Introduction

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

قَالُوْا يَا أَبَانَا إِنَّا ذَهَبْنَا نَسْتَبِقُ وَتَرَكْنَا يُوْسُفَ عِنْدَ مَتَاعِنَا فَأَكَلَهُ الذِّئْبُ وَمَا أَنْتَ بِمُؤْمِنٍ لَّنَا وَلَوْ كُنَّا صَادِقِيْنَ

They cried, “Our father! We went racing and left Yusuf with our belongings; and a wolf devoured him! But you will not believe us, no matter how truthful we are.”[1]

All praise belongs to Allah. Salutations and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, and all his Companions. After praise and salutations, undoubtedly, reality is the lost item of everyone, and before that, the lost item of a believer—he aspires for it and strives to obtain it. Even if it is lost for some time, undoubtedly it will return and become apparent a second time by the act of decree or the effort of a noble researcher. Realities are generally eminent and noble; those connected to them strive to announce them and be classified with them. Others are disgraceful and shameful; those connected to them make every effort to destroy them and conceal their signs.[2] In fact, they sometimes attribute these disgraceful realities to others and accuse them of their evil so that the honour of the former may be maintained and protected from being the target of criticism and blame.

The first type is not in need of a strenuous effort to reveal and unveil it, for its signs remain apparent even after negligence; whereas the second type demands great effort searching for it, equal to the effort spent in burying and hiding it.

Majority of the beliefs of the Shia Imamiyyah remained in the frame of the second type for a prolonged period, especially those connected to the actuality of their Takfir towards the rest of the Muslims sects in general and towards the Ahlus Sunnah wa al Jama’ah in particular. It remained buried in the pit of concealment and disguise for a lengthy period without the vast majority of Muslims being aware of it. In fact, the matter did not end here. They smeared fake blood on the garment of reality and clothed others with the garment of their crimes. In every era and age, they appeared sorrowful with crocodile tears over the lost Islamic unity[3] and portrayed the Shia faith as oppressed under the obstinacy and haughtiness of the other Islamic groups and their harshness in passing verdicts against it and its adherents.[4] With their false pronouncements and devilish schemes, they turned the wolf into the prey and the prey into the wolf. They excelled in portraying this to the extent that majority of people, comprising mainly of the Ahlus Sunnah, believed them.

To carry out the Shar’i decisive mandatory command of changing evil so that conjecture does not become a reality nor falsehood a fundamental in the minds, I determined to dive into the hazard of writing on this subject—despite its burden on me. The purpose is to highlight the reality of the current belief of the Shia concerning other Muslims. I adhered to the precedent in the methodology of refutation, according to my thought, which no one besides me has ventured to do in this detail, in my limited knowledge. I will adhere to two fundamental characteristics, which will terminate the deceit of their fraudulent and deceitful scholars and missionaries:

My reliance in furnishing proof to establish this ‘aqidah according to them on the fiqhi verdicts of their scholars which the Shia adhere to in all corners of the world; not just relying on quoting narrations, word-perfect or in meaning. Sufficing on the latter allows them scope to flee on the basis of tad’if (declaring the narration weak) or rejection of these narration—as is their habit of distorting and falsifying reality when they are challenged with categorical texts and quotes which establish their defects or disclose deviation in their [Shia] mazhab.[5]
I relied in this treatise on the exact writings of the scholars of the [Shia] creed, their commentaries and juristic rulings. I sourced them directly. I did not rely on what other Ahlus Sunnah have written in their refutations against the Shia in this domain. I did not quote a single letter from them (the Ahlus Sunnah) in all the narrations and statements I quoted and furnished as proof. Although it is burdensome to probe and study their books and pinpoint their statements related to ‘aqidah and fiqh, I find it the preferred methodology in comprehending the issues of dispute in general and the subject of Takfir in particular. This is due to two matters:
- This is closer to fairness with them.
- There is greater compulsion in it and it is more burdensome against them since it blocks all escapes, from which the callers of adulteration and deception can exit. Reliable references and those cited as proof are only from the books of the defendant’s mazhab, not from the plaintiff’s scholars and sources.[6]

This treatise has surfaced, with the grace and assistance of Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala, perfect and accurate in covering all holes and escape routes of the deceitful who falsely and deceitfully deny that the Shia Imamiyyah excommunicate other Muslims. Solid, sturdy, beautifully laid out as it is established and founded on the emphatic statements of the Shia scholars, coupled with the narrations and verbatim texts of the Shia creed, which are relied upon.

