Introduction
The purpose of the lessons of His Excellency Allamah Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani, may God protect him, is to purify people and teach them the Book and wisdom, and their center and basis are the Quran and the Sunnah, and their subject matter is Islamic beliefs, laws and morals, and we have selected from them what is related to the most important and most needed issues, and arranged it in a way that facilitates the studies and researches for the readers, and written annotations for them, which contains references to the sources and some necessary explanations.
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Each lesson is about a belief or a jurisprudential or moral issue, and consists of three chapters:
• The first chapter is the statement of some verses of the Quran that are related to the issue, and contains invaluable interpretations which we have extracted from the enlightening sayings of His Excellency Allamah, may God protect him, and explain the meaning of the verses in a way that heals hearts and brings people out of darkness into light.
• The second chapter is the statement of some authentic Hadiths from the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him and his family, which are related to the issue, along with mentioning their witnesses and follow-ups, and contains precise points and useful explanations from His Excellency Allamah, may God protect him, clarifying the meanings of the Hadiths, the condition of the narrators, and the opinions of scholars.
• The third chapter is the statement of some authentic Hadiths from the Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them, which are related to the issue, along with mentioning their witnesses and follow-ups, and contains things similar to those of the second chapter.
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The rule in the opinion of His Excellency Allamah, may God protect him, is the authority of mutawatir narrations and lack of authority of ahad narrations. In his opinion, a mutawatir narration is what has been narrated by more than four men at each level, provided that they are not related and do not differ on the meaning, and what they have narrated should not conflict with the Book of God or the proved Sunnah of the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him and his family, or the sound intellect. Also, what have been narrated by four men at each level is considered mutawatir, provided that they are just, in addition to the previous three conditions, and this is what makes it necessary to examine the condition of the narrators whenever their number does not exceed four. However, His Excellency Allamah, may God protect him, examines their condition whenever they are less or more than this number in terms of obligation; because most Muslims believe in the authority of ahad narrations from a trustworthy or a truthful person, and perhaps they do not consider what has been narrated by five men as mutawatir. Therefore, His Excellency Allamah, may God protect him, selects what their trustworthy or truthful narrators have narrated in order to be a proof for them, may they be guided.
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But his condition for selecting Hadiths, after the compatibility of their meaning with the Book of God and the proved Sunnah of the Prophet and the sound intellect, is that their narrators should be famous for trustworthiness or truthfulness among their companions excluding their opponents; as he has stated it in the explanation of the condition of Jabir ibn Yazid al-Ju’fi, and said:
«الْمُعْتَمَدُ حَالُ الرَّجُلِ عِنْدَ أَصْحَابِهِ؛ لِأَنَّهُمْ أَعْرَفُ بِحَالِهِ، وَلَا حُجَّةَ فِي قَوْلِ سَائِرِ النَّاسِ إِذَا خَالَفَ قَوْلَ أَصْحَابِهِ؛ لِأَنَّهُمْ أَبْعَدُ مِنْهُ وَقَدْ يَقُولُونَ فِيهِ شَنَآنًا لِمَذْهَبِهِ، وَالشَّاهِدُ عَلَى ذَلِكَ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ لِلْيَهُودِ: <أَيُّ رَجُلٍ فِيكُمْ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ سَلَامٍ؟> فَقَالُوا: <خَيْرُنَا وَابْنُ خَيْرِنَا، وَسَيِّدُنَا وَابْنُ سَيِّدِنَا، وَعَالِمُنَا وَابْنُ عَالِمِنَا>، فَقَبِلَ قَوْلَهُمْ فِيهِ؛ لِأَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا أَصْحَابَهُ، ثُمَّ أَخْبَرَهُمْ بِأَنَّهُ قَدْ أَسْلَمَ، فَوَقَعُوا فِيهِ وَقَالُوا: <شَرُّنَا وَابْنُ شَرِّنَا>، فَلَمْ يَقْبَلْ قَوْلَهُمْ فِيهِ بَعْدَ أَنْ خَالَفُوهُ فِي الْمَذْهَبِ، وَلَوْ قُبِلَ قَوْلُ الْمُخَالِفِينَ فِي الْمَذْهَبِ لَمْ يَبْقَ مِنَ الْحَدِيثِ شَيْءٌ؛ لِأَنَّ كُلَّ طَائِفَةٍ يُسِيئُونَ الْقَوْلَ فِي الْأُخْرَى؛ كَمَا تَرَى الشِّيعَةَ لَا يُبَالُونَ بِمَا يَرْوِيهِ السُّنَّةُ إِلَّا مَا يَتَّخِذُونَهُ حُجَّةً عَلَيْهِمْ، وَتَرَى السُّنَّةَ لَا يَنْظُرُونَ فِيمَا يَرْوِيهِ الشِّيعَةُ إِلَّا تَعَجُّبًا وَاسْتِهْزَاءً، وَكِلَاهُمَا قَدْ ضَلَّ عَنْ سَوَاءِ السَّبِيلِ، وَلَكِنَّا نَأْخُذُ بِكُلِّ مَا يَرْوِيهِ الْمُسْلِمُونَ مُوَافِقًا لِكِتَابِ اللَّهِ إِذَا كَانُوا مِنَ الْمَعْرُوفِينَ بِالصِّدْقِ عِنْدَ أَصْحَابِهِمْ دُونَ تَعَصُّبٍ لِأَحَدٍ مِنَ الْمَذَاهِبِ»[1]; “The criterion is the condition of the person among his companions (meaning the people of his sect); because they are more aware of his condition, and