Imam Ali a.s.

Shia in the light of Quran and Hadith

By Syed Hassan Bokhari

Surah As-Saffat - Verse 83 clearly displays the word "Shia'tehee" in Arabic

The concept of Sharia was first propagated by Hadhrath Nuh (as). The followers of Hadhrath Nuh (as) path were referred to as Shia. This is clear from the fact that we read when referring to Hadhrath Ibrahim (as) Allah (swt) says that he was following the religion of Hadhrath Nuh (as).

We read in Surah As-Saffat (Ch:37) Verse 83:

�Verily Ibrahim was a Shi�a of Nuh�.

The Prophet (s) was likewise from the people of Ibrahim that is because Allah (swt) says in Surah al Baqarah verse 134:

�They say: "Become Jews or Christians and you would be guided (To salvation)." Say No (I would rather) follow the Religion of Abraham�

Surah Al-Qasas - Verse 15 again uses the word Shia for Prophet Musa (AS) followers.

This therefore means that Hadhrath Muhammad (s) was a Shia of Hadhrath Ibrahim (as) - who was a Shia of Hadhrath Nuh (as). The term Shia, should therefore not be viewed with hostility rather previous Prophets and their adherents were Shia.

�And he entered the City at a time when its people were not watching: and he found there two men fighting,- one of his Shia, and the other, of his enemies�. (Qur'an 28:15).

In this verse, Hadhrath Musa (as)�s party are referred to as Shia because Hadhrath Musa (as) was Shia. His followers were Shia as declared by the Holy Qur�an. This fact is acknowledged by the scholars of Ahl�ul Sunnah.

In Tafsir Bidhawi Volume 4 page 125 (Egypt edition)
�One was his Shia in others one that followed his path�.

Allamah Farah Baghawi in his �Mu�allim ul Tanzil� Volume 3 page 175 (India, Bombay edition) writes:

�The fighter was a Shia - a momin, his enemy was a Kaffir�.

Shia in light of hadith of the Prophet(s)
Hadhrath Ali (as) and his Shia are the best of creations

It is in praise of the Shia of Ali that Allah (swt) sent down the following revelation:

�Those who believe and do righteous deeds are the best of the creatures. Their reward from their Lord shall be everlasting gardens, below which flow rivers, they will abide there forever. Well pleased is God with them and they are well pleased with Him� (Qur'an 98:7)�.

Ya Rasool Allah

Muhammad bin Ali narrates in Tafsir ibne Jarir, Volume 33 page 146 (Cairo edition) that the Prophet (s) said �The best of creations are you Ali and your Shias.

Jalaladin Suyuti, (849 - 911 AH) is one of the highest ranked Sunni scholars of all time. In his commentary of this verse, he records through 3 asnad (chains) of narrators, that the Prophet (s) told his companions that the verse referred to Ali and his Shia:

�I swear by the one who controls my life that this man (Ali) and his Shia shall secure deliverance on the day of ressurection�.
TDM Volume 6 page 379 (Cairo edition)

The 3 Sahaba who narrated this hadith are (1) Ali (as) himself (2) Jabir bin Abdullah Ansari (ra) (3) Abdullah ibne Abbas (ra). They are acknowledged by the majority school as truthful narrators of hadith. Had this been in a Shia book, our opponents would have deemed it a forgery, but it�s presence in their own books has perplexed the minds of many of their scholars.

There are no hadith in which the Prophet (s) guaranteed paradise for a specific Sahaba and his followers, with the sole exception of Ali (as) and his Shia. Other Sunni scholars have also recorded this hadith from Jabir bin Abdullah Ansari in their commentaries of the above verse.
Tafsir Fatha ul bayan Volume 10 page 333 (Egypt edition) &
Tafsir Fatha ul Qadir, Volume 5 page 477

Hadhrath Abdullah ibne Abbas narrates �that when this verse descended the Prophet (s) Ali you and your Shia will be joyful on the Day of Judgement� (ibid Suyuti).

Ahmad ibn Hajr al Makki quotes from Imam Dar Qatany in his al Sawaiqh al Muhriqa page 159 (Cairo edition) �O Abul Hasan you and your Shia will attain paradise�.

The Shia will enter Heaven with the Prophet (s), Hadhrath Ali (as) and the pure Imams
Ibn Hajr records this tradition from Imam Tabarani:
�O Ali four people will enter heaven first of all. You, Hasan, Hussain, me and your descendents will follow us and our wives will follow our descendents and our Shia will be to the left and right of us�.

The Prophet (s) promised to meet Ali (as) and his Shia at the fountain of Kawthur

Hadhrath Ali narrates in Tafsir Durre Mansur, Volume 6 page 379 (Cairo edition)
�Have you not heard this verse �Their reward from their Lord shall be everlasting gardens, below which flow rivers, they will abide there forever�? This verse refers to you and your Shia, I promise you that I will be meet you at the Fountain of Kawthur�.

Seventy thousand Shias will enter Heaven without any questioning

Whilst salvation will be for the Shia of course deeds will differ amongst the followers. It is indeed part of the articles of faith of the Ahlul Sunnah that:

�Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) had once observed that as many as seventy thousand of his followers will be allowed entry in to paradise without any questioning�.
Islam: The Basic Articles of Faith - According to the Beliefs of the Ahl al Sunna wa al Jama�a - a Modern English translation of Bahar-e-Shariat Part One (Unamed author) page 67 (First edition, Crescent Publishing, Rochdale 1998)

The question that one should ask is �Did the Prophet (s) expand any further on who this blessed group would be?� The answer is recorded by the Shafii scholar al Maghazli who records a tradition from Anas bin Malik, that he heard the Prophet (s) say:

�Seventy thousand people will go to heaven without questions, the Prophet then turned to Ali and said �they will be from among your Shia and you will be their Imam�

Sunni Reference:
Manaqib Ali al Murtaza, page 184 by al Maghazli al Shafii

What should also be noted is the fact that whilst some verses in the Qur�an are concerned with a specific episode / incident there are some that have a general applicability for all times. Clearly this verse, helps Man to identify the fact that that group �who believe and do righteous deeds are the best of the creatures�.

