This text offers a wide-ranging overview of the principal tenets of Shi‘i Islam. It is useful not only as an introductory text on Shi’i thought and practice, but also as a contemporary expression, from within, of this vibrant branch of the Islamic faith. Comprehensive and concise, this work is principally theological and jurisprudential, dealing with such issues as the concept of knowledge, the nature of being and the problem of evil.
Translator’s Foreword
Author’s Preface
Chapter One: The Worldview of Islam
I Ways of Acquiring Knowledge in Islam
II Existence from the Islamic Viewpoint
III Man from the Perspective of Islam
Chapter Two: General Beliefs
I The Oneness of God (Tawhid)
II Divine Justice (‘Adl)
III Prophecy (Nubuwwa)
IV Imamate (Imama)
V The Hereafter (Ma‘ad)
Chapter Three: Faith, Disbelief and Other Issues
I Faith and Disbelief (Iman wa Kufr)
II Innovation (Bid‘a)
III Dissimulation (Taqiyya)
IV Resorting to Intermediaries (Tawassul)
V Change of Destiny (Bada’)
VI Traditions (Hadith)
VII Jurisprudential Reasoning (Ijtihad)
VIII Some Contested Legal Rulings
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
AyatollahFrom Arabic (āyat Ullāh), lit. Sign of God; a title used by the Imami Twelver Shi‘is. The rank of Ayatollah is believed to have been established in the Safawid period… Ja’far Sobhani is a senior member of the Council of Mujtahids of the Howza Seminary and Director of the Imam Sadiq Institute, both in Iran.