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In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Beneficent

INTRODUCTION

If God is introduced to thy soul constantly gaze at Ali

By God I knew Him only through Ali.

It is difficult to talk of Ali-bin-Abi Talib, the legendary hero of Islamic and human history and the ideal personified, in fact he is manifestation of the Truth. The magnanimous and multidimensional personality of Ali is too immense to be comprehensively assimilated by one individual. Ali as an individual is no more but as a school he perpetuates. The school of Ali is the school of wisdom and thought and also the school of movement and revolu­tion. It is the school of charm and beauty and of inspiration and activation. His personality, which is the fountainhead of his school, has two faculties and its impact on men is either attractive or repulsive, hence he attracts some of them to, and repels others from himself. The basic thought of this book is an analytical description of this phenomenon, and of the rule, which enjoins to discern the fact from fallacy.

It quotes Ali, saying that Ali has held the Truth itself to be the criterion of truth and not the individuals, the personalities, the authorities or the gray-hair. We should be aware of the fact and the fallacy and not of the persons and personalities. And this is the spirit of the Shiite faith, an enlivening ideology adherence to which lends life. Humanity must seek solace from it as human perfection and perpetual bliss lies in it. Solemnity, sincerity, justice and wisdom adhere to and co-exist with it. The under­signed, in this view of the matter and for his anxious commitment with these views, for popularising the basic ideas of the Islamic Culture, for maintaining profound solidarity between two contiguous and co-believer countries Iran and Pakistan and for the benefit of all concerned, decided to get this analytical and peculiar thesis translated into English.

The translation has been carried out by my friend Ayyoob Bukhari, a scholarly personality and well-known advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He accomplished the task from no motive other than his own anxiety, sincerity and a sense of cultural attachment with the thesis. The translation itself is the evidence of its grace, correctness and the pains taken by Ayyoob Bukhari.

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This book is the collection of four lectures delivered in Hussainia Irshad during the four days of 18th to 21st Ramzan 1364 . Hussania Irshad is one of the main Islamic centers in Tehran. In the days prior to accomp­lishment of revolution it used to be the meeting center of the intelligentsia and the revolutionary minds. They would assemble there to listen to the great philosophers like Dr. Ali Shariati, and others including the author of this book. I have had the privilege of being among most of such gatherings and of having benefited from those discourses. The combatant revolu­tionary youth of Iran by attending such assemblies learnt to rely on the dauntless Oracle of Ali, his encouraging behest and revolutionary phraseology in Nehjul Balagha whence they were inspired and activated to overthrow the cursed Pehlvi Regime. They frustrated the lethargic and ill-based logic of the tyrannical supporters of the regime of evil with the powerful logic of Ali.

The main theme of the book, that is, attraction and repulsion of Ali and other subjects like Ali's concept of a Government, the uprising and insurgency of the Kharijites, and the necessity of combat against hypocrisy have been deAli with in a very scholarly, philosophic, authentic and sagacious manner. From the viewpoint of arrangement, editing, chapterisation, the manner in which the themes have been explored and deAli with and the selection of topics, the book gives a happy look and lends novelty to the subject.

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Its author is the late Murtaza Mutahhari who devoted his life to the sacred cause of Islam. He was with little match a high-ranking Islamist well versed in various branches of Islamic knowledge and the Holy Quran. He was a philosopher and a writer, aware of Schools of East and West and a research scholar of fortitude. He was an active and pious personality. With this all he was a logician. He has left behind immense and analytical writings. His works as a whole pursue the course advocated by his school. He was a contemporary pious and combatant thinker. His pen, his pace and his eloquence remained always busy in promoting the cause of revolution and in participating in the teamwork of compatriots. On 12 Behman Mah 1298 H.S. i.e. in Jamadi-ul-Awal of 1338 H.Q he was born in a noble radical cleric's family of village Fareeman near the holy city of Mashhad. He received primary instructions from his father and before attaining majority he joined Hoza-i-Ilmiya-i-Mashhad, which was at that lime richly staffed with teachers of renown. After some time he joined Hoza-i-Ilmya-i-Qum. for studying literature, logic at medium and higher level and jurisprudence and fundamentals, thereafter he started basic and research studies from 1322. 1323.

Mutahhari grasped the lessons of his teachers like Ay-Haj Mirza AH Aqa-i-Sheerazi Asfahani. Ay-Syed Muhammad Taqi Khawn Sari, Ay-Syed Ahmad Khawnsari, Ay-Syed Muhammad Hojjat Koh Kamri,' Ay-Syed Muhammad Damad Ay-Syed Muhammad Raza Gul-pai-Gani and Ay-Haj Syed Sadr-ud-Din Sadr. He has very often and respectfully remembered his. great teachers like Ay-Haairi, Ayat Ulalh Uzma Broojardi Ay-Haaj Syed Muhammad Hussain Taba-Tabaai Tabraizi and Ayat Ullah Uzma Imam Khomeini. It is his peculiar charm that he always mentioned the names of his teachers with respect and gratitude.

