.a.w):

The part of Islamic history which pertains to the
essence of religion are the periods in which the leaders
and guides of Islam lived. Thus, the historical periods
an Islamic scholar must concentrate on are: the age of
ignorance which proceeds the rise of Islam, the life of
the Holy Prophet (s.a.w) in Mecca and Medina and after
that the period in which the Holy Imams (a.s) lived up
untill the end of the minor occultation. The political,
economic, moral and intellectual conditions of these
periods require minute research so the reasons for the
social, and individual behaviour of these leaders may be
discovered. As such, with a comparison of these findings
with the situations during the age of the leader and his
reactions to them, he will arrive at Islamic lines to
thought and actions under various conditions. It is
necessary to say here that the biographies of the Holy
Prophet (s.a.w) and the Imams (a.s) are an undiscovered
treasure for the inference of Islamic social and
individual plans, and shows their insight on vital
matters of international law, world and local politics
and social leadership. The vast spread a researcher must
inevitable refer to for perception into the matters of
this section consist of: General Islamic histories, 11
the Holy Prophets biography with its innumerable
sources, 12 the history of Islamic learning, 13
heresiography and the metamorphosis of religions and
thoughts in Islamic society, 14 the numerous widespread
traditions related to the lives of the Holy Imams
(a.s),15 the lives of the companions of the Prophet and
Imams and the history of the official caliphate with all
of its highs and lows. 16

This arrangement shows but a small picture of an
enormous vista and we believe and here repeat that only a
very few will ever reach the elated distinction of
Islamic expert in its comprehensive, vast sense. These
are the persons who have researched and gained expertise
in each of these subjects. Of course, there are numerous
experts on various Islamic learnings; law, jurisprudence,
speculative theology, history, the traditions and
exegisis etc. However, if these persons are not possessed
of all of the aforementioned learnings they are not
Islamic experts and may not and should not speak on the
whole of Islam.

The series of lectures of which you now have the
first volume in hand, were delivered by Allamah Sayyed
Morteza Askary in a class for a group of religious
scholars in a period of more than two years. The subject
for these lectures being a discussion of the principle
matters concerning veracious Islam which until this time
had not been studied or researched as such; 17 «An
Introduction to the Role of the Holy Imams (a.s) in the
Revival of Religion»

We all know that the principle subject of disagreement
propounded among the Shiite and Sunni schools of thought
18 is the subject of «Leadership and Rule». This point,
being of course one of the major points of difference,
has been under inquiry and consideration for many long
years. This is while Shiite scholars, based on their
sense of responsibility, have been very precise on the
many opinions and researches regarding this point 19

However, the great deal of attention (paid) to this
matter has sometimes kept persons from many other
fundamental matters, and slowly we have come to the point
where most of us think that this is the only difference
between these two schools of thought. As such, if someone
should create difficulty saying that this dispute
pertains only to the first centuries of Islamic history,
its time passed having nothing to do with our day and
age, and as such should be forgotten to strive towards
complete unity between the two schools, we are thus
disarmed and will remain without a reply. However, while
strictly restraining ourselves from unscientific and
hate-inspiring attacks and believing only in discussion
on the scientific and deductive level, and having seen
these as sufficient throughout our lifetime, we believe
that the differences between the two schools, are
fundamental differences in all of Islams aspects: from
the matters pertaining to God and His attributes and
continuing on the level of beliefs pertaining to the
Prophethood, Imamate and Resurrection. From this point
on, and based on the very beliefs mentioned above it
penetrates all aspects of practical and legal matters to
the point that the question becomes that of true
veracious Islam as opposed to an altered Islam. In the
event that the reader is successful, and is able to
carefully study all of these lectures, he will be able to
fundamentally recognize the two principal Islamic school
of thought Shiite and Sunni. He will also arrive at the
depth and hidden aspects of the occurances in the first
part of Islamic history. Here it must be reminded that
this sort of subject matter since it is related to many
sides and aspects of Islam and Shiite belief, brings up
for discussion and study many of Islams structural,
practical and ethical matters and as such is a sort of
Islamology in itself with all of its
importance and necessity in our time. In addition,
because it looks at Islam in an analogistic study it puts
forth a new aspect and dimension of Islam that has been
very seldom brought to light in the past.

Since Allamah Askarys 20 lectures contain all of the
characteristics of a lecture, were re-written after being
extracted from cassette-tape, and after the sources and
documentation were researched, being checked by the
speaker and once again re-written, it was ready for
publication. Repetitions that occured during the original
delivery of the lectures were to an extent eliminated,
but not always because of their frequent aid in the
better understanding of the subject-matter.

The only benefit for the writer of these lines was the
hope that as a result of-it even just one person would be
able to take one step closer to Islam in its pure form,
and/or the veil of ignorance and bigotry be torn away.
His hope is also that the Compassionate Lord by His
All-Encompassing Greatness keep all new generations from
spiritual and external errors, and look upon this
insignificant writing favourably.

