Publishing

At City of Knowledge, our goal is to make important works of the Islamic intellectual, spiritual, and literary heritage accessible to English-speaking readers with care, accuracy, and respect for the original texts.

Every work we publish goes through a process of translation, revision, and scholarly review. We make every effort to ensure that the texts we release are reviewed by trustworthy and learned scholars and students of the Islamic sciences, particularly where a work contains theological, historical, hadith-based, philosophical, or esoteric material that requires careful treatment.

Our aim is not simply to produce readable translations, but to preserve the meaning, terminology, and character of the original work as faithfully as possible. Where necessary, difficult expressions, technical terms, Qurʾanic references, narrations, names, and theological concepts are checked and clarified so that the English edition remains both accessible and academically responsible.

The publication or translation of a classical work by City of Knowledge should not be understood as an endorsement of every statement, narration, attribution, interpretation, or scholarly opinion contained within that work.

Islamic books have been written and transmitted by human beings, and their contents may differ in strength, authenticity, interpretation, and scholarly acceptance. With the exception of the Holy Qurʾan, no book is treated as infallible in its entirety.

A narration may be accepted, questioned, interpreted differently, or rejected according to its chain of transmission, content, supporting evidence, conformity with established teachings, and the judgments of qualified scholars.

For this reason, our purpose in publishing classical works is to preserve and make available the Islamic scholarly heritage, not to present every line of every work as an unquestionable doctrinal position.

Many valuable works of Shiʿi scholarship remain inaccessible to readers who do not know Arabic or Persian. Some have never been translated into English, while others exist only in partial, outdated, or difficult-to-obtain editions.

City of Knowledge seeks to help bridge that gap by publishing works in theology, history, hadith, spirituality, ethics, philosophy, Qurʾanic studies, and the teachings of the Prophet (sawas) and the Ahl al-Bayt (as)

We approach these works with the belief that preserving the heritage also means presenting it responsibly: faithfully translating the author, distinguishing the author’s words from editorial additions, consulting knowledgeable reviewers, and allowing readers to engage with the tradition with both reverence and critical scholarship.

At the same time, our publishing work is not limited to translations. City of Knowledge also publishes original works written and developed for contemporary readers, including works on Islamic theology, history, spirituality, ethics, the Qurʾan, the Ahl al-Bayt, and other areas of Islamic thought and education.

Our intention is to contribute, even in a small way, to the preservation and transmission of the knowledge of Islam and the Ahl al-Bayt (as) for future generations.