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SHIISM AT A GLANCE (4)

By Yusuf Abdullahi
The fifth Asl or fundamental of Islam is belief in resurrection. In other words, faith in the rise of the dead. In Arabic, the day is referred to as  Yaum al – Qiyamah, when all the dead – tasked men and djinn – would be rose to account for their actions in the mortal world. The day is not peculiar to Islam, but all religions that believe in life after death.

Allah states "Beware of a day when no soul for another shall give satisfaction, and no intercession shall be accepted from it, no any compensation be taken from it, nor neither shall they be helped" Q2:48

With regard to belief in the day of resurrection, the Sheikh stated:

DOCTRINE 43: RESURRECTION, YAUM AL – QIYAMAH

We believe that Allah, the Exalted, will revive all people after their death on a certain day which he has promised them, and that He will then reward the obedient and punish the wrong – doers. In simple form, this is all the Divine religions and philosophies have accepted, but Muslims must believe in it, because it is contained in the Qur’an which our prophet brought, and one who believes in Allah and Muhammad – His Messenger – must also believe in what is related in the Qur’an; resurrection on the Day of Judgment, reward and punishment, paradise (al – Jannah) and its blessings (al – Na’im), the Fire (al – Nar) and Hell (al – Jahim). About one thousand verses in the Qur’an have mentioned the Day of Resurrection.  There is no reason to doubt it, unless one doubts Allah, His power and His Messenger! In fact, this amounts to doubting all religions.

OTHER SELECTED DOCTRINES

Imperatively, it is good to look at few selected doctrines for those sincere truth – seekers to disprove the lies of scandalous mischief – makers against Shiism.  The selected doctrines include Shiism in the opinion of the prophet’s household, the holy Qur’an, love for the household of the prophet, avoidance of oppression, non – participation in oppressive governments, dissimilation (taqiyyah), and Islamic brotherhood between all Muslims.

As mentioned earlier, the write – up is not a serialization of reference book but an attempt in a relative sampling to enlighten the truth – seeking people by establishing the bases for the Shi’ah beliefs from its point of view. The selected doctrines are as follow:

   DOCTRINE 37: THE SHI’AH IN THE OPINION OF PROPHET’S HOUSEHOLD

The Imams of the household (as) did not receive the leadership of Islam, although, however, they never had any designs towards it. So they devoted themselves to educating the Muslims, and to instructing them as Allah had ordered. They remained with those who were faithful to them, and confided in them their secret, took great pains to teach them all the religious commandments and instill in them religious knowledge, and showed them what is of advantage to man and what is harmful. They recognised no one as Shi’i or as one of their followers  unless he obeyed the commands of Allah, kept himself apart from his desires and carried out what they taught and guided him towards. Only to love them will not suffice to save someone, if that person follows his desires, making excuses for his disobedience to Allah, because they have clearly said that love of them will save no one unless it is accompanied by pure actions, truth, honesty, piety and virtue. Imam Baqir (as) said "O Khuthayma! Say to our friends that we can be of no help to them before Allah unless their actions are pure, and that they cannot attain our friendship and love except through their virtue. For surely, one who reveres justice, but does not act in accordance with it, will be stricken with grief and remorse more than anyone else. The Imams desired and expected their followers to guide others and show them the correct path of goodness, and they instructed them to call the people to truth by good actions, saying that this was more important than calling by words:

"call people unto the truth by your behaviour, so that they can see your obedience, and know that you are truthful and obedient"

We shall give some extracts here from conversations between the Imams and their followers, so that the reader may see how they were anxious to educate the people.

1. From Imam Baqir’s conversation with Jabir al – Juhfi:

O Jabir!  How can someone who claims to follow us be content with only loving us? I swear that our follower is one who carries out his duty to Allah and fears Him. Our followers are known by their humility, modesty, exceeding remembrance of Allah, fasting, prayer, being sympathetic and helpful towards the poor, their reading of the Qur’an, saying nothing about a person except concerning his good actions, and they are most trustworthy among those close to them. (O ye who follow!) Observe your duty to Allah, and perform good actions for His reward. For there is no preference by Allah towards anyone. The most beloved of His servants in the presence of Allah is the best in conduct and obedience to Him. O Jabir! nobody can come close to Allah except through obedience, without this, nobody will be saved from Hell, nor can anybody excuse himself before Allah without it. Whosoever obeys Him, he is our friend, but whosoever disobeys Him, he is our enemy. You cannot attain to our friendship except through good actions and virtuousness.

