Sunni-Shi'a

82297

I have read in Wikipedia that some Shia Muslims disputed the canonical validity of the Uthmanic codex of the Quran. Is this true? If so, can you tell me who they were?

Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 1 day ago

Shia believe that Quranic text is intact and no one can change it as Allah (SWT) promised in Quran (We Have revealed the Thikr (Quran) and We Are keeping it intact) Sura 15, Verse 9.

Uthman removed he Tafseer which was mentioned by the Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) on some verses and written by Imam Ali (AS). The Quranic text remains the same.

Wassalam.

68030

Combining Prayers . Sunni-Shi'a

How many times in a day did our Holy Prophet (PBHU) and Hazrat Ali offer Salat? Did they generally pray the 5 prayers at separate times or combine them as the Shia do today?

Zoheir Ali Esmail, Shaykh Zoheir Ali Esmail has a Bsc in Accounting and Finance from the LSE in London, and an MA in Islamic Studies from Middlesex University. He studied Arabic at Damascus University and holds a PhD... Answered 2 days ago

Bismillah

Thank you for your question. They generally prayed the 5 prayers at their separate times.

At the same time, even when the prayers of zuhr and asr and magrib and isha are combined this is still prayers 5 times a day even if the gap between the prayers is small. So it is a mistake to say Shias pray 3 times a day. The prayers are 5.

May you always be successful

81620

Iran . Umar b. al-Khattab . Sunni-Shi'a

Our Sunni friends say it was the caliph Umar who liberated Iran from Zoroastrianism and introduced them to Islam. Is it true?

Amina Inloes, Amina Inloes is originally from the US and has a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter on Shi'a hadith. She is the program leader for the MA Islamic Studies program at the... Answer updated 1 week ago

First, in this day and age, it is good for us to be thoughtful about how we phrase things. "Liberating" people from Zoroastrianism is rude. Zoroastrianism, like most world religions, has good things and bad things. In any case, it is good to respect people's faith and heritage, especially since Zoroastrianism continues to be practiced today.

Second, describing the conquest of lands by the Muslim Empire as "liberation" can come across the wrong way.

It is true that 'Umar ibn al-Khattab ordered an invasion of the Sassanian Empire which led to the conquest of what is present-day Iran. So, it is more correct to say that he annexed Iran to the Arab-Muslim Empire, and this was one of the factors that led Iran to become a Muslim region.

That being said, military annexation of a region is not the same thing as converting a people to Islam, or even introducing them to Islam. Actual conversion to Islam in conquered lands happened over a span of time. Conversely, Islam spread in many areas, such as Indonesia, where the initial Muslim Empire had no power. There were good and bad points about the conquests of the early Muslim Empire.

Sometimes - in my experience - some of our Sunni brothers and sisters glorify those conquests, perhaps out of respect for the first 3 caliphs, without taking into consideration that they were in fact military conquests which were not dissimilar to the expansion of other empires. Like other military expansions they brought some good and and some difficulty, some people in these areas were (according to what we can glean from historical records) fine with being under Muslim rule or even welcomed it, and some resisted it. Basically it's good to take a more intermediate position, neither to say "Islam spread by the sword and those Muslims are violent!" nor to say "Muslims liberated all the other regions from their former faiths." (In fact, that comes across as quite violent.)

As for who introduced Iran to Islam, why not begin with Salman al-Farsi? And, second, what about the letter that the Prophet (S) sent to the Persian king, inviting him to Islam?

81598

Sunni . Scholars . Authenticity . Hadith . Narrations . Sunni-Shi'a . Hadith al-Qudsi

What is the view of the majority of Sunni and Shia scholars on the authenticity of Hadith Qudsi? Are such narrations common to both?

Further clarification:

There are many different hadith that are considered hadith qudsi (that is, telling us directly what God says, but not as part of the Qur'anic revelation).

Some of these hadith are shared between Sunnis and Shi'is, and some are specifically Sunni, and some are specifically Shi'i.

As mentioned in the previous answer, each one can be evaluated individually with respect to its authenticity.

Sunni . Scholars . Authenticity . Hadith . Narrations . Sunni-Shi'a . Hadith al-Qudsi

What is the view of the majority of Sunni and Shia scholars on the authenticity of Hadith Qudsi? Are such narrations common to both?

Hadeeth Qudsi is narrated in Sunni and Shia books. Our Ulama study the content and the chain of narrators before giving their opinion about the authenticity of it.

We have books on Hadeeth Qudsi compiled by Shia Ulama as well as Sunni Ulama.

Wassalam.

80473

Muslims . Sunni . Heaven . Sufism . Sunni-Shi'a . Imamah

Will Muslims of other schools of thought, such as the Sunni and Sufi brothers, be able to go to heaven or will they be punished for not believing in the Shia Imams?

