Introduction

All praise belongs to Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala alone, and may Allah’s subhanahu wa ta ‘ala peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, his family and the Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum.

This book is the result of persistent efforts from the Shia through various dialogues and discourses that have taken place over the internet in an effort to try and discredit the tradition of the Prophet’s salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam noble Sunnah.

After prudently monitoring their efforts, this book—in its current form—is a record of those same allegations, alongside a critical and objective analysis thereof.[1]

Their objections and relative inferences are based on the following:

1. Hadith, which are sahih (authentic) in principal, but are interpreted in such an exclusive manner, giving the impression that it applies to them only. For example, the hadith:

إني تارك فيكم الثقلين… فحث على كتاب الله ورغب فيه ثم قال: وأهل بيتي أذكركم الله في أهل بيتي

“I leave you with two (weighty) things…” He salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam exhorted and encouraged (us) (to hold fast) to the Book of Allah and said, “And the members of my household. I remind you to fear Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala regarding the members of my household!”

They claim, for instance, that Nabi salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, in this hadith, ordered the Muslims to obey the Ahlul Bayt. Whereas, the actual context of this hadith clearly shows a distinction between adhering to the first, i.e. the Qur’an, and fearing Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala with regards to upholding the Ahlul Bayt’s rights, and not subjugating them to any bias or prejudice.

The Shia, in fact, have used the Ahlul Bayt as their modus operandi for (illegally) usurping the wealth of others. The mandate of the Shia scholars is to conjure and extrude one-fifth of the general public’s total wealth, all in the name of the Ahlul Bayt. To this end, they mercilessly threaten and caution the general masses against eschewing the khums[2], claiming that a person’s deeds will not be accepted until and unless it is paid. To ensure the continuity of this wealth-stream, and to avoid any potential academic inquiries into this matter, they conveniently ignore the general masses’ questions around the issue and (re)direct their attention—in their mass-gatherings they hold, by:

a) Distracting them by recapping the injustices and oppression the Ahlul Bayt underwent; and,

b) by extoling the Ahlul Bayt—to the point of deification at times—thereby striking their emotional chords and diverting their attention from the issue at hand (i.e. the khums). As well encouraging hatred towards the Sahabah of the Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam and his wives, ‘Aisha and Hafsah radiya Llahu ‘anhuma.

They have no real substantiation for this as the hadith forewarns one from using the Ahlul Bayt as pretence for worldly gain. As for their intent behind encouraging hatred for the other members of the Ahlul Bayt, this is only to distract the general masses and cause them to fixate upon that which keeps them rooted on deviation and distant from the truth.

2. Hadith which are da’if (weak) and on account of it appearing in our books, some assume it to be a valid argument against us. On the contrary they are required to fulfil certain criterion before being accepted. Merely appearing in one of our books does not necessitate its acceptance. The only exceptions to the rule are the Sahihayn, the two hadith books of Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim; these two books have reached a unanimous level of recognition and acceptance among the Ahlus Sunnah.

In fact, many of these ahadith contain Shia transmitters. Some of the Rafidah[3] will, at times, reject these hadith, and then, others (among them), will remonstrate over the fact that they exist in our books. At times, these hadith are found in such works that are solely dedicated to evaluating weak transmitters, as is the case with Imam Dhahabi and his famous works on transmitter criticism. In other words, some modern-day Shia will quote hadith—in their attempt to disprove the beliefs of the Ahlus Sunnah—which are, in actual fact, quoted by the Ahlus Sunnah to demonstrate the weakness of a particular transmitter in that specific hadith; sometimes on account of him being a proven liar, or, in other instances, simply on the basis of having a weak memory.

They continued along this trajectory—recklessly referencing hadith—until they began resorting to ahadith that existed in books of poetry, like that of Ahmed Shawqi’s; and even modern-day thinkers, like Mahmud ‘Abbas al ‘Aqqad!

To reiterate, any hadith which the Shia attempt to use against the Ahlus Sunnah that does not fulfil the conditions of acceptability has no credibility and, therefore, will be dismissed and (deemed) insubstantial.

3. Hadith which they believe to be authentic, whereas, in actual fact, they are not. For example, the hadith:

من أحبّ هذين – أي الحسن والحسين – وأباهما كان معي في درجتي في الجنّة

Whoever loves these two (ref. to Hassan and Hussain radiya Llahu ‘anhuma) and their father (i.e. ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu) they will enjoy the same rank as me in Jannat.

