Islamic Rulings on Shi`ites (Rawafid)
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
Ibrahim reported
that his father Hasan said that his father Hasan said that his father Ali
bin Abu-Talib (may Allah be pleased with them) said: "The
Messenger of Allah said:
"There
will appear, at the end of time, people who are called Rawafidah
(rejecters). They will reject Islam."
[Musnad Ahmad]
Abdullah ibn Abbas
(may Allah be pleased with them) reported that The Messenger (may peace be
upon him) said: "There
will be, at the end of the time, people who are called Rawafid
(rejecters). They will reject Islam and spit it out. Thus, KILL THEM
for they are polytheists."
Ahl-ul-Bayt (the household of the Messenger)
- Imam Ali
bin Abu-Talib (r.a.)
It was reported that
Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) used to repeat the following
statement: "The
best one after the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) is Abu Bakr. And the best one
after Abu Bakr is Umar."
He also whipped those who claimed that he (Ali) is better than Abu Bakr and Umar.
[Ibn Majah]
Imam Ali bin Abu-Talib
(r.a.) said: "The
Messenger of Allah called me and told me: "You are like Jesus, Jews
hated him till they slandered his mother, and Christians loved him till
they put him in the position that is not for him.
With regard to me, two categories of persons will be ruined, namely he who
loves me too much and the love takes him away from rightfulness, and he
who hates me too much and the hatred takes him away from rightfulness.
Verily, I am not a prophet, and there is nothing revealed to me. But I
work according to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of his Prophet (pbuh)
as much as I can. So whatever I have asked you in regards to obeying Allah, it is
your duty to obey me whether you like it or not."
[Ahmad]
Imam Ali (r.a.)
said: "There
will appear, at the end of time, people claimed to be from our Shia, but
they are not from our Shia. They have a nickname called Rawafid
(rejecters). If you meet them, KILL THEM for they are
polytheists."
Imam Ali (r.a.)
said: "With
regard to me, two categories of persons will be ruined, namely he who loves
me too much and the love takes him away from rightfulness, and he who
hates me too much and the hatred takes him away from rightfulness. The
best man with regard to me is he who is in the middle course. So be with
him and be with the great majority (of Muslims) because Allah's hand (of
protection) is with keeping unity."
[Nahjul Balagha, sermon 126 about the Kharijites]
During that time, people who called themselves Muslims were three groups :
1- Kharijites who said that Imam Ali was a disbeliever and they sent Ibn
Muljim to kill him and he did that.
2- Shia who said that he was infallible Imam and Allah had chosen him for
leading Muslims.
3- Sunnis ( Majority of Muslims ) who said that he was a great companion
of the prophet and he was a great leader to Muslims but Muslims had chosen
him to be their leader not Allah.
Read Imam Ali's words and then examine the
three groups, you will come to the conclusion that the Sunnis are
following the middle course advocated by Imam Ali.
- Imam Hasan
bin Ali (r.a.)
'Aasim bin Damrah
said to Hasan bin Ali (son of Imam Ali) that the Shi`ites claim that Ali will come back.
Then Imam Hasan said: "Those
liars lied. If we had known that, his wives would not have married
(other men)
nor
would we have shared his heritage."
Early Scholars
It was reported that
often Abu Haneefa used to repeat the following statement about the
Shi`ites, "Whoever
doubts whether they are disbelievers has himself committed disbelief."
On one occasion al-Shaafi`i
said concerning the Shi`ites, "I
have not seen among the heretics a people more famous for falsehood
than the Raafidite Shi`ites."
[Ibn Taymeeyah, Minhaaj as-Sunnah an-Nabawiyyah, 1/39] On another
occasion he said, "Narrate
knowledge from everyone you meet, except the Raafidite Shi`ites, because
they invent Hadeeths and adopt them as part of their religion."
[Ibid, p. 38]
Once Malik was
asked about them and he replied, "Do
not speak to them nor narrate from them, for surely they are liars."
[Minhaaj as-Sunnah, 1/37] During a class of Imam Malik, it was
mentioned that the Raafidite Shi`ites curse the Sahaba. In reply, he
quoted the Quranic verse, "Muhammad
is the Messenger of Allah and those with him are harsh with the
disbelievers and gentle among themselves. So that the disbelievers may
become enraged with them."
He then said, "Whoever
becomes enraged when the Sahaba are mentioned is one about whom the
verse speaks."
[Tafseeer al-Qurtubee, Soorah al-Fath; Editor’s note: That is,
anyone who is enraged by the mention of the Sahaba is a disbeliever,
because the verse says, "…the
disbelievers may become enraged with them (Sahaba)."]
Imam Ibn Hazm
quoted a report with an isnad going back to Hishaam ibn ‘Ammaar, who said:
"I heard Malik ibn Anas say: "Whoever
curses Abu Bakr should be whipped, and whoever curses Aisha should be
killed."
He was asked, "Why do you say that concerning (the one who curses) Aisha?"
He said,
Because
Allah says concerning Aisha, (may Allah be pleased with her):
"Allah
forbids you from it (slander her) and warns you not to
repeat the like of it forever, if you are believers."
(al-Noor 24:17)’"
Abu Bakr ibn al-‘Arabi
said: "Because
the people who slandered Aisha accused a pure and innocent person of
immorality, then Allah exonerated her. So everyone who accuses her of that
of which Allah has stated she is innocent is rejecting what Allah says,
and everyone who rejects what Allah says is a kafir. This
is the opinion of Malik, and the matter is very clear to those who have
insight."
