Are shias muslims?
Mu'
meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam
Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and
Blessings be upon all of you)
One
of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:
Dear
Brother Burhan, Assalmu alay kum and May allah give you better rewards for
maintaing this forum.
Brother,
I am an
So, I
want to know from you the belives of this Shiya guys. Can we consider them
Muslim or not?
If
Yes, it`s OK that they are in Makkah. If not they should not be allowed to be
in Makkah, as non muslims are not allowed in Makkah.
Please
write me the complete belives of the shiya guys.
HOpe
to recive your details reply soon.
Allah
Haif and keep up your good work.
(There may be some
grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not
change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our
readers for circulation in confidentiality.)
Answer:
Are shias
Muslims?
In the name of
Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever
Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can
guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no
person, no grave, no prophet, no imam,
no dai, nobody!) worthy of
worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His
slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Allah says
in the Holy Quran Chapter 22 Surah Hajj verse 77-78: O you who have
believed, do ‘rukooh’ (bow down) and do
‘sajdah’ (prostration), and worship your Lord Allah Alone, and do righteous
deeds: it may be that you attain true success!
Exert your utmost for the cause of Allah, as one should. He has chosen you for His service, and has
not laid on you any hardship in your religion.
Therefore, be steadfast in the
religion of your father Abraham. Allah
had named you ‘muslims’ before this, and has named you (muslims) in this Quran
also, so that the Messenger may
be a witness in regard to you, and you
may be witnesses in regard to the rest of mankind.
Allah says
in the Holy Quran Chapter 23 Surah Al-Mu’minun verse 52: And this ‘Ummah’ of
yours is one ‘Ummah’, and I (Allah) am
your Lord, so fear Me alone!
Dear and Beloved
Brother in Islam, it is indeed unfortunate that today the believers wish to be
recognized by man-made names likes Shias, Sunnis, Ismailis, Hanafis, Shafeis,
etc. Allah Subhanah has declared that
the community of the believers are one Ummah, and the name He has chosen for
the believers is ‘muslims’. It is indeed
unfortunate that the believers wish to be recognized by their self-invented
names, rather than be honored and recognized by the name that Allah Subhanah
has chosen for them; ie. ‘muslims’!!!
Your Question:
So, I want to know from you the belives of this Shiya guys. Can we consider
them Muslim or not?
Regardless of what
name or sect one chooses to belong to; if one declares the ‘shahaadah’ or
testimony of faith that there is no god or deity worthy of worship except Allah
Subhanah Alone, and Mohammed (saws) is the Last and Final Messenger of Allah
(saws); that person will be deemed a ‘muslim’ in the sight of the believers and
in the sight of the Shariah or Islamic Law.
Any person who declares this testimony of faith will be regarded a legal
muslim, and all the rights that are due to a muslim will be accorded to the
person in full. He can marry amongst the
believers, he will inherit from his muslim parents, he can visit the Sacred
House of Allah, he will be given a muslim burial, etc.
Allah Subhanah has
not made it the duty of the believers, nor have the believers been given the
power to look inside the heart and determine the intention of those who declare
this supreme ‘shahaadah’. Regardless of
what has in one’s hearts, or regardless of what one wishes to call himself; or
regardless of the discrepancies in his deeds; etc. if one declares the
‘shahaadah’ or testimony of faith in the Oneness of Allah and in the
appointment of Prophet Mohamed (saws) as the Last and Final Messenger of Allah,
the person will be ‘legally’ recognized as a muslim and all the rights that are
due to a muslim brother will be accorded to him in full.
It is only on the
Day of Judgment when the All-Knowing, All-Wise Lord Alone will Judge and
determine who amongst the people were ‘real’ muslims, and who were not! That decision and judgment is for the Supreme
and Majestic Lord Alone to make.
