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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Abu Talib, the Faithful of Quraysh Foreword By: Professor Boless Salama Between al-Qateef[^1] and me there is a connection. The cause of it is the epic of (Eid al-Ghadeer), which I have written about Imam Abul Hassan (Ali), and this book is about the father of Imam Ali.

I have talked in the epic about the virtue of Abu Talib, the notable sheikh of Quraysh,[^2] who secured the Prophet (S) against his enemies and now I am just to preface this book with a swift word talking about the book itself. The author began his book with showing the crimes of the Umayyads and refuting the accusations they ascribed to the Prophet's family. Neither he failed nor became his pen confused. And it was no wonder because whoever took the side of Abu Turab[^3] would be powerful.

The son of the castle of al-Qateef knew that he was in a fort, against which the enemies were so active but they always were the weak and the fort was steadfast along the time. It was, well known that the author arranged the accusations in a skilled way and he exaggerated them in order to show their atrocity and to show the ugliness of the lies fabricated against the Prophet's family.

In spite of his rush, the enthusiasm of the youth and the leap of his pen, nothing escaped him to follow the sayings of the great historians and the masters of Hadith and eloquence. I think that the preface “At the threshold” was the defending-attacking front. The author thought to gather the fabricated lies, which collapsed easily and to show the opponent as band of Negro pigmies to let the greatness of Imam Ali shine like the light when the clouds dispelled.

As for the chapter following the preface, which was called “A house”, the author repeated in it well-known sayings. He was not to be blamed for that because he wanted to pave the way for showing the personality of Imam Ali. He brought this personality out as the axis of Quraysh and it was really so. How nice it would be if he used a language better than the elegant style he used in describing the different scenes of the life of the man (Abu Talib).

His eloquence didn’t ripen yet like most of the rising youth, but this branch, which grew on a large tree that gave much to the Arabic language, promised to give ripe fruits in the near future inshallah.