Sunni Shiite Islam

To Israfil

Salam ala kum,

I respect your viewpoint, and would like to clarify one point and present my humble words.

Some sincere Muslims may ask" Why to the Shia seperate themselves, why don't they just say " We are Muslims, and that's all!" The main reason relates to the following issue.

(I apologize for the lengthy list of narrators, but I'm sure some will object to the following , and I want to establish that I am not making it up from myself)

Allah, the most Glorified and High says: "Allah wishes to remove all impurity from you, O members of the household, and to purify you completely" (33:33).

" The ahl al-sunna wa'l-Jama'a maintain that this verse was revealed for the wives of the Prophet (S.A.W.). They derive their proof from the context of the preceding and following verses. According to their claims, Allah therefore removed impurity from the wives of the Prophet and purified them completely.

Among them are those who add to the [list of the] wives of the Prophet, 'Ali, Fatima, al-Hasan and al-Husayn. But the truth, according to what has been transmitted, as well as according to reasoning, logic and history, refutes this explanation. [This is] because the ahl al-sunna narrate in their Sahihs that the verse was revealed regarding five people namely: Muhammad, 'Ali, Fatima, al-Hasan and al-Husayn, and that the Prophet of Allah (S.A.W.) identified them and his noble self as being referred to by the noble verse when he gathered 'Ali, Fatima, al-Hasan and al-Husayn with him under the cloak. He said: "O Allah! These are my household, so cleanse them of all impurity and purify them completely".

This narration has been reported by a large majority of Sunni scholars. I mention [some of] them:

1. Muslim in his Sahih, in "The Chapter on the Merits of the Prophet's household": Vol. 2, p. 368.

2. Al- Tirmidhi in his Sahih; Vol. 5, p. 30.

3. Al-Musnad, Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal; Vol. 1, p. 330.

4. Al-Mustadrak, al- Hakim; Vol. 3, p. 123.

5. Al-Khas'ais, Imam al-Nasa'i; p. 49

6. Talkhis, al-Dhahabi; Vol. 2, p. 150.

7. Mu'jam, al-Tabrani; Vol. 1, p. 65.

8. Shawahid al-Tanzil, Hakim al-Haskani; Vol. 2, p. 11.

9. Al-Bukhari in his Greater History; Vol. 1, p. 69.

10. Al-Isaba, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani; Vol. 2, p. 502.

11. Tadhkira al-Khawas, Ibn al-Jawzi; p. 233.

12. Tafsir of al-Fakhr al-Razi; Vol. 2, p. 700.

13. The Fountains of Love, al-Qanduzi al-Hanafi; p. 107.

14. Manaqib of al-Khawarizmi, p. 23.

15. Al-Sira of al-Halabi, Vol. l3, p. 212.

16. Al-Sira of al-Dihlaniya; Vol. 3, p. 329.

17. Asad al-Ghaba, Ibn al-Athir; Vol. 2, p. 12.

18. Tafsir of al-Tabari; Vol. 22, p. 6.

19. Al-Dur al-Manthur, al-Suyuti; Vol. 5, p. 198.

20. Ta'rikh of Ibn Asakir; Vol. 1, p. 185.

21. Tafsir al-Kashshaf , al-Zamakhshari; Vol. 1, p. 193

22. Ahkam al-Qur'an , Ibn al-Arabi; Vol. 2, p. 166.

23. Tafsir al-Qurtubi, Vol. 14, p. 182.

24. Al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqa of Ibn Hajar, p. 85.

25. Al-Isti'ab, Ibn Abd al-Barr; Vol. 3, p. 37.

26. Al-'Aqd al-Farid, Ibn 'Abd Rabbih; Vol. 4, p. 311

27. Muntakhab Kanz al-'Ummal; Vol. 5, p. 96.

28. Masabih al-Sunna, al-Baghawi, Vol. 2, p. 278.

29. Asbab al-Nuzul, al-Wahidi; p. 203.

30. Tafsir of Ibn Kathir; Vol. 3, p. 483.

SOURCE: http://www.al-islam.org/ask/3.html#1

YES, This is a lifted from Al-Islam.org, however, it is very important to understand the difference here (and the real souce of conflict).

The Quran and the prophet do not say of any other group that they have been cleansed from all sin, except the Ahl al Bayt.

This is why the Shia give their allegiance to them without question, while our Sunni brothers and sisters do not. This is the crux of the issue. If our non-Shia brothers and sisters in Islam would follow the orders of the prophet and Quran on this point, there would be not reason for any Fitna.

