The Exhibition of History, Literature, Religion, and Knowledge in the «Notables› Letters»

This article reviews the book «Notables› letters» which is a selection of the letters by notable figures and scholars to Āyatullāh Sayyid Shahāb al-Dīn Mar‘ashī Najafī. The author of the present article writes a general introduction of the book, describes the diversity of its content and the letter writers, and refers to a part of the evidences of this letter collection that has been published in the past. Then he enumerates the themes of the letters under some titles and gives in a topical guide about them that involves narration license, autobiographies, genealogy, new findings about some prominent figures, social, cultural, and seminarian endeavors of the late Mar‘ashī, and books about which a point or description has been given in the foregoing letters (based on the alphabetical order of the book names). Moreover, some scientific points asserted in the letters about topics such as the qur’ānic sciences, Islamic traditions, biography writing, history, Islamic beliefs, bibliography, genealogy, occult sciences, and Imām Mahdī (a) are examined. The article ends with some criticisms of the books and suggestions for its forthcoming imprints.