History And Beliefs Of The Shiites[1]

‫بسم ال الرحمن الرحيم‬ History and beliefs of the Shiites Compiled with translated works by Abu Qayla Rasheed Barbee

Introduction Verily all praise belongs to ALLAH we praise Him and we seek His protection and we ask His forgiveness. Verily whomsoever ALLAH guides then there is no one to misguide them and whosoever is misguided then there is no one to guide them. I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship except ALLAH and that Muhammad is His slave and final Messenger. Many questions have arisen as to what is the difference between the Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and why can’t they unite, since they both claim to follow the teachings of Islam. ALLAH revealed the Qur’an to the Prophet Muhammad in order to guide mankind to what will benefit them in this life and the next. ALLAH said, “Follow (O mankind!) the revelation given unto you from your Lord and follow not as friends or protectors other than Him. Little do you that heed of admonition. (Qur'an 7:3-5) Since the Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings are upon him, he is the best example for us to follow in order to be upon correct guidance. ALLAH said, “Say: ‘If you love Allah, follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you your faults: Allah is Forgiving, Most Merciful.’ ” (Qur'an 3:31) And because the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing are upon him, were able to see this example first hand and up close, they are the most knowledge of how to practice Islam correctly and they are also examples for us to follow. ALLAH said, “The first and foremost [to embrace Islam] of those who migrated and those who helped them, and also those who follow them in the best way; Allah is well-pleased with them, and they are with Him." [Qur'an 9:100]

And ALLAH says,” So if they believe as you (you pl.) believe, they are indeed rightly guided. (Qur'an 2:137) ALLAH is addressing the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing are upon him, and his companions in this verse, telling them that they are the standard for correct belief, and in order to be rightly guided you must believe as the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing are upon him, and his companions believed.

History of the Shiites In the 34th year after the migration a Jewish man named Abdullah ibn Saba also known as ibn As-sauda, pretended to enter into Islam while he hid disbelief in his heart. He was a learned man from the Jews, whose father was from Yemen and his mother was from Ethiopia. He began by inciting animosity against Uthman ibn Affan who was the leader of the Muslims at the time, until Uthman was killed due to this. Abdullah ibn Saba then began by saying that he found in the Old Testament that every Prophet has an assistant and that Ali was the assistant to the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings are upon him. This false statement soon escalated into major disbelief, when Abdullah ibn Saba and a group of his followers went to Ali and said to him, “Thou art Thou”, Ali replied to them by saying, “Who am I?!” They said, “The Creator, the Originator”. Ali told them to repent from that evil statement of disbelief, and those that refused to repent he burnt them alive. Sheik Al Islam Ibn Taimiya said, “The people of knowledge have mentioned that Abdullah ibn Saba the hypocrite started the Rafida (the first Shiites), he pretended to enter into Islam while he remained a Jew on the inside with the intention of destroying Islam from within, just like Paul pretended to be a Christian while he remained a Jew for the purpose of destroying Christianity.” The well known Imami Shia critic, Nubakhti, wrote: "Abdullah bin Saba', was one of those who slandered Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman and the

Companions and disowned them. He claimed that it was Ali who enjoined this on him. Ali arrested him, and upon interrogation, admitted to the charge, and (Ali) ordered him to be executed. The People cried 'O Chief of Believers! Do you execute a man calling to your love, Ahlul-Bayt, to your allegiance, and disowning your enemies?' He (Ali) then exiled him to alMada'in.

From the Beliefs of the Shiites From the deviated beliefs of the Shiites is the belief of Al Badaa’. This is the belief that ALLAH changes His mind after new information comes to Him. This belief necessitates that the person believe that ALLAH does not know everything, but rather he receives new information that He previously did not know. The Shiites Ar Rayan ibn Salta said, “I heard Ar Rida say, “Allah has only sent the Prophets to prohibit intoxicants and to establish the belief of Al Badaa”.

See how they deny the statement of the ALLAH, “Truly, nothing is hidden from Allah in the earth or in the heavens.” (Chapter 3 verses 5) Then see how they believe that their Imams have unlimited knowledge; the Shiite Jafar said, “Verily, the Imams, if they want to know something then they know it, and the Imams know when they are going to die and they only die by their choice”. Al-Khomeini said, “Verily the Imams have a position that not even the close Angels or the Prophets can reach”. And from their exaggeration concerning their Imams is the statement in the book entitled “The light of the friends and protectors” (on page 330) where the author states, “Rather whoever drinks the urine, feces, or blood of the Imams then Allah has forbidden him to go to hell and made paradise incumbent for him”.

Different Categories of Shiites The Shiites are those who give preference to Ali over the three rightly guided khalifas Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman although it has been firmly established that they are more virtuous than him. Therefore to prefer Ali over the other three rightly guided khalifas is opposition to established Sunna and it is in opposition to the consensus of the companions. And from the hadiths that establish their virtue over Ali is the following hadith, Ibn Umar reports: “We used to discuss the best of the people during the time of the Prophet peace and blessing are upon him and we saw the best as Abu Bakr, then Umar, then Uthman ibn Affan may ALLAH be pleased with them all. Sahih Al-Bukhaari Ali ibn Abi Talib (may ALLAH be pleased with him) was also very much aware of this and bore witness to it as we see in this narration from his son, which is found in Sahih AlBukhaari also: “I said to my father: ‘Who is the best of the people after Allah's Messenger (peace and blessing are upon him)?’ He said: “Abu Bakr (may ALLAH be pleased with him)”. I said: “And then who?” He said: “And then Umar ibn Al-Khattab (may ALLAH be pleased with him).” I was afraid that he would say Uthman (may ALLAH be pleased with him) next, so I said: “And then you?” To which he answered: “I am nothing but a man among the Muslims.” Sheik Utaibi said, “The first type of Shiites are innovators but they are not disbelievers unless they attached some aspects of disbelief to themselves and these are like the Zaides, they are innovators but not kafirs. The second type of Shiites are innovators and they have with them various statements and beliefs of kufr, like the Rafida, they seek help with other than ALLAH and they make shirk with ALLAH, and they

claim their Imams are infallible and that they have knowledge of the unseen, and they can decide what is halaal and haram in the deen and other than this from the beliefs of kufr. The third type of Shiites is the hypocrite, apostates those who claim to have secret knowledge; you will not find two people for the Muslims who disagree about their kufr. They are the Ismailias and their different offshoots, like the Fatimids, the Druids, the Bohra, the Mukaarama, the Aghakhaniya, and also the Nusayris who are a sect the Rafia but they oppose them in several areas of belief. Therefore all of the Shiites are astray, but they are at different levels.