Brief History of Fourteen Infallibles

Preface

The Book A Brief History of the Fourteen Infallibles has a concise history also. In brief, one of our brothers who is living in an English speaking country used to suffer from the isolation of his fellow Shi`ites and their poor knowledge of their history, their Imams, their school of thought and other related religious matters. This is due to the lack of information available in the English language and their own deficiencies in Arabic or other Islamic languages that could provide them with the necessary background and references.

This dear brother of ours was so dedicated to Islam and keen on finding a solution to help his Muslim brothers that he thought of compiling a concise book about the history of the Fourteen Infallibles, (i.e. the Prophet, his daughter az-Zahra' and the Twelve Imams, peace be on them). For his research he depended on three main works: the first, Shi'ite Islam by the late al-Allamah at-Tabataba'i, and, another booklet of Mr. Shakir and some works of Mr. Yousuf N. Lalljee. The author very ably found the necessary materials. He then made appropriate selections from them and classified these writings to meet the immediate need of those Shi'ahs who do not have access to these original sources.

He, may Allah protect him, gave us his work for critique. We found it interesting and relevant to aims that he and we are pursuing. We decided to publish the book after looking at his suggestions, and the sections of the book, adding some notes, deleting some sections, and reshaping and editing it to make it as perfect as possible.

Lastly, we pray to Allah to bless this work and those who shared in making contributions of all kinds by all means and methods: writing the original texts, selecting suitable sections, editing the work, and publishing the book.

We pray to Allah to guide our steps and to lead us in the right path, for He is the Best Master and the Best Helper.

World Organization for Islamic Services,
(Board of Writing, Translation and Publication)
1/10/1404
1/ 7/1984
Tehran - IRAN.