2. From Imam Baqir’s conversation with Sa’id Ibn al – Hasan;

The Imam said "does it happen to you that one of you approaches his brother and put his hand into his brother’s pocket to take some money of which he is in need, without his brother preventing him? Sa’id said "I do not know of such a thing. Then truly, there are no real Shi’i among you. Shall we all perish in that case? Yes, indeed, for such people do not put into action what they say"

3. From Imam Ja’far’s conversation with Abi al – Sabah al – Kanani;

Al – Kanani; How much harassment do we receive from people for your sake?  Al – Imam: What harassment do you receive from them? When there is dispute between, one of us and one of them, they immediately condemn us for following you. Do they condemn you for my sake? Yes indeed. But there are only a few of my followers among you. Only those who possess great and real virtue, whose acts are only for the sake of the creator to obtain His reward, only these are my followers.

4. There are many traditions from Imam Ja’far concerning these matters. Here, we have chosen some of them and written them down:

– If a man lives in a town with a hundred thousand inhabitants or more, and there is someone in that town whose virtue is greater than his, then that man is not one of my followers.

– We do not count among the believers anyone unless he obeys all commandments. Indeed, righteousness is the only sign of one who follows us. Adorn yourselves with it, and may Allah have mercy on you. 

– One whose chasteness and abstinence from unlawful sexuality is not the subject of talk among women is not one of our followers. And one who lives in a town with ten thousand inhabitants and one of them is greater in righteousness than he, then that man is not one of our followers.

Truly, a follower of Ja’far is one who does not listen to his stomach or to his carnal desires, who endeavors in the path of Islam, who acts for the sake of Allah, hoping only for His reward and fearing His chastisement. Yes, indeed, such are the followers of Ja’far.

DOCTRINE 21: BELIEF IN THE QUR’AN

We believe that the Qur’an was divinely inspired, and revealed by Allah on the tongue of His honourable prophet, making clear everything, an everlasting miracle. Man is unable to write anything like it because of its eloquence, clarity, truth and knowledge, and no alteration can be made to it. The Qur’an we have now is exactly what was sent to the prophet, and anyone who claims otherwise is either an evildoer, a mere sophist or else a person in error, and all of them have gone astry, because it is the speech of Allah, and; "falsehood cannot come at it from before it or from behind" Q41:42

One of the testimonies to the miraculous nature of Qur’an is that, as time moves on and the arts and sciences advance, it remains as fresh and harmonious as ever, its supreme aims and ideals preserved. There can be no grounds for dispute with it, nor does it contradict true scientific facts, and there is nothing in it contrary to positive philosophical thinking. On the contrary, it is the books of scientists and even the greatest of philosophers at the pinnacle of learning, which contain at least a few trivialities and contradictions and even incorrect assertions. Moreover, with advances in scientific research and with modern scientific theories, even the greatest philosophers of Greece, such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, whom all those who have come after have recognised them as fathers of science and masters of thought, have been shown to have made some errors.

We also believe that we must respect and give dignity to the Glorious Qur’an, and this in both words and deeds. Therefore, it must not be defiled intentionally, not even one of its letters, and it must not be touched by one who is not tahir. It is said in the Qur’an: "None can touch it save the purified" Q56:79  

This subject is dealt with in the books of Islamic law. Neither is it permitted to burn it or to be impious towards it by any behaviour which is deemed to be insulting, such as throwing it, making it unclean, or putting one’s foot on it; nor is it permitted to put it in a filthy place. If anyone does any of these things or anything similar, he is not a believer in the Qur’an and its sanctity, and he is considered to be an unbeliever. In fact, he has rejected the Lord of all the worlds.

To be continued next week.