Islamic Unity and Happiness (book)

The book “Islamic Unity and Happiness” was written by Martyr Ayatollah Mortaza Motahhari and translated by Dr. Alaeddin Pazagadi.

Author

The martyred scholar, Murtadha Mutahhari was born in 1918 in the town of Fariman of Khorassan. He studied for 16 years in the Divinity college of Qom in the branches of literature, jurisprudence, philosophy and other Islamic subjects, and then taught there and later at the Divinity College of Tehran University as professor of theology and philosophy for several years. He was then engaged in research which resulted in the publication of many books on religious, philosophical and social topics. He was an erudite and versatile scholar, as is proved by his lectures, pamphlets and books, a total of 35 published works. He was martyred by assassins in Tehran in April I980. His well-known books arc: Islamic World Visions, Man in the Qur'an, Islamic Revolution, Men and Faith, Divine Justice, Society and History, Revelation and Prophethood.

Overview

This booklet consists of two sections. In section one the writer discusses the meaning of Islamic Unity: What is meant by Islamic Unity? Does it mean that one religion should be chosen from among its different sects, and the rest be put aside? Or does it mean that what is held in common in all of them should be adopted, and the differences ignored, thus creating a new faith which would not resemble any of them? Or again, does it mean that Islamic unity has no relationship whatever with the unity of religions, and the meaning of Muslim unity is the union of the followers of various sects against Non-believers in spite of all their religious differences? In the second section he analyses the question of happiness from different points of view, both religious and philosophical: What is happiness? Is man by nature desirous of happiness? Does man need guidance to attain happiness? These questions and the like are the issues that are dealt with in the book.

Contents

Translator's Introduction

Part 1: Al-Ghadir and Islamic Unity

  Islamic Unity	

  Scholar Amini	

  Others' View of Al-Ghadir	

Part 2: Happiness

  Happiness and Pleasure	

  Happiness and Aspiration	

  Types of Happiness	

  Stages of Happiness	

  Factors of Happiness	

An Overview of a Series of Discussions