Research & editorial method
How we evaluate the historical record
Written from a Twelver Shia standpoint. Evidence, interpretation, and devotional memory are not interchangeable.
Our source hierarchy
- Qur’anic passages: cite the surah and verse; explain when an interpretation comes from Shia tafsir.
- Hadith reports: name the work, edition, report and available chain; do not imply that appearance in a collection alone establishes authenticity.
- Historical narratives: compare early reports and identify tensions or uncertainty in dates, speeches and episodes.
- Devotional tradition: distinguish maqtal, ziyarat and later commemorative traditions from verified historical particulars.
- Children's adaptation: simplify language and emotional detail without inventing named quotations or presenting illustrative scenes as eyewitness history.
Current editorial status
V35 added 14 biography context panels and an audit file covering 140 game questions, with seven carefully targeted explanation revisions. The material still awaits a full report-level scholarly and age-suitability review.
The audit file is included in the deployment package as V35_EDITORIAL_AUDIT.json. It does not contain or claim religious rulings.
Starting points for responsible study
- The Twelve Imams — Al-Islam.org ↗
- Ghadir Khumm research collection ↗
- Infallibility (Ismah) — Al-Islam.org ↗
- The Twelfth Imam: Al-Mahdi — Al-Islam.org ↗
- The Fourteen Luminaries — biographical collection ↗
Important: these links are reading leads only. They do not certify every claim in this website. Please verify specific quotations with appropriate editions and scholarship before further publication or teaching.