Allah says in the Qur'an that the only thing that will not be forgiven is that partners be associated with Allah, and that Allah forgives whatever else Allah wills.

Allah also says in the Qur'an that whoever believes and works righteous deeds, including Jews, Christians, and Sabeans, will have a good afterlife.

With that in mind, how can someone exclude some people from heaven just because they are not Shi'i (or Shi'i Ithna Ashari)?

Only Allah has the authority and power to send people to heaven or hell.

Nowadays, also, people often follow religions or sects due to inherited understandings and doctrines. A Sunni who loves certain individuals (who do not have the same status among Shi'is) does so because they have heard very good things about them, or because they believe the Prophet (S) loves them, not because they are trying to fight against the Imams or support wrong.

It is a different situation for someone who actually was alive during the time of Imam 'Ali (A) and saw him and rejected him or physically fought against him. Anyway most Sunnis, and most or all Sufis, respect Imam 'Ali and other Imams, they just have a different understanding of their role.

However, following the teachings of Ahl al-Bayt (A) through the Imams can help develop one's ethics, actions, and spirituality in such a way that can, insha'allah, help with going to heaven. Also one can hope for the intercession of the Imams (A) if one has a close relationship to them and is dedicated to them, and this is also an invaluable gift.

81110

Sunni-Shi'a . Zaydiyya . Twelver . Ahl al-Bayt

Is it true that the first three Shia states were all Zaydi? How do the Twelvers respond to the views of Imam Zayd and his followers, the Zaydis, who claim to be true followers of the Ahlul Bayt?

Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi, Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi went to the Hawza-e ‘Ilmiya-e Qum, Iran where he attended the dars-e kharij lectures of Ayatullah Wahid Khurãsãni. He also obtained an MA degree in History in 1991 from Simon... Answer imported 2 weeks ago

1. Zayd bin 'Ali ash-Shahid:

Among the children of Imam 'Ali Zaynul 'Abidin (a.s.), after Muhammad al-Baqir, Zayd was the most outstanding and the most learned. Shaykh Mufid describes him as "a devout worshipper, pious, a jurist, God-fearing and brave." (al-Irshad, p. 403) It is worth mentioning that he is also the first narrator of the famous as-Sahifah as-Sajjădiyya of Imam Zaynul 'Abidin (a.s.).

Zayd led an armed rebellion against the Marwanid (the Umayyid clan which came to power after Yazid) ruler, Hisham bin 'Abdul Malik; and was calling people towards "the accepted person from among the descendants of the Prophet". He led the uprising in Kufa but was killed on 2nd Safar in 120 A.H. at the age of forty-two by Yusuf bin 'Amr ath-Thaqafi (the Umayyid governor), his body was taken out of the grave, put on a cross for four years, then it was burnt and his ashes were spread in the wind. (See al-Mufid, al-Irshad, p. 404; al-Mas'udi, Muruj adh-Dhahab; al-Qummi, Muntahal Amăl, p. 36).

Because of his jihad and his claim for the Ahlul Bayt, some Shi'as, however, thought that Zayd was claiming imamate for himself and therefore started believing in him as the Imam.

The Ithna-'Ashari sources do not believe that Zayd claimed imamate for himself. For example, Shaykh Mufid, one of the earliest Shi'a theologians says, "However that was not his intention because he knew of the right of his brother, peace be on him, to the Imamate before him, and of his bequest of trusteeship (wasiyya) at his death to Abu 'Abd Allăh (i.e., Ja'far as-Sadiq), peace be on him." (al-Irshad, p. 404).

Even the way Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s.) reacted to Zayd's martyrdom shows the uprightness of the latter in his faith in the Imams of Ahlul Bayt. When Imam as-Sadiq was informed about Zayd's martyrdom, "he was very sad...and he set apart a thousand dinars of his own money for the families of those of (Zayd's) followers who were killed with him." (al-Irshad, p. 405) For other such narrations by Shaykh as-Saduq, see Muntahal Amăl, p. 36.

In conclusion, we can say that Zayd bin 'Ali was an outstanding Shi'a, a mujăhid and a shahid who was loyal to the line of the Imams of Ahlul Bayt, including his own brother, Muhammad al-Baqir, and, his nephew, Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s.). This leaves us with no choice but to reject the statement made by the late 'Allamah Tabătabă'i that Zayd himself "considered the first two caliphs, Abu Bakr and Umar, as their Imams." (Shi'a Islam, p. 77)

2. The Zaydiyya Sect:

Among the three sub-sects of the Zaydiyya, al-Jărudiyya is extinct. The other two sub-sects, the Sulaymăniyya and the Batariyya, cannot be technically considered as "Shi'a". Both believe that the Prophet did not appoint anyone as his successor; both believe in the caliphate of Abu Bakr and 'Umar but not in the caliphate of 'Uthman; they do not believe in the infallibility of the Imams; they believe that it is possible to have two imams at the same time but in two different regions.