Imam al Tirmidhi rahimahu Llah reported this hadith and said:

هذا حديث حسن غريب لا نعرفه من حديث جعفر بن محمد إلا من هذا الوجه

This hadith is Hassan gharib (fair, rare). We are only aware of this (specific) version, as is transmitted from Jafar ibn Muhammad.

The Shia only transmit the word Hassan and conveniently omit the word gharib, which signifies a problem in the chain of transmission.

Ibn Hajar al ‘Asqalani rahimahu Llah writes:

Whenever Imam al Tirmidhi describes a hadith as Hassan, it does necessarily mean that it is acceptable and is a valid form of proof. For example, he transmits another hadith from Khaythamah al Basri—from al Hassan—from ‘Imran ibn al Hussain, and comments immediately thereafter by saying, “This hadith is Hassan, but the chain of transmission is not.”[4]

Mention should also be made that Imam al Tirmidhi—who is famous for being a relatively more lenient hadith critic—at times, deems a hadith to be Hassan which contains a famously-known, weak transmitter, as is the case with ‘Attiyah al ‘Aufi. As a result of Imam al Tirmidhi’s leniency, a group of ‘ulama’ (including Imam al Dhahabi and al Mundhiri) have contended that Imam al Tirmidhi’s authentication cannot be solely relied upon.

4. Hadith, which are sahih but are considered shadh (anomalous).[5]

5. Hadith which the Shia condemn the Ahlus Sunnah for transmitting; whereas, in actual fact, they too, transmit the exact same hadith in their works. For example, the hadith wherein the Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam visited all his wives in one night with only one ghusl. Another example—as you will see later—are the ahadith that speak about the sifat (qualities) of Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala. Their books are replete with such hadith; they criticize us for transmitting them in our works, yet, these exact same hadith have been authenticated by their own ‘ulama’! For example, the famous hadith in which Nabi salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said:

وإن الأنبياء لم يورثوا درهما ولا دينارا ولكن ورثوا العلم

The Prophets bequeath neither dinar nor dirham; they bequeath knowledge.

The Shia behave acrimoniously towards Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu and condemn him for not apportioning the land of Fadak[6] to Fatimah radiya Llahu ‘anha based on his interpretation of the above-mentioned hadith. It is quite a paradox that their ‘ulama’, including al Majlisi, al Niraqi, Khomeini and others have authenticated this same hadith!

Another example is the hadith which speaks about urinating while standing upright. They lambast the Ahlus Sunnah and, despite this, the same hadith is also reported in al Kafi.

6. Hadith, despite their proverbial nature and numerous chains, have not been established or proven to be sound. For example, the hadith:

أنا مدينة العلم وعلي بابها

I am the city of knowledge and ‘Ali is its gate.

Admittedly, there are ahadith which the ‘ulama’ from the Ahlus Sunnah have verified on account of corroborating evidence, such as the hadith:

من كنت مولاه فهذا علي هو مولاه

Whoever considers me to be his master then ‘Ali (too) is his master.

This hadith is sahih but the Shia again take it completely out of context; that is, there were some individuals who held somewhat negative opinions about ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu, so the Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam reminded them of own personal love and affection towards ‘Ali radiya Llahu ‘anhu. Based on this hadith, the Shia, on the other hand, try to establish ‘Ali’s radiya Llahu ‘anhu position as an Imam.

7. Intentional distortion of a hadith. For example, the hadith:

تركت فيكم ما إن تمسكتم (به) لن تضلوا، كتاب الله وعترتي

I leave you with something that, if you were to cleave to it you will never be lead astray; (that is), the Book of Allah and my Family.

The Rafidah distorted the original wording of the hadith, giving the impression that it refers to both the Book of Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala and the Prophet’s salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam Ahlul Bayt. In a Machiavellian manner, they accomplished this by altering the inflected preposition ‘bihi’ (which is in the original wording and refers to the Book of Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala) to ‘bihima’, which implies both the Book of Allah and Nabi’s salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam family.

Another example is the hadith:

من مات ولم يعرف إمام زمانه مات ميتة جاهلية

Whoever dies without having recognized the Imam of his time has died a pre-Islamic death.

Whereas, the actual wording of the hadith is:

من خلع يدا من طاعة لقي الله يوم القيامة لا حجة له ومن مات وليس في عنقه بيعة مات ميتة جاهلية

Whoever removes his ‘hand’ of obedience (i.e. from the ruler) he will meet Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala on the Day of Judgment with no excuses; and whoever dies, and did not pledge his allegiance (i.e. to the ruler) has died a pre-Islamic death.

