Guide to Truths

Guide to Truths was an ideological book written by Seyyed Mojtaba Navvab Safavi. It was first published in early December 1950 and was reprinted in 1953. After the Fadaian Islam group was outlawed and its members were arrested in 1955, all copies of this book were collected by the Pahlavi government. In January 1979, it was republished underground under the pseudonym “Nashr Nazir” by Seyyed Hadi Khosroshahi and distributed throughout the country. This book contained 92 pages. Analysts consider it the manifesto of Fadaian Islam. It influenced the revolutionary thoughts of Seyyed Ali Khamenei and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Navvab Ehtesham Razavi, the brother-in-law of Navvab Safavi, said: “I once suggested to Mr. Navvab that people think you are a terrorist, and the corrupted roots you are removing are misunderstood; they believe your only plan is to eliminate individuals. You must present your goal alongside these actions so people understand what you want.” Navvab Safavi contacted his friends and colleagues in ministries and key governmental centers to gather specialized information for writing the book on Islamic governance. He then synthesised Islamic knowledge to draft the theory of Islamic government from the perspective of Fadaian Islam. This book, published as the “Declaration of Fadaian Islam” or “Guide to Truths,” reflected the leadership’s ideology on establishing a pure Islamic government. Financial constraints delayed the printing by a year, and to print 10,000 copies, shares were divided among individuals.