I implore Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala to disseminate it among all the Muslims and to determine its acceptance in their sight and its correctness in establishing the intended.

I hope from the men of excellence (the scholars, preachers, and thinkers), the men of authority (the leaders and responsible brothers), and then everyone to whom the voice of the word and action of establishment reaches from the general Muslims populace to study it earnestly and to grant it more importance, as the matter which it discusses and details—besides its great importance and untold benefit—was not readily or easily accessible. It demanded great research from tens of books and combing finely through hundreds of books and footnotes and sourcing them—a cumbersome task for the masters, forget others.

Hopefully, it will be a means to reveal the reality of their conferences so that the veil is lifted from the eyes and the enemy is determined from the friend so that good thoughts are not held about the foe, the breacher is not trusted, and the wicked is not taken as a confidant. May the advice of our Rabb, the Majestic and Mighty, apply to us when He addressed His believing servants advising them in every era and every place:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِيْنَ آمَنُوْا لَا تَتَّخِذُوْا بِطَانَةً مِّنْ دُوْنِكُمْ لَا يَأْلُوْنَكُمْ خَبَالًا وَدُّوْا مَا عَنِتُّمْ قَدْ بَدَتِ الْبَغْضَاءُ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَمَا تُخْفِيْ صُدُوْرُهُمْ أَكْبَرُ قَدْ بَيَّنَّا لَكُمُ الْآيَاتِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تَعْقِلُوْنَ هَا أَنْتُمْ أُولَاءِ تُحِبُّوْنَهُمْ وَلَا يُحِبُّوْنَكُمْ وَتُؤْمِنُوْنَ بِالْكِتَابِ كُلِّهِ وَإِذَا لَقُوْكُمْ قَالُوْا آمَنَّا وَإِذَا خَلَوْا عَضُّوْا عَلَيْكُمُ الْأَنَامِلَ مِنَ الْغَيْظِ قُلْ مُوْتُوْا بِغَيْظِكُمْ إِنَّ اللهَ عَلِيْمٌ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُوْرِ إِنْ تَمْسَسْكُمْ حَسَنَةٌ تَسُؤْهُمْ وَإِنْ تُصِبْكُمْ سَيِّئَةٌ يَفْرَحُوْا بِهَا وَإِنْ تَصْبِرُوْا وَتَتَّقُوْا لَا يَضُرُّكُمْ كَيْدُهُمْ شَيْئًا إِنَّ اللهَ بِمَا يَعْمَلُوْنَ مُحِيْطٌ

O believers! Do not associate closely with others who would not miss a chance to harm you. Their only desire is to see you suffer. Their prejudice has become evident from what they say—and what their hearts hide is far worse. We have made Our revelations clear to you, if only you understood. Here you are! You love them but they do not love you, and you believe in all Scriptures. When they meet you they say, “We believe.” But when alone, they bite their fingertips in rage. Say, [O Prophet,] “May you die of your rage!” Surely, Allah knows best what is hidden in the heart. When you [believers] are touched with good, they grieve; but when you are afflicted with evil, they rejoice. [Yet,] if you are patient and mindful [of Allah], their schemes will not harm you in the least. Surely, Allah is Fully Aware of what they do.[7]

May Allah send salutations, peace, and blessings upon our Nabi Muhammad, his family, and his Companions—all of them.

NEXT⇒ Chapter One – Establishing the Concept of Takfir to be a well-grounded tenet according to the Shia determined by their narrations and emphatically stated by their scholars – Introduction

[1] Surah Yusuf: 17.

[2] Like the belief of Takfir (excommunication) according to the Shia—which is the topic of this treatise. The authorities and scholars of Shi’ism, when they were weak and not in authority, strove to conceal it and efface its signs, expressing their dissociation from it with all muscle, shrewdness, falsehood, and deception. O beloved reader, when you realise the rootedness of this disgusting belief among them and its emphatic establishment according to them, you will be very surprised at the manner they remained distant, in the eyes of others, from being disgraced by it; or the mere possibility of it being their opinion will stun you. You can well imagine the amount of effort spent by them to hide this evident landmark and principle in their ideology and its banishment from the minds of others.

