Doctrines of Shi`i Islam: A Compendium of Imami Beliefs and Practices

This book is absolutely fantastic, and I have to give credit not only to the author, but to the translator and editor as well. This book is straight forward and eloquent. It covers a great deal of ground in very well organized and very succinctly articulated articles. I strongly recommend anyone interested in learning about the Shi'a school of Islam to take this book as their first. If you have any background on the subject matter (specifically the Shi'a school), you may find yourself looking for more. Ayatollah Sobhani does an excellent job in providing excellent notes on each section, and the book is excellently sourced. Having read this, I feel that I have opened the door to years of learning and study.This book is great for someone who knows a little about Islam in general, and less about Shi'a belief and practice. It also is very helpful in dispelling some of the misconceptions that exist about the Shi'a. One thing that is important to mention, and I was initially concerned about this: the book was published jointly with the institute of Isma'ili Studies in London. Without engaging in polemics, I was concerned that there would be an Isma'ili slant to it, but there was not. This book stuck to the Ithna Ashari (sometimes known as Twelver or the Ja'fari school of fiqh).

Some 150 topics from the Shi'i perspective are discussed in the English language: Man existence, Islam recognizes "free will", destiny, oneness of Allah (Tawhid), divine attributes (Sifat), wisdom (hikma), divine justice ('adl), divine measure (qadar), miracles of prophets, prophet inerrancy (Isma), "the mystery of the perpetuity of the Islamic Sharia is hidden in two things", the Twelve Imams, the Occulation and Manifestation of the Twelfth Imam (how to notice), why not telling the truth to non-Muslims is okay: dissimulation (Taqiyya) (pg.150), change of destiny (Bada), the "Return" of Muslims after the appearance of the Mahdi (Raja), preserving sacred monuments, mourning of religious leaders is okay, jurisprudential reasoning (ijtihad), the one-fifth tax (Khums), don't fold your hands during prayer, and much more. Each topic or "article" is discussed on about 1 page. The author is: Ayatollah Ja'far Sobhani (born 1930 C.E.), a senior member of the Council of Mujtahids in the Seminary of Qom, and director of the Imam Sadiq Institute in Iran. Besides just being a book of his own opinions, various hadith are referred to. While the author does have some "give and take" in discussing the subjects, there is no real "Westernized" critical analysis of the topics.

This is an excellent translation of the work by Qom-based Ayatullah Sobhani whose career is mainly focused on teaching these beliefs at the seminary for over 5 decades now. Definitely an authentic source of what Shi'a Islam is about and though it may seem a difficult read for the uninitiated, this book is perfect for BA/MA Islamic Studies students.