Kitab Al-Irshad

According to Fiqh E Jaferia. Size: 5.5 X 8.5', 616 Pages. The whole field of Islamic studies, and especially as it concerns the Twelve-lmam Shi'ism, has suffered until now from the paucity of reliable translations of primary sources in English. Analyses and descriptions have abounded while the arduous task of translating basic writings from Arabic, Persian and other Islamic languages has attracted relatively few scholars. It is therefore with particular joy that one is confronted in the pages that follow with a rendering into English of one of the most famous works of Shi'ism by one of the pillars of Shi'ite learning, the Shaykh al-Mufid. Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Harithl al-Baghdadi, known as al- Shaykh al-Mufid and also Ibn al-Mu'allim (the Son of the Teacher), who was born in 336/948 or 338/950 and who died in 413/1022, is one of the foremost figures of Shi'ite history. A student of the Ibn Babuyah al-Qummi, the great teacher of jurisprudence, the science of traditions (hadith) and theology in the 4th/1Oth century, Shaykh al- Mufid was in turn the teacher of such celebrated Shi'ite theologians as al-Shaykh al-Murtada. The author of some 170 treatises concerned almost completely with theology, jurisprudence, hadith and sacred history, Shaykh al-Mufid soon became one of the main figures of Shi'ism and his works came to occupy a privileged position in the traditional schools of Shi'ite learning. Over the centuries his writings have continued to enjoy great prominence in scholarly circles and also popularity as far as certain of his less abstruse treatises are concerned. To this day his writings remain, along with those of his teacher Ibn Babuyah, al-Kulayni and Shaykh Muhammad al- Tusi the core of the theological and juridical curricula of Shi'ite madrasahs.