[3] They are the furthest from all in focusing on achieving this unity, even by a single step. In fact, the bitter reality which those who are aware of it know is that the Imamiyyah employed such claims—like the claim of unity between the sects—as an easy means to spread their beliefs among the ranks of the Ahlus Sunnah and to establish a base of operations in their cities (followed by sowing seeds to destroy the fundamentals of these factions or to change their image in the eyes of their adherents). This is their desired philosophy which makes it clear that the fundamental outcome of such conferences of unity is nothing but this. This is supported by a statement in the book al Imamah, pg. 28 – 29, “What we aspire for from the Muslim Unity is the founding of a conducive environment of similar ideas so that we may present our fundamentals and furu’ (branches) which include what we believe in viz. fiqh, hadith, ‘aqidah, philosophy, tafsir, and literature in a manner that it allows us to present our commodity as the best commodity, so that the Shia do not remain in isolation most of the time and so that significant opportunities open for them in the Islamic world after which the doors will not remain closed in front of the valuable Shia Islamic cultural affairs.” He then returns to emphasise that this is the exact target which their Ayatollah al ‘Uzma al Burujirdi strove to establish behind raising the banners and calling to taqrib (unity), expounding on the extent of his success which he gained in this field. He writes, pg. 30, “What the deceased Ayatollah al ‘Uzma al Burujirdi specially planned is formulating a ground appropriate to spread the cultural affairs of the Ahlul Bayt and to disseminate them between the brothers of the Ahlus Sunnah. He believed that this action will not be possible except by founding a ground of similar ideas. The success which the deceased al Burujirdi achieved—may Allah reward him abundantly on behalf of Islam and the Muslims—is publishing some Shia books of fiqh in Egypt by the Egyptians themselves. This came after this understanding was created. This was the most significant success obtained by Shia scholars.”

Here is their scribe Jafar al Shakhuri al Bahrani calling to rely on this twisted methodology in splitting the Sunni unity while calling the authors of the Imamiyyah to discard the methodology of sharp attack on the sects and symbolic figures of the Ahlus Sunnah—especially the first three khalifas. He supports this call of his by asserting that adopting such a methodology will result in creating dislike in the Ahlus Sunnah for the Shia creed and will lead to them criticising the latter. He invites them, instead, to the methodology of well-wishing and love, expressing tokens of harmony, brotherhood, and unity. He clearly acknowledges the success of this methodology in disseminating the Shia Imamiyyah ideology in many Muslim lands and in an extensive form. He commends the efforts of their religious authority ‘Abdul Hussain Sharaf al Din, author of the book al Muraja’at, one of their greatest latter missionaries following this cunning methodology and his proficiency in it. He says in his book Marja’iyyat al Marhalah wa Ghubar al Taghyir, pg. 228, “Salubrious to mention here that books of this like which seek tirelessly to expose the evils of the symbolic figures of the Sunnah, even physical features and habits which have no bearing with history, create the aversion of people for Shi’ism. This is contrary to balanced books like the book al Muraja’at (of Sayed Sharaf al Din) and Ma’alim al Madrasatayn (of Sayed Murtada al ‘Askari) which resulted in the spreading of the Shia ideology extensively because the Sunni reader when he finds an academic discussion with calm dialogue, he will be open to reading and studying it.”

Very sadly, some of their missionaries succeeded, while raising the banner of unity, oneness, and brotherhood, in disseminating Shi’ism among some of the Ahlus Sunnah, especially when majority of whom—even though not all—were ignorant and do not have the immunity of knowledge and faith, making it easy to deceive and hoodwink them.