1) One of the most important
orientalist writings on Islam, with all of the lies,
mistakes and fictions included in it is the
Encyclopedia of Islam and as far as we know
it has been published in English, French, German, Arabic,
Turkish, Persian and Urdu.

2) In fact most of the orientalists
were the enemies of Islam and hated it, such as
«Lamans» or like «Louis Masinionn were the servants of
Western Imperialism. «Refer to the books by Dr. Mohammad
Albahy: Al-Fikr-ul-Isla mi-al-hadees wa Sillatuhu
bil Istemaar al-Garbi, Dr. Omar Foroukh and Dr.
Mustafa Khaledy: Al-tabsheer wal Istemaar,
Anvar al-Jundy: Al-Islam fi wajhel tafreeb,
Professhor Khorshid Ahmad: Islam wa Garb,
Malek ibn Naby: Entaaj-ul-Mostashreqeen wa asarahu
fil fikr al-Islami-al-hadees

3) In the Islamic discussions of
Orientalists we may find numerous examples to prove this
point (such as The Encyclopedia of Islam by
A. B. Lamans and so forth.

4) This condition is that which is
present in our own traditions; when they deal with
interpretationit is insisted that the interpreter
completely refrain from interpreting the Quran the way he
believes it should be (refer to: Tafseer al-Ayashee
1/12-18 and Tafseer al-Safy 1/21)

5) The Holy Imams Traditions are taken
from the Holy Prophet (s.a.w) (refer to: Usul al-Kafi
vol. 1 p.58, tradition 21; vol. 1 p.62, tradition 10;
Basaer ad-darajaat chapter 14 and 15 part 6 p. 299-302)

6) In this course. it becomes necessary
to know the grammer, rhethoric, figures of speech and
history of this science.

7) Example of these types of reports
may be seen in Tafseer Tabary and Tafseer al-Durrul
Mansoor in events pertaining to the beginning of creation
and matters regarding Mabda (generatrix) and Maad
(resurrection). In future discussions we will run in to
similar traditions.

8) As a result of the hostile plots and
deeds of Manavian, «certain intellectuals of
the second century after the Hejrat» some of our
historical texts such as Tabary, Ibn Asir, Ibn Kasir and
Ibn Khaldoon have filled with lies meant to drive the
people away from Islam.(See the Book: One Hundred
and Fifty False Companions and Abdullah bin
Sabah vol. 1 & 2)

9) In the commentary
Al-Mizan close to five thousand traditions
are mentioned and researched.

10) The most superb and firmest store
of Shiite prayers with reference to documentation and
content is Sahifeh-e-Sajjadieh, which is the
commentator of the peak of Islamic thought on this
matter. Islamic scholars have written numerous epositions
on this book. We may name several other creditable
renowned books on this subject among them:
Al-Mesbah al-Motajed by Shaikh Tusi and
Al-Eqbal bes-Saleh al-Amal by Sayyed Ibn
Tawoos and Al-Balad al-Amin wal-darol Haseen
by Shaikh Kafami.

11) Like the history of Yaqubi, History
of Ibn Khayat and Ensab al-Ashraf Belladhari, Tabary, Ibn
Aseer, and Ibn Kaseer etc.

12) Such as: Ibn Hesham, and Ibn Sayed
Ainass, and Shaikh Mofids Al-Ershad.

13) Such as Oyun al-Anbia fi-tabaqat
al-atbiya and Akhbar ul-Hukama and Al-fehrest and Tabaqat
al-Mufsereen. Tadhkerat ul-Hefaz. Tabaqat al-Atbia and
Al-Hukama etc.

14) Al-Melal wan-nahl
Shahrestani, Wal fasl-fil-Melal,
Al-Ahwa-e-wan-nahl, Al-Maniyato
wal-Melal men ketab al-Melal-e-wan-nahl, and
Maqalat-ul-Islamiyyeen wal-farqo bain-al-feraq

15) You may find a nearly complete
series of these types of traditions in Majlisis
Behar-ul-Anwar

16) Such as Suyutis History of
the Caliphs [English translation by: Major H. S.
Jarrett] and Al-Fakhri fil-Adab
al-Sultaniyeh, Ad-dowalol Islamiyeh
wama-aserol enafeh, and Morooj az-zahab and
their like

17) During the Holy Imams lifetime and
their immediate students lifetimes these types of
discussion had numerous examples and parallels but
gradually were forgotten after the time of the major
occultation.

18) Or by a more accurate, correct
interpretation, Islam of Ahlul Bait of Prophet (s.a.w)
and Islam of the Caliphs.

19) Three prominent examples of these
researches are: Allamah Hillis Al-Alfain,
Mir Hamed Husseins, Abaqat ul-Anwar, and
Allamah Aminis Al-Ghadeer.

20) He in addition to possessing the
lofty distinction of a virtuous religious scholar and
unparalleled research and accuracy in assessments of
history and traditions was the founder of Baghdads
College of Religious Jurisprudence, and was a former
professor of this high ranking establishment for
knowledge.

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE COMPASSIONATE, THE ALL MERCIFUL