1. 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 the near future.

2. 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.

3. 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 contained in itself, to a considerable extent, the points which 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.

4. 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 ready yet for the reasons which we do not wish to state here. So, we saw no reason in delaying its printing. We have included two appendixes: one for the authors cited in all the volumes of al-Mizan, and the other for the books cited therein. These two appendixes have been attached to the first volume of the English translation. Apart from this, the reader will find two appendixes in all the volumes of the translation of al-Mizan.

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

World Organization for Islamic Services

(Board of Writing, Translation and Publication)

6/4/1402

1/2/1982

Tehran - IRAN