Sunan
of Abu-Dawood Hadith 2526 Narrated by
Anas ibn Malik
The
Prophet (saws) said: ‘Three things are the roots of faith:
to
refrain from (killing) a person who utters, "There is no god but Allah",
and
not to
declare him unbeliever whatever sin he commits, and
not to
excommunicate him from Islam for his any action.’
There is absolutely
no doubt that our believing brethren who call themselves ‘Shias’ do declare
their belief in the Absolute Oneness of Allah Subhanah, and the appointment of
Prophet Mohamed (saws) as the Last and Final Messenger of Allah; thus in all
aspects of Islamic Law they will be regarded as muslims, and all the rights
that are due to the muslims will be accorded to them in full.
Your Question:
Please write me the complete belives of the shiya guys.
Dear and Beloved
Brother, if we were to write the complete beliefs of our ‘Shia’ brethren, it
would indeed require volumes of books to be written! Scholar upon scholar from both sides have
written their opinions and differences of opinions between those who call
themselves ‘Shias’ and the mainstream ‘muslims’, but neither side have been
able to convince the other! It is indeed
unfortunate that the Ummah of muslims, who were commanded to remain united in
their worship of their One and Only Lord, have broken themselves into sects,
each trying to declare the other as non-muslims!
Allah says
in the Holy Quran Chapter 23 Surah Mu’minoon verse 52-53: And you all belong to
one and the same ummah, and I(Allah) am
your Lord; so fear Me Alone! Yet
afterwards the people divided themselves into different sects, and each sect rejoicing in what it has. Well,
leave them deeply involved in their heedlessness up to an appointed
time.
The biggest point of
contention between the mainstream muslims and their Shia brethren is in the
choice and appointment of the ‘Ameer ul Mumineen’ or ‘Leader of the believers’
after the death of the noble Messenger of Allah (saws).
The mainstream
muslims believe that the Messenger of Allah (saws) did not himself appoint his
heir-apparent to lead the believers after his death, and trained the believers
enough in his lifetime to choose the best amongst them by consensus to be their
‘Ameer’ or leader; and that is precisely how the believers in consensus chose
the noble companion and life-long friend of the Messenger of Allah (saws),
Hadrat Abu-Bakr as-Siddiq (r.a.) as the ‘Ameer ul Mumineen’ after the death of
the Messenger of Allah (saws).
Our brethren who call
themselves ‘Shias’ believe that, before his death, the Messenger of Allah
(saws) specifically appointed his noble companion and son-in-law, Hadrat Ali
ibn Abi Taalib (r.a.) as his heir-apparent and to be the ‘Ameer-ul-Mumineen’
after his (saws) death. They further
believe that the appointment of the ‘Ameer’ is not something that should and
can be left upto the believers to choose amongst themselves; but they are
chosen and appointed by the preceding ‘Ameer’ or ‘Imaam’ under the guidance of
Allah, before his death.
The choosing and/or
the appointment of who would be the ‘Ameer’ after the death of the Messenger of
Allah (saws) and the succession of the ‘Imaams’ for times to come until the Day
of Judgment is the main bone of contention between the two major sects in
Islam.
Allah says
in Chapter 45 Surah Al-Jathiyah aayat 17: "Then they differed amongst
themselves after the knowledge (of Islam) had come to them, only because they
wanted to wrong one another. Your Lord will judge between them on the Day of
Resurrection concerning the matters in which they have been differing."
Dear and Beloved
Brother in Islam, our duty as believers is not to add fire or widen the
differences between the two differing parties; but as their brothers in Islam
and in these extremely trying times for the ‘Muslim Ummah’ our duty should
always be to reconcile and set the relations right between our believing
brethren, regardless of their differences.
Allah says
in the Holy Quran Chapter 49 Surah Hujaraat verses 10: The believers are the
brothers of one another; so set the
relations right between your brethren and fear Allah. It is expected that you will be shown Mercy.
Whatever written of
Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever
of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows
Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.
Your
Brother in Islam,
Burhan
