Al-Huda ila din al-Mustafa (book)

Al-Huda ila din al-Mustafa (book)

Author	Muhammad Jawad al-Balaghi
Original title	اَلهُدی اِلی دینِ المُصطَفی
Language	Arabic
Subject	Theology
Published	1405/1984-5
Publisher	Mu'assisa al-A'lami

Al-Hudā ilā dīn al-Muṣṭafā (Arabic: اَلهُدی اِلی دینِ المُصطَفی) is a theological book in Arabic written by Muhammad Jawad al-Balaghi (d. 1352/1933), a Shiite scholar, in rejection of certain Christian and Jewish beliefs. In this work, the author cites contents of the Torah and the Gospel to reply to objections leveled by some Christians against Islamic beliefs and the Qur'an.

Author

Main article: Muhammad Jawad al-Balaghi

Al-Shaykh Muhammad Jawad b. al-Hasan al-Balaghi al-Najafi al-Rib'i (1282-1352/1865-6 -1933) was a Shiite jurist, theologian, exegete, and a scholar of literature in the fourteenth/twentieth century. Al-Balaghi was a student of Mirza Muhammad Taqi al-Shirazi and al-Akhund al-Khurasani. His students include al-Sayyid Shahab al-Din al-Mar'ashi al-Najafi, al-Sayyid Abu l-Qasim al-Khoei, and Muhammad Hadi al-Milani. Al-Balaghi was a mujahid scholar in Iraq who participated in the Iraqi Independence Movement. He wrote books concerning a variety of issues, including Ala' al-rahman fi tafsir al-Qur'an. He also composed poems in praise Ahl al-Bayt (a). He died in 1352/1933-34, and was buried in the Shrine of Imam 'Ali (a).

Subject

Aqa Buzurg refers to the book as al-Radd 'ala al-hidaya. This book was originally a rejection of another book, al-Hidaya, written by a British person called George Sale in the 17th century, which was translated by a person called Hashim al-'Arabi into Arabic with an essay and footnotes. The Arabic translation of Sale's book was published in 1891 in 321 pages along with the translator's essay in ninety five pages.

Al-Hidaya and the book written by the British Orientalist were written in rejection of two other books: Izhar al-haqq by Mulla Rahmat Allah al-Hindi and a book by Sayf Hami, which is not available to us and about which nothing is known. Al-Balaghi explained cases he found ambiguous, and added important materials in accordance with Shiism.

In this book, al-Balaghi uses nicknames such as "al-Mutakallif" and "al-Muta'arrib" which respectively refer to the Christian author of al-Hidaya and the translator of George Sale's book. The former is referred to as "al-Mutakallif" (a person who burdens himself) because he took up the burden of ad hoc and weak arguments to prove his theory, and to the latter he referred as "al-Muta'arrib" (a person who pretends to be an Arab) because he falsely introduced himself as an Arab.

Sections

The book has fourteen introductions and an epilogue in two volumes:

• First introduction: the Two Testaments and conventional symbols for the book
• Second introduction: duration of the revelation of the Torah and the Gospel
• Third introduction: the present order of the Two Testaments is different from the order of their revelations
• Fourth introduction: conditions of the prophets of the Two Testaments when they propagate their religions
• Fifth introduction: some manners of the Children of Israel in their religiosity
• Sixth introduction: the Two Testaments are not valid
• Seventh introduction: conditions of proofs and dialectics as well as al-Khabar al-Wahid
• Eighth introduction: the Prophet's mission and infallibility
• Ninth introduction: arguments for messengership and prophethood
• Tenth introduction: obstacles to messengership and prophethood
• Eleventh introduction: an opinion on the claim to messengership
• Twelfth introduction: abrogation in the divine sharia
• Thirteenth introduction: reply to objections to the Qur'an
• Fourteenth introduction: miscellaneous issues in the Two Testaments considered in eight chapters.

Publication

The two volumes of the book were published in Sidon, Lebanon, in 1330-1332/1911-2 -1913-4. The book was also published by Mu'assisa al-A'lami in Beirut in 1405/1984-5.

Sayyid Muhammad Hadi al-Milani wrote commentaries on the book.