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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Shi'a Preface In The Name of Allah Most Merciful and Compassionate Seyyed Hossein Nasr The Study of Shi'ism Despite the vast amount of information and the number of factual details assembled during the past century by Western scholarship in the fields of orientalism and comparative religion, many gaps still exist in the knowledge of the various religions of the world, even on the level of historical facts.

Moreover, until recently most of the studies carried out within these fields have suffered from a lack of metaphysical penetration and sympathetic insight. One of the most notable omissions in Western studies of the religions of the East, and of Islam in particular, has occurred in the case of Shi'ism.

Until now Shi'ism has received little attention; and when it has been discussed, it has usually been relegated to the secondary and peripheral status of a religio-political "sect," a heterodoxy or even a heresy. Hence its importance in both the past and the present has been belittled far more than a fair and objective study of the matter would justify. The present work hopes to redress partially the lack of ac- cessible and reliable English-language material pertaining to Shi'ism.

It is the first of a series of books designed to bring to the English-speaking world accurate information about Shi'ism through the translation of writings by authentic Shi'ite represen tatives and of some of the traditional sources which, along with the Quran, form the foundation of Shi'ite Islam. The purpose of this series is to present Shi'ism as a living reality as it has been and as it is, in both its doctrinal and historical aspects.

Thereby we can reveal yet another dimension of the Islamic tradition and make better known the richness of the Islamic revelation in its historical unfolding, which could have been willed only by Providence. This task, however, is made particularly difficult in a European language and for a predominantly non-Muslim audience by the fact that to explain Shi'ism and the causes for its coming into being is to fall immediately into polemics with Sunni Islam.

The issues which thus arise, in turn, if presented without the proper safeguards and without taking into account the audience involved could only be detrimental to the sympathetic understanding of Islam itself.