Foreword
Our actions and our conduct are the results of our beliefs. A faithful person, believing in God and the Day of Resurrection, leads a completely different life from that of a non-believer. A set of moral and human virtues constitute the foundations of the believer’s life, because he considers death as the opening to another world and believes that death is not tantamount to dissolution of his life and therefore in the hope of reward or out of fear of the Judgment Day, avoids wrongdoing and evil deeds, volunteers for useful activities, whereas a non-believer’s situation is at the opposite end of the pole.
Therefore, those who seek felicity and prosperity for their society should promote faith among individuals because an individual’s felicity is not separate from that of the society.
About twenty years ago, a group of Iranian expatriates asked the honorable jurisprudent Āyatullāh Subḥānī to compile a brief and concise article about the primary principles of the Islamic beliefs to familiarize themselves and their acquaintances with them.
He composed an article which was subsequently sent and welcomed by them and later on it was translated and published in other languages. After a while, a number of friends noted that if a compelling but simple book on the primary principles of the religion was published, it would prove useful to religious gatherings and high schools.
To achieve this objective, the honorable master called on me to compile a book by supplementing that article. In obedience to his request, all the sections of that article were rewritten elaborately and extensively, and the book was published. From then onward, tens of thousands of copies of the book have been published by Dār al-Fikr publications and have been utilized across the country.
Recently, having decided to reprint the book, the publications has made slight corrections that is hoped to render it more useful.
Qum Seminary.
Reza Ostadi