Preface
Shi’ism is the original Islam that the Prophet brought people through divine revelation. Islam and Shi’ism are the two sides of the same coin. Shi’ism is nothing more than the teachings preserved and transmitted by the Prophet’s Household. A cursory glance at Islamic history will reveal that Shi’ism originated in the time of the Prophet when he said certain things about Imam ʿAlī. The Prophet declared ʿAlī as his successor on an occasion that came to called Yawm al-Dār at the beginning of his prophethood. During the expedition to Tābūk, the Prophet revealed that ʿAlī had received all of the Prophetic capacities except for receiving revelation and prophethood. He told him: ‘Are you not pleased to be as to me as Aaron was to Moses?’ The Prophet commended ʿAlī’s knowledge and judgment and announced him as his best possible successor on the Day of the Ghadīr. All of these led a number of people follow ʿAlī after the Prophet’s death.
You will find a detailed treatment of all these debates in this book, which is taken from Ayatollah Jaʿfar Sobhani’s Arabic Buḥūth fī al-Milal wa al-Niḥal (Studies in Sects and Religions). The present book is the sixth in a set of books (all taken from Buḥuth) published under the general title of Encyclopedia of Islamic Sects and Beliefs. I hope to translate another two volumes to complete the Encyclopedia.
I hope God will guide us to His right path and make us firm and strong in it, so that our mind and pen will work at His service.
