Faith and Practice
On Matters of Truth, Guidance, and the Path of Salvation

An explication and translation of Muḥammad Bāqir al-Majlisī’s al-ʿItiqād, by Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi

A key work by one of the most influential intellectual and political figures of late Safavid Persia, al-ʿItiqād preserves the profound teachings of the great scholar Muḥammad Bāqir al-Majlisī on a wide range of subjects pertaining to matters of truth, guidance and the path of salvation, the tenets of belief and faith (uṣūl al-ʿaqāʾid), and the manner of the observance (bikayfiyyat al-ʿamal). An eminent and leading jurist (faqih) during the reigns of Sulaymān (r. 1666–94) and Sulṭān Ḥusayn (r. 1694–1722), al-Majlisī received several prestigious and powerful appointments over the course of a distinguished career, including imām al-jumuʿah (Imām of the Friday Prayer) and Shaykh al-Islām in the imperial capital of Isfahan from 1687 until his death in 1699 or 1700. The son of a respected and renowned scholar, al-Majlisī was an extraordinarily prolific writer of more than 100 books and commentaries, and is best known today for his Biḥār al-Anwār (Oceans of Lights), an enormous encyclopedia of ḥadīth in 111 volumes in modern editions. He also produced renowned commentaries on works of classical authors including al-Kulaynī’s (d. 941) al-Kāfi and al-Shaykh al-Ṭūsī’s (d. 460/1067) Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām, as well as numerous works written in Persian, which enjoyed a broad readership and played a instrumental role in the promotion of Twelver Shia thought and belief in Persia during the period of Safavid rule (1501–1722).

In Faith and Practice, the Dean of The Shīʿah Institute, Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi, presents the first clear and reliable translation and explication in English of al-ʿItiqād, bringing al-Majlisī’s major teachings on truth, guidance, and the path of salvation to a global readership. Based on an authentic engagement with the early manuscripts and a critical examination of the place of al-ʿItiqād in the context of al-Majlisī’s other works and the religious and political context of late Safavid Persia, Faith and Practice makes a valuable contribution to scholarship on a paramount figure in Islamic intellectual history.