[4] Ayatollah al ‘Uzma ‘Abdul Hussain Sharaf al Din—the master of dramatization amongst the Imamiyyah—presents to us in his book Ajwibat Masa’il Jar Allah a glimpse of his creations, which he expresses in the performance style of a tragedy. He describes the oppression against the Ahlul Bayt and the incrimination of “brothers in din” as a sorrowful lament. He writes on pg. 49, “Until when will you target your brothers; we find in al Sawa’iq al Muhriqah the Shia being labelled as innovators and heretics, in Minhaj al Sunnah they are insulted, in al Nibras they are labelled liars, in Fajr al Islam the Islam [of the Sunnis] called the true Islam and the Kurd of Sham the eloquent in Arabic, the authors and aides of the Ahlus Sunnah—the likes of al Nusuli in his book about Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan; al Hassan the author of al ‘Arubah fi al Mizan, and this Musa who was an extremist in his rulings, and Ibn ‘Anah in his Ma’amih and Majahilih—rule them to be ignorant and thus permit against the Shia that which Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, has forbidden on account of their enmity and ignorance. The Muslims hear and see without rejecting or being painfully affected, as if the Shia are not their brothers in din nor their helpers against those who intend evil with them.”

[5] When you turn towards the books of the Shia, you will find that they do not have a comprehensive, complete manhaj (methodology) with clear characteristics or a scale to assess narrations and ahadith for acceptance or rejection. When you use a disparaging narration against them as proof, they rush to label it weak and quickly respond by asserting that not everything contained in their books is authentic, despite them citing as proof narrations with far weaker sanads (chains) or weaker matans (texts) in other places of their books. Their books of ‘aqidah are brimming with such mindboggling contradictions in relation to narrations. Likewise, when you wish to indict them with a belief by sufficing on quoting narrations as evidence, you will find yourself circling a whirlpool without gaining any footing. This has been the distinctive characteristic of the Shia scholars; formulating a methodology to professionally conceal the truth. Resorting to such unprecedented rejection is unfathomable when the emphatic statements of their scholars in their books of ‘aqa’id and fiqh—coupled with their narrations—were relied upon when presenting this discussion; leaving no room for the slightest chance of trickery and dishonesty. If they still reject it then they may as well worship Allah subhanahu wa ta ‘ala without the rulings of their creed and without the fiqh expounded by their scholars.

[6] As the Shia Ustadh of fake crying, ‘Abdul Hussain Sharaf al Din, persists upon demanding from the Muslims fairness with the Shia and desisting from oppressing them by quoting from their books, not the books of their adversaries. He says in his book al Fusul al Muhimmah fi Ta’lif al Ummah, pg. 166, “Fourth type: a group who have relied in quoting these disasters and calamities of the Shia upon their early scholars who preceded them. They found them narrating something so they narrated it; and found a trace and followed it. Had they, in ascertaining the opinions of the Imamiyyah, resorted to their scholars and taken the principles of their mazhab from their books, it would be closer to ascertaining and proceeding with caution. I am perplexed how they discarded the books of the Imamiyyah at this juncture, despite their abundance and easy accessibility, and relied on quoting their untrue enemies and speculating adversaries who have forcibly pronounced their deviation and verbally abused them with tongues of fabrication. This is an era in which one who does not reference quotations, like liars, or leaves his speech ambiguous is not listened to until he directs us to the source and shows us the evidence from reliable sources. Thousands of our books on fiqh, hadith, ‘aqidah, tafsir, usul, awrad, adhkar, suluk, and akhlaq have been published in various countries including Iran and India. Whoever wishes to reflect may source them and should not resort to terrible books which spread the spirits of hatred in the body of Muslims and transmit blatant lies in the name of the Shia.” Just as their contemporary Ayatollah al ‘Uzma Muhammad Sa’id al Hakim moans, quoting the methodology of ‘Abdul Hussain, when he says in his book Fi Rihab al ‘Aqidah, vol. 1 pg. 300 – 301, “As for today, the books of the Shia and the sources of their culture are accessible to everyone. Others cannot claim ignorance of them. Just as it is not possible for the Shia to conceal and deny them, it is not fair to believe their enemies against them, who slander them without resorting to and being aware of those sources.”

I say to them and their like: Let your eyes be of comfort as I have not quoted except what the scholars of Shi’ism have written, direct from the exact source without any means in transmission; so that the continuous moans with crocodile tears and counterfeit complaints can end, never to ever return.

