TO THE GENTLE READER
You may find, as I have found, that these pages are not enough to encompass this unique, noble character. No wonder! The ascent is not easy. So, my excuse is the inability that I have recorded against myself However I cannot drive away the inability.
Please, after you have read these pages, bestow your notices upon me to avoid that in another edition. Indeed, the dearest one of my brothers is he who gives me my defects as a present.
Mohammed al- Husayn al- Muzaffar
As understanding the life of this Imam needs studying the affairs of the Omayyad and the Abbasid dynasties when Abu Abd Allah, peace be on him, lived, the attitude of these two powers towards the members of the House (
ahl al-Bayt
), the number of ahl al-Bayt, the religious sects and schools during his lifetime, and the opinions of people about the Imamate, it is necessary for us to mention these subjects in the preface, because through them we are able to understand his political, scientific and social life, and the reason for which he published sciences and knowledge, he summoned Muslims to adopt ethics and merits, and urged them to spread virtues secretly and keep their attribution to (ahl al-Bayt
) secrets. Also he prevented his followers from showing their support for them and going frequently to them openly. This is what we call dissimulation (taqiyah).
So, through this preface, the reader is aware of the lifetime of this Imam before he studies its details.