If you have wrong beliefs...

If you have wrong beliefs, then it does not matter how much you pray, how many books you read, or how much of an expert you are in Arabic grammar, the truth will always be hidden from you. If you do not gain the marifat of this truth, then you will never be able to gain paradise. It is necessary to understand religion through intellect and principles instead of through blind following.

Moula Ali (as) said , “ There will come a time when the truth will be spread into many different places and the momins have to go in search of this truth and collect it himself.” It is our duty to not limit ourselves to only one way of gaining knowledge such as simply following a scholar or reading only a few books. We have to search for truth and when we find it, we must accept it as truth. We should not create doubts about this truth.

Whenever you find something which goes against your beliefs, do not reject it by saying “Oh this must have been an invention (bidah) and something which was added to the religion”. By doing this, you are not using your intellect in the proper manner. The end result will be that you fall into kufr (disbelief). So in this book, we have tried to explain those Shia beliefs which are commonly considered inventions (bidahs) or additions to the religion.

In this way, we can show the truth which Masoomeen (as) brought after facing so many great difficulties and after making so many great sacrifices. We collect the truth and present it in the shape of beliefs which are according to Allah’s will. In our efforts to collect this truth, we will not use any modern day books which contain doubts and possible inauthentic references.

We will only use those books which were appreciated by not only Masoomeen (as) Themselves but by those great scholars who came after them who worked so hard to collect the truth in a time when it was trying to be annihilated from the face of the earth. We specifically have mentioned Quran, and for its explanation we have used only the tafseer of Masoomeeen (as).

For the explanation of religion, we must put forward Moula Ali (as)’s saying “He who thinks religion is only for superficial purposes or only for debate is not a student of religion”. Previous…