DEDICATION

To those who took me in the warmth of the hug, and nourished me from the nectar of their goodness, and put upon me their hope in their future.

To my mother and my father, I dedicate the reward of my first born work aspiring that it will be a treasure, which serves them in the hereafter whereat neither progeny nor wealth might help.

Prelude

One of the accurate notices held by jurisprudents in the chapter of Ijtihad and Takleed is the prevention of imitation as for the origins of dogmas, upon the adults.

The origins of dogmas are the fundamentals and the basic foundations for man’s thought and behavior; imitation in the field of dogmas is a quite detestable imitation that does not rely on consciousness, and it is the unconscious imitation to which Allah the Exalted reproachfully refers in His Book.

Thus, the adult-on all levels- has to constitute for himself a satisfaction that relies on consciousness and hard work as for the origins of dogmas one by one.

If ever the adult reaches to such a satisfaction, he is permitted to imitate the specialists in the matters “of jurisprudence”

As much as this satisfaction is solid and honest, man’s character will also be solid and honest, and vice versa, for man’s character will be shaky and weak as much as his satisfactions in the origins are weak, and not depending on solid, certain bases.

I do not mean by “certainty” and “scientific satisfaction” the sophisticated scientific formulas, which regulate the thoughts that relate to the origins of the dogma, rather I mean by that conviction and clearness merely and certainty as such provide the believer with mental stability that enables him to confront the trends of thoughts that vary and intercross with each other, fortify him against mental and penetrations.

The young generation today is facing a cultural invasion and mental and cultural penetrations that are administrated by the press, mass media and the educational establishments in the Islamic world in a wide, systematic way, employing great international assets.

The best way to confront both cultural invasion and penetration is to pay more attention to the dogmatic education on all levels of the youth and the young in a scientific, solid and compact way that should be as well easy, handy and far from complication and twist.

The mental effort- now at hand- of the reverend shaikh Sadique Al-S’ady (may Allah preserve him) who is among the elite of the e’migre’ Iraqi (Hawza)[1] is one of the successful attempts in this field.

The author (may Allah preserve him) communicates the origins of the Islamic dogmas in an easy language to the young who are not specialists, preserving- at the same time- the scientific aspect of those researches as much as he can, avoiding to wade through details that do not serve the youth and the young at this scholastic stage.

The author tries-as much as he can- to avoid the philosophical approach in studying the Islamic belief so that this book might help to educate the non-specialist youth in the dogmatic education on all levels. All this is done through a style of question and answer which evokes the student to follow the chapters of the book inducing him to get into the details of the research so simply; that it forms a new experience in the field of dogmatic books and studies. 

I pray to Allah the Exalted that our youth will get the best of it, praying to Him, at the same time to assist the reverend shaikh Al-S’ady- May Allah preserve him-exert much more scientific educational effort; He hears, He answers.

{Introduction of the author}

I have been thinking for along time to write an easy ideological program, which may assist those who seek it, employing for this purpose easy language and clear style.   

By the grace of Allah I attained my ambition by writing the book which you are reading at the time being under the title, “The Origins of Religion, Questions and Answers”, that could only be done by the mercy of Allah, when I found wonderful chances through teaching this material to declare its ambiguities to others, to answer their questions and to remove their suspicions.

What I have written in this respect is not a new invention or a special theory in the theology; it is rather an effort produced by the brains of so many specialists, and I had the Honor of putting down their opinions and ideas in new lingual forms plus a new style.

I look forward to my brothers and reverend professors anticipating their precious notes so that they may participate in supporting this project by whatever is useful and fruitful.

Sadique Al-S’ady

 Translator’s Introduction

Translating dogmatic and theological studies demands an exceptional effort from the translator.

He will wade through a dangerous arena that has always witnessed sectarian and ideological conflicts bringing about a lot of misunderstanding and antagony among the parties concerned.

This risk takes more difficult forms when a translator ventures to tackle Islamic dogmas and beliefs or theology, for the lingual nature of Arabic language which is in the core of Islam and Islamic studies. To understand Islam, you have to read and comprehend the Holy Qur’an, and to read this Holy Book and apprehend its meaning you have to “master thoroughly” the Arabic language, which is a task that is enormously difficult even for the Arabs; I should rather say; a complete mastery of Arabic language is an impossible challenge for every person.