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After the completion of his research and education he left for Tehran to join the University as a Lecturer. There he developed contacts with Islamic organisations of enlightened combatants. He through lectures and debates with the staff and the students of the University and through literature and platform started political and social activities. His political struggle, shoulder to shoulder with his like-minded clerics, formally started after Imam Khomeinf's revolt and the historic tragedy of 15 Khordad 1342 H.S. and after the materialisation of the revolution in the year 1357 he joined the Revolutionary Council as its permanent member.

He was martyred on 24 Jamadi-us-Sani 1399 H.Q equal to 11-Ardi-Bahisht 1358 in a terrorist attack. All the world over the Revolutionary and the Liberation organisations and personalities and his own people were deeply afflicted by his martyrdom.

Ustad Mutahhari has left many published and unpublished and even some unedited works. His unedited diary dates back to when he was 14 years old. It starts with his notes recording the preliminaries of Jurispru­dence Arabic etc. and ends in his mature and sagacious notes pertaining to the last few years of his graceful life. In short they cover numerous subjects in various social, cultural and political fields covering history, languages, nationalities, philosophy. Jurisprudence, Mysticism, morals etc. And his writings whether in form of brief essays or long theses, notebooks, detailed commentaries or short annotations on some books are also available. Their list is available in Journal 'Yadnama' (Memorial Magazine) Published (under the supervision of Dr. Abdul Karim Sarosh) in the memory of the Martyred Scholar in three decent volumes: Alphabetical Notes, Topical notes, and Diaries. He was a voluminous writer. His published books are more than two scores in number. These books cover Sociological, Histori­cal, Economic, Moral, Philosophic, Literary, Critical, Mystical, Spiritual, and Theological subjects. There are his published speeches discourses and lectures on all such topics, which agitate the modern mind:

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1. The principles of Philosophy and Behaviour of Realism, a commentary on Allama Muhammad Hussain Tabatabaai's Text. It is in 5 Volumes.

2. The stories about the Virtuous (Declared to be the Best Book of the year 1366 by UNESCO. Its first of the two volumes has been pub­lished in English as well. It consists of 125 stories of Islamic history).

3. Lyrical Discourses Twenty lectures broadcast by Radio Tehran from 1338 to 40.

4. The legal Rights of Women in Islam, comprising 32 articles.

5. Man and Destiny (Published in Arabic as well. Its Urdu Edition is under print).

6. Unseen Supports in Human life.

7. Contributions of Islam and Iran.

8. The Scandal of book Burning in Iran and Egypt, (its Urdu Edition has been published).

9. The Finality of Prophet-Hood.

10. The Issue of (Female) Seclusion.

11. The Unlettered Prophet.

12. Sexual Morality (Urdu Edition has been published).

13. Divine Justice.

14. Ali's Attractions and Repulsions (its English version is the present book).

15. Vilas and Vilayats.

16. The causes of Materialistic Tendencies (its Arabic translation has been published in Beirut).

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17. Rambles in Nehj-ul-Balagha (it has been translated in Arabic as well).

18. Logic and Philosophy (Towards Understanding Islamic sciences).

19. The Letter and the Spirit.

20. The Fundamentals of Jurisprudence.

21. The Revolution of Mehdi.

22. Ten Discourses.

23. Islamic Movements in the last century, (its English translation has been published).

24. Man and Faith (Translated and published in Urdu) (Preface to World view of Islam).

25. The world view.

26. Revolution and Prophet-The Preface to World view.

27. Man as in the Quran.

28. The Eternal Life or the Life Hereafter.

29. About Islamic Revolution.

30. The History and the Society (preface to World view of Islam).

31. Jihad and Justification of its objects in the Quran.

32. Understanding the Quran.

33. The First Hamad and the Second Baqara chapters of the Quran.

34. "Tasheh-wa-tahliq al-tehsil" by Bin Almarzban, the student of Bu Ali Sina. (The correction and annotation of al-tehsil with a preface).

The above is the chronological order of the publication of the books. The books like the following are in manuscript form and have not so far been published.

i) Irfan-i-Hafiz.

ii) Magalat-i-Philosophy.

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iii) Man's Social Perfection.

iv) Towards understanding the Quran.

v) Visage of Man in Marxism and Islam.

vi) Economy of Islam.

vii) Human Nature and its Beauties.

viii) Philosophy of History.

ix) Islam and the Challenges of Time.

x) The Issue of Slavery.

xi) The Biography of the Holy Prophet.

xii) The Perfect man.

xiii) Philosophic lectures on Marx and Marxism.

xiv) Lectures about Asfar.

xv) Lectures about Manzooma.

xvi) The Collection of Lectures on Understanding.

xvii) The Chivalry of Hussain.

Likewise numerous articles by him on different subjects have been published, in form of books, and pamphlets for students.

Besides this numerous cassettes containing his speeches in different centers on different topics are left in legacy. The number of those cassettes preserving his unpublished speeches and lectures exceeds 1068.

Qasim Safi

1 Sept. 1982

Translated by

S.M. Ayub Bukhari

4 Sept. 1982