Our History

The 1960s were a time when communication lacked technology capable of reaching many people. It was a period that had yet to witness the internet, satellites, cell phones, social networks, and other modern methods of communication. The only ways to communicate were by telephone, telex, and mail. Acknowledging that these methods were difficult to use and many people around the world had no access to them, communicating with people around the world was limited and difficult.

Meanwhile, during the 60s Islam’s call was yet to reach many parts of the world or was spread incorrectly, this was despite the passage of nearly 1400 years from Islam’s emergence. Therefore, people from different religions had many questions when confronting Muslims and their acts of worship (such as prayer, fasting, hijab, prohibition of pork consumption, etc.). In addition, due to a lack of access to reputable religious centers and useful truthful books, many Muslims deviated from their religion.

Under such circumstances, in 1966, the Worldwide Organization for Islamic Services was established by two conscientious and devoted individuals; the late Sayed Morteza Nouri and the late Sayed Mohammad Ali Shahrestani, to fulfill their religious and moral duty.  This organization has had significant activities in the fields of authoring, translating, researching, and publishing books with correct Islamic ideology in the modern languages in the subjects of Saying (Hadith), interpretation, history, Quranic sciences, theology, etc.

The services of this institute are:

• Answering religious-related inquiries of individuals who contacted the Institute of Islamic Services. These individuals range from the lowest level of education to university professors, orientalists, cultural figures, sociologists, the military, and even prisoners, from around the world (over 50 countries and more than 22,000 active correspondence cases). The communication has been continuous through publication, cultural and religious postcards, questionnaires, etc.
• Exceptional translations of selected Shia books and studies, writing and compiling books (and booklets) to meet religious needs (75 books in 147 volumes in English and 9 other languages)
  • Quranic Sciences: “Tafsir Al-Mizan”   (in 13 volumes), “Extracts from The Holy Quran and its Guidance”, etc.
  • Beliefs: “Imamate”, “Islam”, “Shia Beliefs”, “Ghadir Khum”, “Muhammad the Last Prophet”, etc.
  • Hadith: “Usul Al-Kafi” (in 27 volumes), “Nahj Al-Balaghah” (in 3 volumes), “Al-Sahifa Al-Sajjadieh”, etc.
  • Jurisprudence: “The Rights of Women in Islam”, “The Laws of Personal Status in Jafari Jurisprudence”, etc.
  • Society and Culture: “Brotherhood and Equality in Islam”, “The Religion of Fellowship in Islam”, etc.
  • Economy: “Economic System in Islam”, “Our Economy” (in 3 volumes), etc.
  • History: “Imam Hussain’s (a.s) Revolution”, “The Last Luminary”, “The Brief History of Fourteen Infallibles (a.s)”, etc.
• Attracting, educating, and training talented people to promote in different parts of the world (different countries in Africa, Japan, Italy, etc.)
• Establishment of Religious Centers owned by the Institute of Islamic Services in the United States (Huston and New York) and the United Kingdom (London)
• Academic and financial cooperation with reputable religious centers in Africa (Tanzania, Kenya, Ivory Coast, and Sierra Leone), Asia (Japan, China, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, etc.)
• Strong and effective participation in prestigious book fairs (Iran, Egypt, etc.)
• Establishment of the “Ahl Al-Bayt Heritage Revival” institute under the management of the late Sheikh Reza Amini Najafi within the Institute of Islamic Services to prepare and distribute Shia books through the institute and in book fairs.

Currently, WOFIS’s activities include those listed in the “Who We Are” section.

Since accessing most scientific and cultural centers has become easy thanks to the Internet, the Worldwide Organization for Islamic Services has been taking advantage of the situation in the past decades launching a website to spread information and expand its activities.