The (a.

The (a.s) World Assembly would like to express special gratitude to His Eminence Shaykh Ja`far al-Hadi, the author of this book, and thank all the people who have contributed to this project. Finally, we hope that we have fulfilled a part of our duty towards the Mission of our Great Lord Who “sent His Messenger with the guidance and the true religion that He may make it prevail over all the religions; and Allah is enough for a witness.

(48/28)” Cultural Affairs Department In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful The NEED for MUTUAL ACQUAINTANCE The Holy Qur'an reads, “(We have) made you tribes and families that you may know each other. 49/13” When Islam dawned, peoples were so disunited that they ignored each other. Furthermore, they were involved in conflicting and wrangling against each other.

With the spread of Islam among these peoples, ignorance of each other turned into mutual acquaintance, rivalry into cooperation, and dissociation into reciprocal relations.

This change is one of the blessings of the monotheistic precepts of Islam, which was the prime motive of the emergence of a great, united nation that introduced to the world a magnificent culture and protected its individuals from the evils of oppressors and tyrants and succeeded to win the world’s respect and become object of veneration in the eyes of all despots and arrogant rulers.

What happened is attributed to the unity and intimate relationship of this nation which discarded ethnic differences and differences in opinions, cultures, and customs or traditions. Reaching consensus on principles, fundaments, obligatory acts, and duties contributed to achieving the unity. Unquestionably, unity is power while separation is weakness. The new situation prevailed for a period of time.

Then, the unity and acquaintance turned into disunity so that people began to ignore one another, the understanding turned into enmity so that some groups began to accuse each other of atheism, and sects began to wage campaigns against some other sects. As a result, the nation lost its might, its strength petered out, and tyrants belittled this nation, which once enjoyed a pioneering and leading status.

This condition paved the way for foxes and wolves to move freely across the lands of this nation; and the strangers who are accursed by Almighty Allah and rejected by humanity gained control over its various parts.