Introduction
The lessons of His Eminence Allamah Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani 
intend to purify people and teach them the Book and wisdom. Their foundation and core are the Quran and the Sunnah, and their subject matter encompasses Islamic beliefs, rulings, and morals. We have selected from them topics that relate to the most important and relevant issues of our time and organized them in a manner that facilitates review and study for the reader. We have also provided references and some explanations when necessary.
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Each chapter of the lessons relates to an issue of belief, jurisprudence, or morality and consists of three sections:
• The first section presents verses of the Quran regarding the issue and includes invaluable interpretations from His Eminence Allamah . We have extracted these interpretations from his pure words. They clarify the meanings of the verses in a way that heals the hearts and brings people out of darkness into light.
• The second section presents authentic hadiths from the Prophet 
regarding the issue, along with stating their attestations and follow-ups. It includes precise points and beneficial clarifications from His Eminence Allamah , which explain the meanings of hadiths, the status of narrators, and the views of scholars.
• The third section presents authentic hadiths from the Ahl al-Bayt regarding the issue, along with stating their attestations and follow-ups. It contains similar content to what is in the second section.
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As for the principle of His Eminence Allamah , it is the authority of a mutawatir report and the non-authority of a wahid report. In his view, a mutawatir report is one that has been narrated by more than four men at each level in the chain of narration, provided that they are not associates, do not contradict each other in meaning, and that what they have narrated does not oppose the Book of Allah, the established Sunnah of the Prophet , or the sound intellect. As for what has been narrated by four men at each level, it is also considered mutawatir in his view, provided that they are just, in addition to the previous conditions, and this necessitates examining the status of narrators if they do not exceed four men. As for examining their status if they are fewer or more than that, this is what His Eminence Allamah does as a matter of obligation; because the majority of Muslims believe in the authority of a wahid report from a trustworthy or truthful person, and they may not consider the report of five men to be mutawatir. Therefore, His Eminence Allamah selects narrations from their trustworthy individuals and those considered truthful among them, so that it may serve as proof against them and they may be guided.
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As for his condition in selecting hadiths, it is that, after their meaning is in agreement with the Book of Allah, the established Sunnah, and the sound intellect, their narrators must be well-known for their trustworthiness or truthfulness among their companions, not among their opponents; as he has explained it in detail in the biography of Jabir ibn Yazid al-Ju‘fi, saying:
«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 status of a person among his companions (meaning the people of his sect); because they are more aware of his status. And the opinion of others, whenever it contradicts the opinion of his companions, is not proof; because they are more distant from him and may speak ill of him because of their dislike for his sect. And the evidence for this is the action of the Messenger of Allah , who said to the Jews: ‘What kind of man is Abdullah ibn Salam among you?’ They said: ‘He is our good one, the son of our good one, our master, the son of our master, our scholar, and the son of our scholar.’ So he accepted their words about him; because they were his companions. And then he informed them that he had become a Muslim, so they began to speak ill of him and said: ‘He is our worst one and the son of our worst one.’ But he did not accept their words about him after they became his opponents in his sect. And if the words of the opponents in sect are accepted, nothing will remain of hadith; because every group speaks ill of the other; as you see that the Shias do not pay attention to what the Sunnis narrate, except what they use as proof against them, and you see that the Sunnis do not look at what the Shias narrate except with surprise and mockery, and both have gone astray from the balanced path. But we accept anything that Muslims narrate in accordance with the Book of Allah whenever they are known for their truthfulness among their companions, without showing bias toward any of the sects.”
Therefore, the criterion in the view of His Eminence Allamah is being Muslim and known for trustworthiness or truthfulness among companions, not sect or the criticisms of opponents without acceptable evidence. Thus, if a man is from the Sunnis, the criterion is his status among the Sunnis, and his status among the Shias is not taken into account. Similarly, if a man is from the Shias, the criterion is his status among the Shias, and his status among the Sunnis is not taken into account. There is no difference between the narrations of the Sunnis and the narrations of the Shias whenever they conform to the three mentioned foundational principles and their narrators are known for trustworthiness or truthfulness among their companions. For this reason, you see that His Eminence Allamah selects narrations from the Shias just as he does from the Sunnis, and he does not disregard the narration of a narrator simply because of his sect, as long as his sect does not contradict what is known to be necessary in the religion in such a way that it would take him out of Islam; because then he would be a hypocrite, and a hypocrite is not trustworthy in anything, even if all people consider him trustworthy.
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As for the methodology of His Eminence Allamah in the three sections of the lessons, it is as follows:
• Presenting the verses or authentic hadiths, which we refer to as “principles”.
• Presenting attestations and follow-ups, if available, after the authentic hadiths to strengthen them, which we refer to as “attestations”.
• A statement from His Eminence Allamah about the verse or issues related to the hadith—including meanings, the status of narrators, the opinions of scholars, and other relevant information—if available, which we refer to as “consideration”.
