Introduction

Abstract

This book seeks to investigate the sharp criticism directed at Imāmiyyah Shīʿite theology delivered by the Iranian Shīʿite theologian Shriʿat Sangelaji. It will illuminate Sangelaji’s theological and philosophical ideas, their origins and sources of inspiration, their social context and political significance. This chapter gives a background to Sangelaji’s body of ideas, how they were developed and how they were influenced, after which it identifies the connections between the most important component parts of Sangelaji’s body of ideas and the Salafist intellectual tradition. This chapter presents also the method that will be used in this book.