I say this with enough confidence- that may annoy some fanatics who are quite obsessed about teaching this language to others- for myself is an Arab, and Arabic is my mother tongue, in addition to the fact that I am “almost” a specialist in this language. We describe Arabic as a (holy language” because it is the language of the “Holy Qur’an” by means of which Allah dictated His Book to His Messenger “Peace be on him and his descendants”.

This short note on Arabic language is very essential to me and to the reader, for I am going to accompany a western non-Muslim reader in a journey through the eastern Islamic dogmas.

Translating the book (The Origins of Religion; Questions and Answers) has been a great joy and a laborious challenge for me. A joy, because I am an Arab, a Moslem and a Shiite, and this book in an easy entrance and prelude that introduces the Islamic dogmatic to the western reader who is quite alien to them. And a laborious challenge for reasons I prefer not to mention in this respect!!

I ought to mention here that I have not translated the verses of the Holy Qur’an which the author has quoted in his text, refuging to an English translation of the Holy Qur’an which is done by Mr.M.H.Shakir.

I have no personal acquaintance with the translator, but as far as I can see, his mother tongue is not Arabic, so I disagree with him about some translations.

I find it necessary to inform the reader of some details that he may come across: my references would be short and informative as much as I can:

* The translator of the Holy Qur’an uses the word “Apostle” when he means the “Messenger of Allah”; which is one thing I quite disagree with him about; for the word “Apostle” means the pupil or follower of a Prophet rather than the Prophet himself; thus I prefer to use the word “Messenger of Allah”.

* The translator of the Qur’an uses the expression “People of the House” referring to the Progeny O Muhammad [P] that descended from his daughter Fatimah [P] and her husband Imam Ali [A].

His translation of this expression which is derived from a verse from the Qur’an is rather problematic; for it does not signify who are  “the people of the House”, being quite unknown to the western reader.

Yes, I think that the translator refuged to this expression to rid himself from indulgence in the elaborate interpretations of the Qur’anic verses that hold this expression by the various Islamic sects.

* The translator of the Qur’an uses the word “Allah” as the name of “God” or the “Lord”, avoiding using the English equivalents, I adopted the same style asserting that the word :Allah” has no accurate equivalent in English for lingual and linguistic reasons that concern the nature of this word in Arabic.

* Whenever the title “The Messenger of Allah” is used without bringing a name before it, it will mean Prophet Muhammad [P] exclusively.

* The word “Surah” is an Arabic word that means a certain collection of verses from the Holy Qur’an entitled with a certain name to distinguish it from others.

* The “Ka’abah” is the Holy shrine to which all Muslims turn their faces for prayer, and it is where to all Muslims pilgrimage. Several narrations relate various tales about the “Ka’abah”, but all of them agreed that Ibraheem and his son Ismael built it several centuries before Islam.

* The lexical meaning of the word prophecy connotates that it is an infinitive for the adjective “Prophet”- Yet in some cases I found it more suitable and meaningful to use the word “Prophethood” to derive the infinitive.

* The words “Imam” and “Wali” signify almost the same meaning. Both words have no English equivalents, thus I used them as they are except by using Latin letters to write them.

* The “Imam” in the Shiite’s dogma is a leader among his people, and his “Imamhood” is given to him by the command of Allah.

* The only acceptable form of greeting in Islam is “peace be upon you” which is a message of peace to everybody everywhere.

* The reader will come across the following words so often, so we had better acquaint him with their meanings.

(Ibn), (Ben): Two words which mean the “son of”.

(Abu), (Abi): Two words which mean the “father of”.

(Bent), (Ibnet): Two words which mean the “daughter of”

* The Islamic history relies on the lunar calendar.

The Lunar year is 354 days which represents 12 rounds of       the moon around the earth. The Arab-Muslims and all Muslims “in their religious rituals” recognize the beginning of the Lunar month by seeing the crescent on its first night.

The names of these months are:

Muharram, Saffar, Rabia’a Al-Awal, Rabia’a Al-Thani, Jamadi Al-Awal, Jamadi Al-Thani, Rajab, Shaa’aban, Ramadhan, Shawal, Thi Al-Qui’dah, Thi Al-Hijah.

After this informative introduction, I find it my duty to express my gratitude and thank to those who assisted me, may Allah bless them and grant them the better hereafter, and Praise and thank be to Allah the Exalted Gracious be He.

M.A.Al-Malaika

11^th of Ramadhan 1418 Hijrah

10^th of January 19998 A.D.