Sayyid Mahmood Taleqani was born to a religious family in 191l in the village of Golyard near the town of Taleqan to the northwest of Tehran. He was born five years after the Persian Constitutional Revolution, at a time when Iran was in a stage of transition from monarchy rule and religious fanaticism. This transition is clearly reflected in Taleqani’s life and scholarly works.

The Iranian Revolution had spurred interest among many scholars, professionals and politicians, in learning more about the Shi'a Islam as it is practised in Iran. This is evident from the many books and articles that have been written or translated into English in the past few years.

The senior scholar, Shaykh Muhammad Taqi Hamadani, whose excellence and piety is testified by consensus of all Madrcssas of Qom and who is also the congregation leader of Masjid Farhang, Qom, has written about the miraculous cure of his wife through the mediation of Imam Zaman (‘a) and the same is quoted here:

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

On Monday, 18th Safar, 1397 A.H., a great tragedy befell us, which put me and my family into deep trouble; that is my wife fell into a coma due to the killings of our two sons in Kohistan Shamiran.

Abd ul-Hamid Hasani, son of Abd ul-Shahid Hasani, resident of Farashband Faras had read about the incident of blood smeared dust from grave of Imam Husayn ('a) before in Dastanhai Shaguft by Ayatullah Sayyid Abd ul-Husayn Dastghaib Shirazi. Then other family members also, who knew Persian. Before Muharram, his father traveled to Karbala and brought some clay from there.

Aga Muhammad Husayn Rukni narrated:

In the year 1342, I had gone to the Ziyarat of Holy Mash-had with my wife and a six-year-old child. One afternoon, we were visiting the holy tomb and I was waiting in the courtyard, waiting for the wife and child. After a long time, my wife came out worried and said that the child was missing. I searched for him very much, but to no avail.

On 16th Jamadi ul-Awwal 97 A.H. in Karbala, Aga Abd ul-Rasool. caretaker of the shrine of His Eminence, Abbas ('a), narrated: Some years ago, late Hajj Abd ul-Rasool Risalat Shirazi from Tehran informed through telegram that Aga Nasir Rahbari, dean of agricultural university, Tehran was arriving there for Ziyarat and he should be given all facilities during his stay in Karbala.

On 10th Jamadi ath-Thani, I was in Karbala al-Moalla in the mausoleum of Sayyid Mujahid (a.m.) with some scholars when Late Hajj Sayyid Muhammad Ali related an incident that:

The late Aga Sayyid Muhammad Ali was a very modest gentleman, having a very firm faith and extremely particular about enjoining good and forbidding evil. He was always striving in religious matters and was also in imprisoned for two years during the British rule in Iraq.

Aga Shaykh Hasan Farid Gulpaygani, who is among the topmost scholars of Tehran, has narrated from his late teacher, Ayatullah Hajj Shaykh Abd ul-Karim Yazdi Haeri (a.m.) that he said:

When I was studying religion in Samarrah, once the residents of that place became involved in epidemic of plague and every day there were a number of deaths.

Aga Hajj Muhammad Hasan Eimania, from whom a number of stories were narrated in the beginning of this book, during the month of Rajah, 1394 A.H. performed the Ziyarat of Imam Ali Al-Ridha ('a) in holy Mash-had. After his return, he said:

There was such a huge crowd of people there; that it was very difficult to enter the holy sanctuary. One day I managed to enter after a great struggle and difficulty and opening the Mafatih put my hand inside my pocket to take out my glasses as I was unable to read and write without them since last few years.

The respected author has also narrated:

I resided in holy Mash-had and in my youth, under the blessings of the kind and affectionate Imam Ali Al-Ridha ('a), my oratory became more famous and more magnetic than my knowledge.

I was studying under Shaykh Ali Akbar Nahawandi, Sayyid Al-Ridha Quchani, Shaykh Ramadhan Ali Quchani, Shaykh Murtaza Bakhurdi and Shaykh Murtaza Ashtyani and in addition to Mash­ had, they sent me to Pakistan, Khandahar and the outskirts.