The Light of the Way
Attributed to Imām Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq

An explication and translation of Miṣbāḥ al-Sharīʿah wa Miftāḥ al-Ḥaqīqah, by Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi

Encompassing practical, spiritual, and intellectual teachings on a vast array of subjects, Miṣbāḥ al-Sharīʿah wa Miftāḥ al-Ḥaqīqah is a renowned work attributed to the sixth Shia Imām Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, peace be upon him, an eminent sage, interpreter of the Qurʾān, and narrator of ḥadīth in Medina during the later Umayyad and early ʿAbbasid caliphates. Born in 83/702, Imām al-Ṣādiq was a paramount authority on Islamic religious sciences and his teachings form the basis for the Jaʿfarī school of law and doctrine (madhhab) that bears his name. Imām al-Ṣādiq assumed the Imāmate upon the death of his father, the fifth Imām, Muḥammad al-Bāqir (d. 117/735), peace be upon him. During his Imāmate, due to the decline of the Umayyads and the rise of ʿAbbasids, Imām al-Ṣādiq had the opportunity to instruct as many as four thousand students on various subjects in the city of Medina. He made important and lasting contributions to many fields of knowledge and inquiry, including divine and natural philosophy. Many of his students went on to become noted scholars, including Zarārah, Hishām b. al-Ḥakam, and Jābir b. Ḥayyān, the renowned alchemist, as well as Abū Ḥanīfah, the founder of the Ḥanafī school of law, Sufyān al-Thawrī, and others.

In The Light of the Way, the Dean of The Shīʿah Institute, Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi, presents the first reliable and authentic translation and explication of Miṣbāḥ al-Sharīʿah wa Miftāḥ al-Ḥaqīqah. Organised in one hundred chapters, each accurately representing the coherence, clarity, and structure of Imām al-Ṣādiq’s teachings, The Light of the Way makes these profoundly ethical instructions accessible to a worldwide audience for the first time in an accurate and precise manner. Imām al-Ṣādiq’s pronouncements cover a diversity of topics, including: gnosis (ʿirfān), knowledge (ʿilm), fair and foul conduct, inward and outward purity (ṭahārah), and acts of worship (ʿibādāt). Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi’s clear translation and learned explication of Imām al-Ṣādiq’s spiritual and practical wisdom is grounded in decades of research on the intellectual and spiritual heritage of Islam and the Twelver Shia tradition. The Light of the Way will be a key source of instruction for scholars, students, and general readers alike.

The Light of the Way is the eighth volume in The Shīʿah Library series.