Black Thursday

Translator’s Foreword

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds and benedictions be upon Prophet Muhammad and his Purified Progeny.

The Important role that translation plays in propagation of religion is known to all. Since most Islamic texts are in Arabic or Persian, it is only through translating them into English can we make them popular among the literate Muslim youth of today. It was with this aim in mind that we established this bureau and praise be to Allah, we have completed twenty years serving the Shia Muslim world.

The present book was written by Dr. Muhammad Tijani as-Samawi, the famed author of Then I was Guided. Those who have read other books of this author will know that he has a special style of writing, which is well arranged and lucid at the same time.

The subject of this book, as usual is a point of controversy between the two largest sects of Islam. It concerns an incident at the end of the life of the Prophet, when he asked for writing materials to dictate a will, but the people present around him said that he was talking nonsense. According to Shia people, it was a very serious matter, whereas the majority of Muslims try to justify such things, as per their habit.

In this book, you will know who that person was, who had the audacity to cast such aspersion on the Messenger of Allah (S). It is really a matter of great astonishment that millions among the Muslim nation consider him to be a leader of Islam, eligible to be followed by others!

I leave it for the readers to find out for themselves who this person is and decide if they consider him worthy of any leadership.

I thank Agha Ansariyan of Ansariyan Publications, Qom, for undertaking to publish and print this important book. As we all know, today, Ansariyan Publication is the largest publisher of Shia Islamic books in English and other foreign languages and all credit goes to the director Agha Muhammad Taqi Ansariyan for undertaking this noble task.

May the Almighty Allah give him more divine opportunity and good sense (Taufeeq) and very long life to serve the faith as much as possible.

I thank the Almighty and His Proofs, especially the Last Proof and the Twelfth Imam on the eve of whose birthday the translation of this book was completed.

Wassalaam

Sayyid Maqsood Athar
Al-Qalam Translators & Writers Bureau
Email: sayedathar@hotmail.com
Dated: 14th Shaban 1430 A.H./7th August 2009