Noor Treasury of Narrations 1.2

About Noor Treasury of Narrations 1.2

The Messenger of God (peace be upon him and his family) said:

"I am leaving among you the Two Weighty Things: the Book of God and my Progeny (Ahlulbayt)."⁽¹⁾

When the Messenger of God (PBUH) declared that the path to salvation and success lies solely in holding fast to the two precious jewels—the Quran and the Ahlulbayt (AS)—and struck the ears of the believers with the heartening melody of the Hadith al-Thaqalayn, he was merely proclaiming an official decree by divine command. He had reiterated this message thousands of times, through word and deed, in every gathering of Muslims, from the very first day of the open Islamic invitation on the "Day of Warning" until the final moments of his life on his deathbed. True believers deeply understood that the only Ark of Salvation is the Household of the Messenger of God (PBUH), and that the only healing remedy for the pains of both worlds must be sought in their luminous words, as it is said: "Your speech is light, and your command is guidance" (Bihar al-Anwar, Vol. 99, p. 132).

This importance spurred Muslims to collect the sayings of the Ahlulbayt (AS). From the earliest days, the narrators of light began, each according to their ability, to gather hadiths, memorize them, write them down, and compile them into books and writings. Initially, these were called "Usul" (Foundations) and "Kutub" (Books), distinguished by the names of their narrators. Soon, however, some of them compiled selections from their collections with a new organization, authoring books on specific topics, sometimes named after those topics. Then, a new generation of books emerged: comprehensive, organized, and structured collections that produced the first major hadith compilations, giving a new momentum to the transmission of the heritage of the "Greater Weighty Thing." This movement did not stop over time; although it sometimes faced periods of decline, it generally accelerated with greater fervor. However, the unfamiliarity of newly converted nations with the Arabic language deprived people from accessing this pure spring. Thus, recognizing this necessity, scholars quickly adorned themselves with knowledge of the Arabic language, which became the language of science in many educational and research centers. But as the circle of knowledge expanded and the number of those literate in reading and writing increased, masses of people emerged who knew only their native languages and had no access to Arabic. It was then that translating narrations into other languages became an evident necessity, forming a translation movement that flourished in eras such as that of Allamah Majlisi.

The result of this relentless effort by scholars in translating narrations into Persian is hundreds of books, not all of which possess uniform writing quality or stability in translation. The translators' knowledge of the lofty concepts of the narrations and their familiarity with both the source and target languages affected both the depth of the translated concepts and the eloquence and clarity of the expression. Now, if we recall that the Imams (AS) themselves said regarding their narrations: "Indeed, our hadith is difficult and arduous" (Bihar al-Anwar, Vol. 2, p. 183)—meaning our words contain difficulties that the understanding of many will not reach their peaks—and thus asked us to attribute what we do not understand to our own ignorance and to entrust its knowledge to its people in an act of devotion; we realize that translators of narrations faced not only the usual difficulties of translation but also specific hardships that could only be endured through love for the Ahlulbayt (AS) and devotion to their threshold. The software "Noor Treasury of Narrations" is a selection of the fruits of such a joint effort, the first version of which is now presented to you. This means it contains only a handful from this vast harvest, but we hope that its sources will be expanded in future editions, and that the library of translated narrations will become richer at every stage. The present collection deals only with printed books and has not utilized the treasure of manuscripts; however, in gathering and selecting sources, it is not restricted to narrations from a specific era, encompassing translations from the oldest hadith books to the most contemporary writings. Even where multiple translations of a single text exist, all versions have been included in the collection. We hope this humble effort will quench the long-standing thirst of Persian speakers for the narrations of the Ahlulbayt (AS), and by offering multiple translations of books and enabling the finding of various translations of a single narration cited in different books, contribute effectively to the growth of the translation movement, fulfilling their saying (AS): "If people were to know the virtues of our words, they would surely follow us."

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⁽¹⁾ Sources from Sunni and Shia traditions:

- Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Vol. 22, p. 226 | Amali of Sheikh Saduq, p. 338

- Sunan al-Nasa'i, Vol. 5, p. 51 | Al-Irshad by Al-Mufid, Vol. 1, p. 231

- Sunan al-Darimi, Vol. 2, p. 522 | Nahj al-Haqq, p. 227

- Kanz al-Ummal, Vol. 1, p. 186 | Jawami' al-Jami' by Al-Tabarsi, Vol. 1, p. 265

- Al-Mustadrak ala al-Sahihayn, Vol. 3, p. 160