Praise be Allah's, Master of the worlds, and peace and blessings be with His messenger Muhammad, and with his noble, purified house.

The Noble Qur'an is the greatest of the books of God. It is the most outstanding book ever to appear on the face of the earth. It is not a compilation of chronicles of an ancient people, nor yet of a group of Prophets, or even all Prophets. Nor is it a book of morals. It is certainly not a book of science, and it is not a book of rules and laws. Rather it is a set of arguments in the Divine tongue setting out exactly why the reader, or listener, should recognise Allah, glorified be He, submit to Him, glorified be He, and follow the Divine religion. These arguments are both rational, addressed to the mind, and spiritual, addressed to the heart. In the Divine words the Noble Qur’an is a book 'of guidance', guiding man from darkness to light, from evil to good, from ignorance to knowledge, from uncertainty about the origin and the end, and about man's role in the world, to certainty and conviction.

The noble Qur’an was brought down from the highest level of heaven by the angel Jibra'il who presented himself to the eye of the Prophet Muhammad, Allah's peace and blessings be with him and with his purified house, and presented the Qur’an to his blessed ear, at precisely that moment in history when mankind had reached the point of being sufficiently mature to appreciate it and be guided by it. So it was that towards the conclusion of his holy mission, the Prophet Muhammad, Allah's peace and blessings be with him and with his purified house, stated clearly for his companions to hear, heed and record, these words:

'I leave behind me two weighty things - if you grasp the two of them you will not go astray. The Qur’an and my household (Ahl-ul-Bayt).'  

Yes, for protected themselves, these are the two guardians of the religion of Islam, protecting the truth and its most lofty and subtle points from obliteration and annihilation throughout the lengthy 'age of reason' that is the final stage of man's life on earth.

The Prophet's household are headed by that most illustrious of the Prophet's followers 'Ali, peace be with him, and his most noble wife Fatimah, peace be with her - who was also the Prophet's beloved daughter born to him during his mission - through their sons the Prophet's only grandsons, Hassan and Hussayn, peace be with them, and the nine Imams after Hussayn, peace be with them all. In one way or another all of these members of the Prophet's purified house played their part in protecting the sacred fabric of Islam, and did so with such constancy and dedication that they were each known as being 'like the Qur’an walking'. Here is not the place to recount their achievements, but the books of history, of ethics, of law, and of every branch of learning from grammar to medicine all bear witness to their invaluable services to the religion and culture of Islam, while their sacrifices in doing so constitute the finest examples of honour and constancy the world has ever seen. Who can argue, then, that they were not protected from deviation and sin?

In the same way, the noble Qur’an is protected from error, and is the solid heart of the religion that never fails. Unlike any other book it has remained unchanged, unaltered, free of any additions or deletions, from the very outset. It is the testament and message to mankind from its Master, the One God, who is well able to protect the purity of His word. The Noble Qur’an is, therefore, the sacred text of Islam par excellence, just as Islam is the religion of the Noble Qur’an. Those who wish to follow Islam find themselves obliged to read and know the Qur’an, as it is one of the mainstays of their faith, and to read parts of it is on certain occasions obligatory. And those who wish to heed the Divine message of the Qur’an find themselves obliged to practice Islam, for that is the name of the religion Allah has chosen and perfected for those who would be His willing servants; and theirs is the best of ends.

The volume you have before you is a translation – so far - of parts of the Noble Qur’an, and of a commentary by the Grand Ayatullah al-Imam al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Hussayni al-Shirazi, may Allah lengthen his beneficial life, entitled Taqrib al-Qur'an ilal-Athhaan. It is rare that a man of such erudite learning and lofty status turns his whole attention to the noble Qur’an with the intention of elucidating the entire text, and it is a measure of Imam al-Shirazi's learning and sincerity that he has in fact done so. We too, in our small way, hope to be able to present the full translation of al-Imam al-Shirazi's commentary in the near future, InSha’Allah.

The translator owes a debt of gratitude to the al-Shirazi family, and dedicates this work to the soul of the late al-Sayyid Hassan al-Shirazi, brother of al-Imam al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Hussayni al-Shirazi, who was martyred in the Lebanon a few years after giving the translator his start in the traditional centres of Shi'a learning. May Allah raise his station.

As to the style of translation, a literal style has been followed as closely as possible, for two reasons. First, because it accords most closely to the manner in which the Noble Qur’an was originally presented to the Prophet and his listeners; and second, because the presence of a commentary makes it unnecessary to incorporate into the translated text explanations that do not appear in the original. The translator is of the opinion that his leaving clear the clear and obscure the obscure, is of assistance in conveying in English something of that 'lofty Qur’anic grandeur which affects our hearts and moves us to tears'. That too is his hope; and from Allah comes all success.

Salman Tawhidi

Jami'at-ul-Muntazar

Manchester.

15 Jamadi al-Thani, 1417