Our Sunni brothers and sisters say that the Shia are the ones who supported the (acording to the Sunni) the Fourth Rightly Guided Khalipate when he was accused by some of the companions of complicity or participation in the killing of Uthman. In reality, the shia (in the sense of the meaning of this verse) existed even during the lifetime of the prophet, and recognized Imam Ali (a.s.) as the rightful successor to the prophet (a.s.) during the prophet (a.s.)'s lifetime.

This is why we call ourselves Shia, which is shorthand for Shia of Ahl al-Bait or Shia of Ali (which are equivelent for obvious reasons).

Salam

Salam unity 1,

Please reflect on the following verse from the Holy Quran

"He it is who has sent down upon thee the Book; in it are clear verses (muhkamat) , which are the mother of the Book, and others are ambiguous (mutashabihat). those in whose heart is sickness follow the ambiguous of them, seeking dissent and seeking their ta'wil, and none knows their ta'wil except Allah and those firmly grounded in knowledge. they say. 'We believe in it; all is from our Lord' ; yet none remembers but men possessed of minds."

(Surat Al'Imran, v.7)

According to the Shia, the phrase "those firmly grounded in knowledge" refers to the the Prophet (a.s.) and the Holy Imams from his household. However, even if you do not except this (and the famous Hadith which says "I leave among you two weighty things, The Holy Quran and my Ahl'al Bait, these two shall never part from eachother...), we must be very careful in doing our own tafseer of Quran. As far as I know, neither of us are religious scholars, nor we would consider ourselves to be among those "firmly grounded in knowledge" even in the common understanding of the term.

I have to admit, that I am becoming frustrated with the responses to my postings. I have invested considerable time and effort in documenting my sources of opinion as a courtesy to others and to allow a serious academic discussion. On the other hand if you review the responses to my posting, they can be catogrized as two types.

1.) Questions which are asked for the purpose of trying to cast doubt on the validity of my assertions.

2.) Non-scholarly opinion and speculation regarding the true meaning and interpretation of verses from the Holy Quran, Hadith and historical events.

As a courtesy, I would appreciate the following information in your responses.

1.) Instead of trying to "chip away" at my arguments based on you own opinions, please propose an ALTERNATIVE interpretation. This alternative should consider the points that I have made and offer another explanation that is not already addressed, or expand on something that has already been addressed. To just simply do your own tafseer of a verse and say that "it is obvious to anyone" is not what I am humbly asking for.

2.) PLEASE PROVIDE REFERENCES. All Muslims respect a scholarly opinion, and I am interested in hearing from those who are familiar with the works of scholars who have a different point of view.

If a person feels that his/her own knowledge is sufficient and that he does not need to resort to the guidance of knowledgeable persons, then the result is that his opinions will surely be a source only of misguidance to himself and others.

dear brothers and sisters Salamun alaykum.I am a ne-revert to Islam after a long period of soul searching and reading. Islam is the most beautiful message of GOD.

After reading in-depth , after what happened after the demise of Holy Prophet (PBUH) , i concluded, that IMAM ALI is the rightly appointed successor to Holy Prophet and the followers of Imam Ali , have thus direct link to Holy Prophet.

Look at what Muawiyah did to Imam Ali....hundreds of people killed in Siffeen in the war against the RIGHTLY Appointed successor of Prophet. But I am amazed how my Sunni brothers and sisters just ignore this huge fact and still respect this person (muawiya)

Even if you look at the world today, True Islam is being represented by the teachings of Islamic Revolution in iran.

We have same book, same Allah, same Kaaba, same Prophet, but unfortunately, i have seen Salafis, curse and swear and label as Kafir 'other muslims". I have not met a single Shia brother or sister who will call others Kafir.

All this has led me to study Shia school deeply and I conlcuded that SHIAISM is the mainstream and the direct connection to Holy Prophet.

Another mind-boggling fact :

SON of Imam Ali, hussain gave up everything in karabala , when he was killed by Yazeed son of Muawiya.

But HOW MANY SUNNIS do we know who even respect and consider Imam hussain as a HERO of islam and condemn the killer army of yazid?

Despite the difference my shia -contacts urge me to join hands with other muslims based on our common points.

I just want to urge every one to be open and fair minded.

Long live Muslim Unity.

salams

Well, thanks for the information. I maybe have been biased by what i saw . I have some pakistani sunni friends , who consider Shia -kafirs.

similar is the deal with the brothers from saudi.

Again I stress today, the enemies of islam would love for us to attack each other.