Al-‘Allamah as-Sayyid Muhammad Husayn at-Tabataba’i (1321/1904 - 1402/1981) - may Allah have mercy upon him - was a famous scholar, thinker and the most celebrated contemporary Islamic philosopher. We have introduced him briefly in the first volume of the English translation of al-Mizan, which will be published, by the help of Allah, in near future.

Al-‘Allamah at-Tabataba’i is well-known for a number of his works of which the most important is his great exegesis al-Mizan fi tafsir al-Qur’an which is rightly counted as the fundamental pillar of scholarly work which the ‘Allamah has achieved in the Islamic world.

We felt the necessity of publishing an exegesis of the Holy Qur’an in English. After a thorough consultation, we came to choose al-Mizan because we found that it incorporated, to a considerable extent, the points that should necessarily be expounded in a perfect exegesis of the Holy Qur’an and the points which appeal to the mind of the contemporary Muslim reader.

Therefore, we proposed to al-Ustadh al-‘Allamah as-Sayyid Sa‘id Akhtar ar-Radawi to undertake this task because we were familiar with his intellectual ability to understand the Arabic text of al-Mizan and his literary capability in expression and translation. So we relied on him for this work and consider him responsible for the English translation, as al-‘Allamah at-Tabataba’i was responsible for the Arabic text of al-Mizan and its discussions.

We have proceeded to publish the translation of the second volume of the Arabic al-Mizan earlier, as it was ready for printing, whereas the first volume is not yet ready for reasons that we do not wish to mention here. So, we saw no reason in delaying its printing. We have included two appendices: one for the author cited in each volume of al-Mizan, and the other for the respective volumes cited therein. These two appendices have been attached to the first volume of the English translation. Apart from this, the reader will find two appendices in all the volumes of the translation of al-Mizan.

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We implore Allah to make us work purely for His pleasure, and to help us to complete this work that we have started. May Allah guide us in proceeding in this step that we have taken, and in future steps, for He is the best Master and the best Helper.

World Organization for Islamic Services

(Board of Writing, Translation and Publication)

18/12/1403

9/ 9/ 1983

Tehran - IRAN