False charges and deception were the outcome as those who...

False charges and deception were the outcome as those who flattered the rulers spread far and wide. Due to his extensive knowledge of these narrators and liars and his familiarity with the names of fabricated personalities, our master whose biography we are discussing regarded it as his obligation, one mandated on him by the Imams, peace be upon them, to dedicate his efforts and energy to research and study what these Imams had taught, the knowledge which is now with us, and to clarify the reasons behind the confusion about and the historical context of those events.

He did all of this by applying the principles of comparison and deduction in order to deduce complex injunctions. But he came to conclude that authorship should be restricted to explaining the biographies of these Imams and the details of the circumstances wherein they lived. Are we not being unfair to them, being able to write, having the knowledge, scholarship, and the tools of research at our disposal?

Should we be too lazy to do so or feel reluctant to unveil the facts behind whatever dubiosity was cast on what actually befell them? The Umayyads, the Zubayris, and the ‘Abbasides waged unrelenting wars against them in order to obscure their light and obliterate their legacy, utilizing those who followed and supported them. Is it not, then, obligatory on us to direct our energy to continue what they had started?

In other words, should we not write books lauding them, so that we may thus support and assist their struggle, and so that we may show the glowing facts obscured by frivolous lies? Did not our scholars delve enough into the questions of Fiqh, Usul , logic, and philosophy for many centuries, leaving nothing at all for anyone else to say or to discuss or to debate?! We have a moral obligation towards them. We should write about them and study their revivals and shed a light on their statements.

We must refute the charges levelled against them and the skepticism. He, may Allah have mercy on his soul, was of the view that an author should not exert his effort and exhaust himself in dealing with the branches of modern or ancient knowledge without allotting a portion of such effort or exertion to study their personalities and those of their offspring and followers who were hanged, jailed, or exiled to distant lands and who died while remaining firm in adhering to the lofty principles and to the true faith.