An Introduction to Sahiffa Sajjadia

William Chitic is one of the great western scholars who have done many researches on Islamic mysticism. One of his important works is a translation of Sahiffa Sajjadia ascribed to Imam Zain al-Abidin from Arabic into English. The present paper is concerned with the introduction which has been written by William Chitic to his translation. Rendering a brief explanation about Imam Zayn al-Abidin and also clarifying the status of prayer and supplication, Chitic tries to make a brief and short historical discussion about documents and different versions of Sahifa. He also renders a content-wise structural analysis of supplications of Sahiffa. The interesting point of Chitic's analyses is that he deals with Sahiffa in a open way far from criticism usual with the western writers.