The Attraction And Repulsion Of Ali (A.S)

ID book

Murtaza Mutahhari

INTRODUCTION

If God is introduced to thy soul constantly gaze at Ali

By God I knew Him only through Ali.

It is difficult to talk of Ali-bin-Abi Talib, the legendary hero of Islamic and human history and the ideal personified, in fact he is manifestation of the Truth. The magnanimous and multidimensional personality of Ali is too immense to be comprehensively assimilated by one individual. Ali as an individual is no more but as a school he perpetuates. The school of Ali is the school of wisdom and thought and also the school of movement and revolution. It is the school of charm and beauty and of inspiration and activation. His personality, which is the fountainhead of his school, has two faculties and its impact on men is either attractive or repulsive, hence he attracts some of them to, and repels others from himself. The basic thought of this book is an analytical description of this phenomenon, and of the rule, which enjoins to discern the fact from fallacy.

It quotes Ali, saying that Ali has held the Truth itself to be the criterion of truth and not the individuals, the personalities, the authorities or the gray-hair. We should be aware of the fact and the fallacy and not of the persons and personalities. And this is the spirit of the Shi-ite faith, an enlivening ideology adherence to which lends life. Humanity must seek solace from it as human perfection and perpetual bliss lies in it. Solemnity, sincerity, justice and wisdom adhere to and co-exist with it. The under­signed, in this view of the matter and for his anxious commitment with these views, for popularising the basic ideas of the Islamic Culture, for maintaining profound solidarity between two contiguous and co-believer countries Iran and Pakistan and for the benefit of all concerned, decided to get this analytical and peculiar thesis translated into English.

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