Career
Sultanu l-Wa'izin Shirazi was born in Tehran on 12 May 1894. After his primary school in Tehran, he moved with his father to Karbala and studies in some Hawzas. The debate is said to have taken place in Peshawar, (now in Pakistan, which at the time was part of British India), beginning on 27 January 1927.
The Shi'a were victorious in debate. according to the preface:
A condition of the dialogue was that only sources acceptable to both sects would be cited. The dialogue was held in Persian, commonly understood in the city of Peshawar. The transcript, made by four reporters and published in the newspapers daily, was published in book form in Teheran and soon became a classic authority in the East.
The present work is based on the fourth edition, published in Teheran in 1971, the year in which Sultan al-Wa'izin died at the age of 75.