The Role of Women towards the System of Wilayat

Translator's Notes

In the name of Allah (s.w.t), the Lord of those who struggle in His way.

The book you are about to read now is an English translation of an Urdu Seminar "Nizam e Wilayat" delivered by a very senior scholarly personality Hujjatul Islam Sayed Jawad Naqvi from Qom, Iran. This seminar was delivered to a group of women in a city in Pakistan, hence the focus of the book in certain areas is very specific to women; also some issues though are specific to Pakistan but also are applicable in a generic form globally.

Hujjatul Islam Sayed Jawad Naqvi is well known in the Urdu speaking Shia School for his inspiring, awakening, deep visionary thought provoking speeches. His objective is to educate the people on the lines of Pure Islam e Mohammedi (S), thereby saving the society from the evils of cultural invasions and conspiracies of enemies of Islam. Sayed Jawad Naqvi's approach is to touch on those fundamental subjects of Islam which form the basis of thoughts of a human being and have also been a victim of misinterpretations, distortions and cultural adulteration. Reformation of these fundamentals becomes the foundation for reforming the actions on the right path leading towards a righteous social movement.

This book in your hand is an example of this approach, where the scholar introduces the need for an Islamic system in a society in the light of intelligence, Holy Quran and the Seerah of Ahlulbavt (as). As a consequence and outcome of this seminar, there was an awakening, resulting into a ladies rally organized by the women for the first time in the city where this seminar was delivered, thereby resulting into an impulsive initiation of a social movement.

In today's situation specifically in our Shia school of thought, there is a big segment which has kept themselves away from the current affairs and political situation of the Muslim Ummah. They consider Islam to be a religion that is confined inside the four walls of a house or a mosque, a religion of individual form of ritual worships with the only form of social involvement being charity and welfare activities. These non-socio-political believers of Islam have given the enemies of Islam grounds to invade our core beliefs and thereby remove the real soul of Islam, which in reality is a big threat to imperialistic powers. This book makes us realize this mistake that we are doing by adopting this approach and our careless attitude, submitting and accepting to live our lives in a non-Islamic system. The consequences and effects of living our lives in a non-Islamic system are very beautifully, elegantly and in a convincing manner presented by the Scholar in this book.

I am not a translator or a literature expert, hence translating this book that too from a lecture was a big challenge for me. I have been listening to the lectures of Sayed Jawad Naqvi since several years, and I always thought that this matter and approach should reach as many people possible and to be specific in English. I decided to take this mission on my own and started to do this work. Hence, I apologize in advance for the grammatical and literal mistakes which would be present in this book. I have tried my best in selecting the right equivalent English words for Urdu words, which is really challenging when the scholar has such a marvelous control over the Urdu language and English by itself lacks the lucidity in presenting certain Urdu words. I have tried my best and I am confident that at no place the meaning and message of any phrase or sentence is lost, though I have rephrased several sentences from lecture mode to reading mode.

I have also tried to maintain consistency in certain specific Urdu to English terminologies. I have also made headings for different sections so as to develop interest and split reading for the readers.

At the end, I am thankful to Allah (s.w.t.) for granting me this Tawfeeq (opportunity) to be of some use. I pray to the Almighty (s.w.t.) to accept this work, and as a reward gift me with more such opportunities to serve the true Islam.

Wassalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatahu.