ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Role of Aishah in the History of Islam (volume 2) A Word From Mahmud Abu Rayh1 In the name of God, the almighty Some individuals, who consider themselves men of learning, imagine that they have attained a high degree of knowledge. They take for granted that the history of Islam, especially that part which is related to the early periods of this faith, is altogether correct and wholly free from doubt and ambiguity.

Such persons, who should be called unlettered simpletons, imagine that the narrators of Islamic history have been without exception chaste, truthful and trustworthy individuals. They therefore believe everything that is narrated about that period and are fully convinced about all the contents of well known books of tradition and history, whereas these book contain all kinds of subject matter including 1.

The great Egyptian scholar, ash-Shaykh Mahmud Abu Rayh, has written such valuable books on the survey of tradition as "Adwa' 'ala as-sunnat al-Muhammadiyah", and "ash-Shaykh al- Mudayrah" the like of which is not seen among other Sunni scholars. He has been influenced by the facts stated in that book after studying its Arabic copy in 1381 of the Hijrah and has written the above article. May God reward this great man for his endeavors in the way of truth.

even superstitious and unacceptable points in such a way that they offer little that is right and true and much that is wrong and untrue. The assurance of such simple persons concerning the traditions and other topics of those books has reached a point where that they may accuse anyone who expresses doubt about truth of one of these traditions and points of iniquity and excommunicate them.

Although God has granted intelligence and mental power to these individuals to enable them to reflect and base their judgment on fairness and justice, yet owing to their obstinacy and mental rigidity as well as their undue imitation of their predecessors they make their thought and inactive and useless, so that in being faced with logic and clear reasoning they refuse to surrender to truth and remain obstinate in their prejudice and reject that truth and criticize it.

I hope that you, too, may be secure from their stinging tongue and unmanly attacks, but this is impossible since they will not remain silent before those who speak the truth.