the opinion of other people is not proof when it contradicts the opinion of his companions; because they are farther away from him, and they may say bad things about him because they do not like his sect, and the witness to it is the action of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him and his family, when he said to the Jews: ‘What kind of a man is Abdullah ibn Salam among you?’, so they said: ‘He is our noble man and the son of our noble man and our master and the son of our master and our scholar and the son of our scholar’, so he accepted their words about him; because they were his companions. Then he informed them that he had converted to Islam, so they started to talk bad about him and said: ‘He is our worst man and the son of our worst man’, but he did not accept their words about him after they opposed him because of his sect, and if the words of opponents in the sect are accepted, nothing will be left of the Hadith; because every group says bad things about another group; as you can see the Shias do not care about what the Sunnis narrate except for that which they use as a proof against them, and you see the Sunnis do not look at what the Shias narrate except with astonishment and mockery, and both have gone astray from the middle path, but we, without being fanatical about any of the sects, accept anything that Muslims narrate in accordance with the Book of God, as long as they are famous among their companions for truthfulness”.
Therefore, the criterion in the opinion of His Excellency Allamah, may God protect him, is Islam and the reputation of the narrator for trustworthiness or truthfulness among his companions, not his sect or what his opponents say to weaken him without an acceptable reason. Therefore, if the narrator is from the Sunnis, the criterion is his condition in the opinion of the Sunnis, and his condition in the opinion of the Shias has no validity, and if the narrator is from the Shias, the criterion is his condition in the opinion of the Shias, and his condition in the opinion of the Sunnis has no validity, and there is no difference between Shia and Sunni narrations whenever they are compatible with the three aforementioned principles and their narrators are famous for trustworthiness or truthfulness among their companions. This is why His Excellency Allamah, may God protect him, selects Shia narrations as he selects Sunni narrations, and he does not leave anyone’s narration because of his sect as long as his sect does not oppose the essentials of the religion, in a way that indicates he is out of Islam; because in this case he is a hypocrite, and the hypocrite is not trustworthy in any field, even though all people consider him trustworthy.
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But the method of His Excellency Allamah, may God protect him, in the three chapters of each lesson is as follows:
• Mentioning the verses or authentic Hadiths which we count with main numbers (verse No. 1, verse No. 2, verse No. 3 and so on/ Hadith No. 1, Hadith No. 2, Hadith No. 3 and so on) and call them “principles”.
• Mentioning the witnesses and follow-ups, if they exist, after the authentic Hadiths in order to increase their strength, which we count with sub numbers (Hadith No. 1-1, Hadith No. 1-2, Hadith No. 1-3 and so on) and call them “witnesses”.
• A statement from His Excellency Allamah, may God protect him, about the verse or what is related to the Hadith from the meanings, the condition of narrators, the opinions of scholars, etc., if they exist, and we call it “consideration”.
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This introduction is followed by “lesson one” from the lessons of His Excellency Allamah, may God protect him, which is a lesson from His Honor about “the fact that the earth is not empty of a man knowledgeable about the entire religion, whom God has appointed as a Caliph, an Imam, and a guide on it with His commandment”; as a group of our helpers informed us, they said: Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani, may God protect him, dictated to us in some of his sessions, so he said:
«بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ، الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَآلِهِ الطَّاهِرِينَ، وَأَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَاعْلَمُوا -عِبَادَ اللَّهِ- بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ حَكِيمٌ لَطِيفٌ، وَمِنْ حِكْمَتِهِ وَلُطْفِهِ أَنَّهُ لَمْ يَتْرُكِ الْأَرْضَ مُنْذُ أَسْكَنَهَا بَنِي آدَمَ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ مِنْ عَالِمٍ عَادِلٍ جَعَلَهُ لَهُمْ إِمَامًا يَهْدِيهِمْ بِأَمْرِهِ»; “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and peace be upon Muhammad and his pure household, but thereafter, Know, O servants of God, that God has wisdom and favor, and it has been due to His wisdom and favor that He has not left the earth empty of a just scholar since the time He made the children of Adam peace be upon him dwell in it, whom He has appointed as an Imam for them so that he guides them with His commandment”.
Then he began to mention the verses and authentic Hadiths that prove it.