Ibn al-Mubarak was
reported to have said, "Religion
is gained from Ahl al-Hadeeth, scholastic theology and crafty exemptions
from religious ordinances of Ahl ar-Ray and lies from the Raafidite
Shi`ites." [AzZahabI,
al Muntaqaa min Minhaaj al-I`tidaal, p. 480]
This great scholar
was quoted as saying, "If
you see someone degrade any of the companions of the Prophet, (pbuh), know
that he is a disbeliever. Because the Prophet, (pbuh), was real, what he
brought was the truth and all of it was conveyed to us by the way of the
Sahaba. What those disbelievers wish to do is to cast doubt on the
reliability of our narrators in order to invalidate the Quran and the
Sunnah. Thus the disbelievers are the ones most deserving defamation."
One day during the
period of Muslim rule in Spain, Imam Abu Muhammad ibn Hazm was having a
debate with some Spanish Catholic priests about their religious texts. He
brought before them evidence of textual distortions in the Bible and the
loss of original manuscripts. When they replied by pointing out to him
Shi`ite claims also being distorted, Ibn Hazm informed them that "Shi`ite
could not be used as evidence against the Quran or against Muslims
because they are not themselves Muslims."
[Ibn Hazm, al-Fisaal fee al-Milal wa an-Nihal, 2/78 and 4/182]
Their claims have
been rebutted by numerous other early scholars like
Ibn Taymiyah
in Minhaaj as-Sunnah, AzZahabi in Muntaqaa
min Minhaaj al-I`tidaal, Ibn Katheer in his history
book al-Bidaayah wa an-Nihaayah, Ibn al-Jawzi in
Talbees Iblees, al-Qadi ibn al-Arabi in al-`Awasim
min al-Qawasim, At-Tahaawi in al-`Aqeedah at-Tahaawiyyah,
and Al-Qadi Abu Ya`laa.
Contemporary Scholars
This great Pakistani
scholar and leader wrote an introduction to the book, Ar-Riddah bain
al-Ams wa al-Yaum (lit. Apostasy in the Past and the Present) by
Muhammad Kazim Habeeb published in 1977. In it, the author wrote of the Imami Ja'fari Shi'ites, "In
spite of their moderate views
(relative to other
sects of Shi'ism),
they are swimming in disbelief like white blood cells in blood or like
fish in water."
Maududi supported these views by praising the author and recommending that
the book be done in hardback.
He declared the
Raafidite Shi'ites disbelievers because of their defamation of the
Sahaba. His position was based on the rulings of Imam Malik and other
scholars who were in agreement with him. In reply to their claim to be Ahl
Bayt (the Prophet's (pbuh) family), al-Alusi said, "No,
they are really followers of the Devils and Ahl Bayt are innocent of
them."
When this great
Syrian scholar was asked if transactions were permissible with Shi'ites,
he replied in a book called Al-islam wa as-Sahaba al-Kiraam bain as-Sunnah
wa ash-Shia in which he said, "Political
and economic dealings with them are allowed in the same way that they are
allowed with states and people with whom there are treaties in spite of
differences between their lands and religions and ours. And help
can only be sought from Allah."
This scholar was
among those who worked sincerely for rapprochement between the Sunnis
and the Shi'ites, and they in turn pretended moderation for his benefit.
However, in the midst of his efforts they caught him by surprise, by
presenting him with some of their books which slandered Islam. He then
replied to them in a paper called As-Sunnah wa ash-Shia in which
he exposed their doctrines and idolatrous practices.
After living closely
to the Shi'ites for some years, the famous Moroccan scholar, Dr Hilali,
wrote a paper on them in which he declared them disbelievers.
While visiting Iraq,
this professor who is the leading religious scholar in Algeria saw with
his own eyes the Shi'ite book, Az-Zahraa, in which 'Umar ibn al-Khattab
- may Allah be pleased with him - is accused of homosexuality. On
his return home to Algeria, he exposed the Shi'ites and clearly outlined
their principle beliefs and practices.
This eminent
Palestinian scholar was also among those who lived with the Shi'ites for a
period and worked for rapprochement with them; however, he soon discovered
their real intentions and noted them in the foreword of his classic,
As-Sunnah wa Makanatuha. He wrote, "Those
people continue to hold fast to their books in which slanderous attacks
and false descriptions are given of the incidents of disagreement among
the Sahaba. Hence their intention behind the call to rapprochement seems
to be bringing the Sunnites closer to the Shi'ite creed and not
bringing them closer to each other."
On another occasion, he wrote, "A
Muslim would almost be in a state of total bewilderment and confusion at
the audacity of these people towards Allah's Messenger (pbuh) were it not
for his knowledge that most of the Rafidites are Persians. Some
Persians feigned Islam and used Shi'ism as a cover for the
destruction of Islam. There were also among the Persians those who
were unable to free themselves from the effects of their former religions
and thus they entered Islam with a pagan mentality which did not mind
telling lies about the Prophet (pbuh)"
Among other
contemporary scholars who have have made similar statements are: Shaikh
Ibn Baaz, 'Allama ash-Shanqiti, al-Albani,
Ahmad Ameen, Muhibuddeen al-Khatib,an-Nashashibi
and Dr. Rashad Saalim.
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