Despite his being occupied with events in the Lebanon and the civil war there...

Despite his being occupied with events in the Lebanon and the civil war there, he has continued to support the Islamic Publishing House with his valuable works which give expression to basic Islamic ideals and spiritual direction to those setting out to study Islamic culture. Among those works produced by Hujjat al-Islam Shaykh Muhammad Mahdi Shams al-Din is this book, The Revolution of al-Husayn, which we present to the English reading public.

We have every confidence that we have made a good choice. God, may He be exalted, is the One Who guides in the right direction. The Muhammadi Trust Author’s Preface What is the significance of giving the quality of immortality to any one man, to any one historical event, or to any great accomplishment of mind and heart which one man has achieved? We constantly, or at least sometimes, feel the need for it.

We go back to such an immortal man to read, to listen and to see his story, and we recall his life. We go back to such an immortal event so that we can make it live again in our minds and hearts. We enrich our life by it, we ennoble our existence through it, and we illuminate our paths through it and its author. We go back to the glories of the human genius so that we may quench our hearts’ thirst for truth and beauty through them.

How and why is immortality ordained for some men, or some events, or some great acts? It is because they encompass the eternally living reality. There are men, events and impressions which are concerned with what is false, counterfeit and artificial. However, the latter will not endure in the life of man. Soon the false and the counterfeit in them will be revealed, and then people will dismiss them from their lives which constantly seek to correct themselves.

There are others which encompass only a limited extent of the reality. The life of such a man is limited by his contribution to the life of man. There are others which encompass the eternal living reality which is associated with the unceasing creative activity of mind and heart. This is always immortal because it answers an increasing need in the mind and heart of man and in his greatest aspirations and hopes.

This is the factor which applies, with a miraculous exactitude, to al-Husayn and his revolution. We go back to him in all the stages of his life and we go back to him in the climax of that life, his revolution. We make it live again and we try to understand it.