8. Works dedicated to Shi’ism that are authored by the Shia, but masquerade as Sunni and deceitfully attribute themselves to the Sunni schools of law. These same books—whose authors are actually contemporary Rafidah—are then used as pretence against the Ahlus Sunnah. Such examples include: al Kanji al Shafi’i (as they claim), al Qunduzi al Hanafi (as they claim), Ibn al Sabbagh al Maliki (as they claim), and Ibn Abi al Hadid.

I studied the biographies of the above-mentioned people and exposed them of such falsities (that they so persistently employ in their books).

Throughout the many discussions and dialogues I have had with the Shia, the excellence of the Ahlus Sunnah’s system of hadith transmitter criticism, more specifically, the science of ‘ilm al jarh wa al ta’dil (impugning and approving narrators), has become clear to me. This inimitable system (of grading hadith transmitters) is a sheer manifestation of the divine-providence that Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala has afforded the Prophet’s salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam Sunnah, and how Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala divinely preserved Islam’s second source of law from any interference. Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala placed proficient scholars as guardians over this legacy, and through them exposed the lies of the Shia and those with evil intent.

The Rafidah fabricate lies and then have the audacity to use them against the Ahlus Sunnah, knowing full well that the problems associated with these narrations are on account of the Rafidah themselves! We have no choice but to revert them back to their own. As the proverb says, “The ball has been returned to you.”

For over three years, the Rawafid have yet to produce a single authentic hadith tracing back to the Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. On one hand, they assiduously claim to accept narrations which are only mutawatir (massively transmitted) for their creedal beliefs—as opposed to ahad (individually transmitted) narrations—but, on the other hand, they are willing to accept such tenuous narrations, which are, at times, even fabricated, as long as they are in accordance to their belief structure. At times, they (falsely) claim the Ummah’s consensus on a particular issue. They are even disposed to grading a hadith as ‘weak’ if it is pitted against their beliefs!

Note:

This is an ongoing effort; therefore, any other misgivings and/or objections raised against the Prophetic Sunnah will be appended to this book on a yearly-basis.

I earnestly appeal to the seekers of knowledge (talabat al ‘ilm) to assist me in providing any other comments during their appraisal (of this book), even if it be related to the broader topic of Shi’ism.

I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala, the Most High, the Almighty, to accept this work of mine and grant it divine providence; and may He make it exclusively for His pleasure, for verily He is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.

May the peace and blessings of Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala be upon our master, Muhammad salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, his noble family, and blessed Sahabah radiya Llahu ‘anhum.

‘Abd al Rahman Muhammad Sa’id Dimashqiyyah

22 Sha’ban, 1424 A.H

NEXT⇒ The Imams after me will be Twelve; the same number as the chiefs of the Bani Isra’il

[1] As the reader will see, the author has simply gathered, listed, and attempted to refute all those ahadith which the Shia employ in their attempt to justify their beliefs, and, at the same time, refute the beliefs of the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’ah. [translator’s note]

[2] ‘Khums’ is an Arabic word meaning ‘one-fifth’. According to the Shia, it is applied to the business profit, or surplus, of a business income. It is payable at the beginning of the financial year, though this is regarded as being the time at which the amount becomes clear.

Khums is divided into two portions: one portion going to the descendants of the Prophet salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and the other portion is divided equally and one part given to the Imam and clergy, while the other part to the orphaned and poor Muslims. Khums became a major source of income and financial independence of the clergy in Shia regions and has continued up until the present day. (Translator’s note)

[3] ‘Rafidah’ is an Arabic word meaning “rejecters”, “those who reject” or “those who refuse”. This is an Islamic term which refers to those who, in the opinion of the person using the term, reject legitimate Islamic authority and leadership. Those being called Rafidah generally consider it to be a pejorative appellation, a negative effect, and an abusive nickname.

[4] Imam al Tirmidhi: Sunan al Tirmidhi, 2/128; Ibn Salah: Al Nukat, 1/402; [AUTHOR]. Tawdih al Afkar, 1/179.

[5] Shadh is a term used for a hadith which contradicts more reliable narrations or the Qur’an.

[6] Fadak was a garden oasis in Khaybar, a tract of land in northern Arabia; it is now part of Saudi Arabia. Situated approximately thirty miles from Madinah, Fadak was known for its water wells, dates, and handicrafts.

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