The verse is a guarantee that at all times, in every era these type of individuals shall exist. If the Prophet (s)�s commentary of that verse is that it is Hadhrath Ali (as) and his Shia that are being referred here, then that means that the Shia compliment this verse.

This means that that in the same way that this verse will exist until the end of the world, Ali (as)�s Shia will likewise exist to provide a practical commentary to it. The fact that the Prophet (s) had made reference to Ali and his Shia during his lifetime proves that the Shia existed then.

Furthermore, the very fact that this verse has never been abrogated means that from then until the Day of Judgment, if one is seeking to identify the best of creations s/he will need to turn to Ali (as) and his Shia. There exist no traditions in which the Prophet (s) guaranteed paradise for a specific companion and his followers, with the sole exception of Ali (as) and his Shia.

If the term Ahl' al Sunna wa'al Jammah existed in a definitive form from the moment of the death of the Holy Prophet, undoubtedly some Hadith fabricators would have put this name in and substituted it for the name Shia. But since this term did not exist till the reign of Al Mansur, a whole century after the death of the Holy Prophet, no such Hadith exists. So what was the title given to the early companions?�.

The companions, the Muhajireen and Ansar were Shi�a

The highly respected Sunni scholar Al Muhaddith Shah Abdul Aziz Dehlavi in his discussion of hadith relating to Ali and his Shia writes:

�The title Shia was first given to those Muhajireen and Ansar who gave Bayah to Ali (may Allah enlighten his face), they were his steadfast faithful followers during his (Ali�s) khilafat, they remained close to him, and they always fought his enemies, and kept on following Ali�s commands and prohibitions the true Shia are these who came in 37 Hijri�
Taufa Ithna Ashari, (Gift to the Twelvers) (Farsi edition p 18, publishers Sohail Academy, Lahore, Pakistan).

 

DrEaMa...

Salam Alaykum,

Thankyou for your response, much appricaited. I have put this post up inorder to begin a intellectual conversation with someone who can see the cup both half full and half empty, therefore by doing so i was waiting for that moment to find someone whom i can share my views with. From what i have observed many here have misconceptions of shias, and i for one would like to change this bias opinion. I too am quite busy, but i will find the time inshAllah.

untill next time takecare...Salam Alaykum..:)

DrEaMa..

DrEaMa:

It is bad enough to debate issues with Ahle-kitab with their Jesus Passion play now you show up with a Shiatic hijacking of Qur'an and Hadith.

 Oh POhleeeese -- you don't know how much damage your self serving dogma has done to the Ummah and I think you don't even care.
I have read Shia religion was conspiracy of Jewish a convert Hassan bin Sabbah against Islam. And we can see the parallel between Catholic set-up with the Shia Ayatollah system.

Shia�s treasonous role in the current invasion and destruction of Iraq speaks volumes about the nature of their religion. This is not the first  destruction of Iraq, they have done this around Halaku Khan�s invasion also. Find out what was the religion of Jaffar when Brits won Bengal  as first step toward India's colonisation--------.

 If some one investigates all of the sub sects within Shia religion, some are almost Christian like-- calling Ali equal to or better than the Prophet and some even say he was G-d. Their passion parades are so much similar to Christians' in third world countries. 

They revere Karbala more than Makkah I know for sure.

Rami needs to review your post before I go further.

The Shi'ah as mentioned in the Quran
The word Shia, Shiah, Shiite, or Shi�ah was used many times in the Holy Quran. It means sect or band but it mostly has a negative meaning. Let's see:

﴿إِنَّ الَّذِين 14; فَرَّقُو&# 1575;ْ دِينَهُم 18; وَكَانُو 75;ْ شِيَعًا لَّسْتَ مِنْهُمْ فِى شَىْءٍ إِنَّمَآ أَمْرُهُ 05;ْ إِلَى اللَّهِ ثُمَّ يُنَبِّئ 15;هُم بِمَا كَانُواْ يَفْعَلُ 08;نَ



مِّن فَوْقِكُ 05;ْ أَوْ مِن تَحْتِ أَرْجُلِ 03;ُمْ أَوْ يَلْبِسَ 03;ُمْ شِيَعاً وَيُذِيق&# 1614; بَعْضَكُ 05;ْ بَأْسَ بَعْضٍ انْظُرْ كَيْفَ نُصَرِّف 15; الاٌّيَـ 78;ِ لَعَلَّه&# 1615;مْ يَفْقَهُ 08;نَ



مُنِيبِي 06;َ إِلَيْهِ وَاتَّقُ&# 1608;هُ وَأَقِيم 15;واْ الصَّلوة 14; وَلاَ تَكُونُو 75;ْ مِنَ الْمُشْر 16;كِينَ - مِنَ الَّذِين 14; فَرَّقُو 75;ْ دِينَهُم 18; وَكَانُو 75;ْ شِيَعاً كُلُّ حِزْبٍ بِمَا لَدَيْهِ 05;ْ فَرِحُون 14;




﴿ثُمَّ لَنَنزِع 14;نَّ مِن كُلِّ شِيعَةٍ أَيُّهُم&# 1618; أَشَدُّ عَلَى الرَّحْم 14;ـنِ عِتِيّاً - ثُمَّ لَنَحْنُ أَعْلَمُ بِ الَّذِين 14; هُمْ أَوْلَى بِهَا صِلِيّاً ﴾








Edited by Fatah-Momin