[7] Surah Al ‘Imran: 118 – 120.

BACK⇒ Return to Table of contents

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Introduction

قَالُوْا يَا أَبَانَا إِنَّا ذَهَبْنَا نَسْتَبِقُ وَتَرَكْنَا يُوْسُفَ عِنْدَ مَتَاعِنَا فَأَكَلَهُ الذِّئْبُ وَمَا أَنْتَ بِمُؤْمِنٍ لَّنَا وَلَوْ كُنَّا صَادِقِيْنَ

They cried, “Our father! We went racing and left Yusuf with our belongings; and a wolf devoured him! But you will not believe us, no matter how truthful we are.”[1]

All praise belongs to Allah. Salutations and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, and all his Companions. After praise and salutations, undoubtedly, reality is the lost item of everyone, and before that, the lost item of a believer—he aspires for it and strives to obtain it. Even if it is lost for some time, undoubtedly it will return and become apparent a second time by the act of decree or the effort of a noble researcher. Realities are generally eminent and noble; those connected to them strive to announce them and be classified with them. Others are disgraceful and shameful; those connected to them make every effort to destroy them and conceal their signs.[2] In fact, they sometimes attribute these disgraceful realities to others and accuse them of their evil so that the honour of the former may be maintained and protected from being the target of criticism and blame.

The first type is not in need of a strenuous effort to reveal and unveil it, for its signs remain apparent even after negligence; whereas the second type demands great effort searching for it, equal to the effort spent in burying and hiding it.

Majority of the beliefs of the Shia Imamiyyah remained in the frame of the second type for a prolonged period, especially those connected to the actuality of their Takfir towards the rest of the Muslims sects in general and towards the Ahlus Sunnah wa al Jama’ah in particular. It remained buried in the pit of concealment and disguise for a lengthy period without the vast majority of Muslims being aware of it. In fact, the matter did not end here. They smeared fake blood on the garment of reality and clothed others with the garment of their crimes. In every era and age, they appeared sorrowful with crocodile tears over the lost Islamic unity[3] and portrayed the Shia faith as oppressed under the obstinacy and haughtiness of the other Islamic groups and their harshness in passing verdicts against it and its adherents.[4] With their false pronouncements and devilish schemes, they turned the wolf into the prey and the prey into the wolf. They excelled in portraying this to the extent that majority of people, comprising mainly of the Ahlus Sunnah, believed them.

To carry out the Shar’i decisive mandatory command of changing evil so that conjecture does not become a reality nor falsehood a fundamental in the minds, I determined to dive into the hazard of writing on this subject—despite its burden on me. The purpose is to highlight the reality of the current belief of the Shia concerning other Muslims. I adhered to the precedent in the methodology of refutation, according to my thought, which no one besides me has ventured to do in this detail, in my limited knowledge. I will adhere to two fundamental characteristics, which will terminate the deceit of their fraudulent and deceitful scholars and missionaries:

My reliance in furnishing proof to establish this ‘aqidah according to them on the fiqhi verdicts of their scholars which the Shia adhere to in all corners of the world; not just relying on quoting narrations, word-perfect or in meaning. Sufficing on the latter allows them scope to flee on the basis of tad’if (declaring the narration weak) or rejection of these narration—as is their habit of distorting and falsifying reality when they are challenged with categorical texts and quotes which establish their defects or disclose deviation in their [Shia] mazhab.[5]
I relied in this treatise on the exact writings of the scholars of the [Shia] creed, their commentaries and juristic rulings. I sourced them directly. I did not rely on what other Ahlus Sunnah have written in their refutations against the Shia in this domain. I did not quote a single letter from them (the Ahlus Sunnah) in all the narrations and statements I quoted and furnished as proof. Although it is burdensome to probe and study their books and pinpoint their statements related to ‘aqidah and fiqh, I find it the preferred methodology in comprehending the issues of dispute in general and the subject of Takfir in particular. This is due to two matters:
- This is closer to fairness with them.
- There is greater compulsion in it and it is more burdensome against them since it blocks all escapes, from which the callers of adulteration and deception can exit. Reliable references and those cited as proof are only from the books of the defendant’s mazhab, not from the plaintiff’s scholars and sources.[6]