Documents of the Right Word

consider Islam to consist of loving the Ahl-i-Bayt, which is certainly
something beautiful in itself, and thus take the whole book for
granted and, consequently, deviate from the right way, believing
that the book is rightful in its criticism of the As-hâb-i-kirâm ‘radiy-
Allâhu ta’âlâ anhum ajma’în’ and the scholars of Ahl as-sunna.
The book Tuhfa-i-isnâ Ashariyya, written in the Persian
language and printed in India in order to refute mentally and
scientifically the writings in the so-called book and in other
similarly poisonous books, has been translated into Turkish and
printed in order to protect Muslims from falling into such a grave,
bottomless, abysmal disaster, with the command of hadrat Sultan
Abd-ul-Hamîd Khân II, our master and Pâdishâh ‘rahmatullâhi
ta’âlâ aleyh’, a protector of the Islamic religion and a rescuer of
Muslims, and the Turkish version is already in circulation. Yet we
have considered it appropriate to write another refutation to the
book Husniyya, and named this refutation of ours Tezkiya-i-Ahli-Bayt.
Detailed refutation is available also in our book Sahâba the
Blessed, from the fifth heading on.
[The book Tuhfa-i-isnâ ashariyya, in Persian, was printed in
India in 1266 [C.E. 1850]. A copy of the book exists in the library
of Istanbul University. It was written by Ghulâm Halîm Shah
Abd-ul-’Azîz Dahlawî, who passed away in India in 1239 [C.E.
1823]. The book, which tells about Shi’îs, was printed again in
1309. Abd-ul-’Azîz Dahlawî is the son on Waliyy-ullah Ahmad
bin Abd-ur-Rahîm Dahlawî (1114-1180), the celebrated (Islamic)
scholar].
A closer look at the book Husniyya betrays the fact that its
translator was not a Persian but he must have been an Ottoman
clerk in Istanbul who, though being of the Sunni ancestral origin,
had wandered away from the right way. In order to rescue both
this person and those young people who might have had the
unlucky chance of reading this book from meeting the endless
disaster, we are beginning to write this refutation of ours, trusting
ourselves to Allâhu ta’âlâ. This refutation, Tezkiya-i-Ahl-i-Bayt,
was printed in Istanbul in 1295 (C.E. 1878). It has been discovered
that the refutation was written by ’Uthmân (Osmân) bin Nâsir
Efendi, the Shaikh of Yenikap› Mevlevîhâne in Istanbul. It is
written in Qâmûs-ul-a’lâm that his father, Nâsir Efendi, passed
away in 1236 (C.E. 1821)].
1- It is related as follows at the beginning of the book
Husniyya: “A merchant, who was a devoted friend of Imâm-i-
Ja’fer Sâdiq’s [83-148, in Medîna] ‘radiy-Allâhu anh’, had a very
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