According to the Zaydiyya, any descendant of the Prophet (i.e., a sayyid) who is a jurist (faqih, mujtahid), pious, courageous, and calls people towards Allăh by the "sword" (i.e., jihad) can be the imam. (On this account, the late Ayatullah al-Khumayni was definitely fulfilling all these requirements for the imamate of the Zaydis! I wonder what the Yemeni Zaydis have to say about this? But, on the other hand, they might say that this would apply to the Zaydis in Iran only!!)

All historians of religion, Shi'ahs and Sunnis, say that the Zaydis follow the Mu'tazila school in their beliefs, and the Hanafi school in their laws. As such, the Zaydis are more closer to the Sunnis than the Shi'as. (For details, see S.S. Akhtar Rizvi, "Shi'a Sects" published in The Light, and also reprinted in The Right Path [Toronto] in 1995).

3. Zaydi States:

It is true that one of the earliest states founded by the descendants of Imam 'Ali (a.s.) was a Zaydi state, but it was not necessarily a Shi'a state for the reasons mentioned above. Năsir al-Utrush, a descendant of the brother of Zayd ash-Shahid, arose in Khurasan. After being pursued by the 'Abbasids, he fled to Mazandaran (Tabaristan) whose people had not yet accepted Islam. "

After thirteen years of missionary activity in that region he brought a large number of people into the Zaydi branch of Islam. Then in the year 301/913 with their aid he conquered the region of Mazandaran, becoming himself Imam." (Tabătabă'i, Shi'a Islam, p. 77) The Zaydi rule in Tabaristan continued until 1126 C.E.

The Idrisi dynasty (from 788-985 C.E.) in Morocco was not a Zaydi dynasty. It was founded by Idris bin 'Abdullah, a great-grandson of Imam Hasan bin 'Ali (a.s.).

4. What is our response?

Since the Zaydiyya believe in the caliphate of Abu Bakr and 'Umar, our response and arguments with them should not be any different from our arguments for the Sunnis.

80187

Family . Sunni . Parents . Engagement . Sunni-Shi'a . Marriage

My fiance has become Shia though his family still remains Sunni. We would like to have our Nikah done according to both ways for the pleasure of our parents. Can we perform two Nikahs in one day?

First Valid Nikah will establish the marriage bond, while the other Nikah will be just for show and will not add on the valid Nikah.
It is permissible to do the second Nikah for showing people.

Wassalam.

79050

Sunni . Islam . Sahaba (Companions) . Sunni-Shi'a

An argument by our Sunni brothers and sisters concerning the companions of the Prophet (s) is that if it wasn’t for them Islam would not have made it through to our age. Is that opinion consistent with the Shia view?

Bismillah

Thank you for your question. Shiism revears the companions of the Prophet (saw) and does not deny the role that they played in establishing the religion of Islam alongside the Prophet (saw), especially those that fought and sacrificed their lives, property and families for the divine cause. At the forefront of those who sacrificed in the way of Islam were the household of the Prophet (saw). But all of the companions (if defined as simply those who saw the Prophet (saw)) did not play the same role. Indeed, among those surrounding the Prophet (saw) were those who were hypocrites, or those that only chose Islam after defeat. Some of them later played a detrimental role to the spread of Islam, by preferring political power over the message of Islam. The protection of the essence of Islam, according to the Shia, was a role carried out by the household of the Prophet (saw) due to their knowledge and merit and it is because of them that the message of Islam was not distorted beyond repair for the Muslim

Community as a whole.

May you always be successful

71837

Tahrif . Usul al-Kafi . Qur'an . Sunni-Shi'a

Are there any reliable narrations in al-Kafi that seem to support the idea that there is Tahrif in the Quran? If so, how do the Shia scholars explain them?

Our Shia faith in Quran is: Quran is absolutely intact and saved by Allah The Glorious from any change, distortion or alteration. Narrations which suggest change or distortion in Quran are mainly in Sunni books including narrations from Umar Ibn Al-Khattab who claimed that Sura Al-Ahzab used to be as long as Sura al-Baqara. (al-Soyooto, Al-Dorr al-Manthour 3:208) and Ayisha who claimed that a Sura was eaten by a pet (Sunan Ibn Maajah 1:625).

Few narrations in this regard came from Sunni books to some of our Shia books but our leading scholars were and are always very clear in rejecting any claim against the fact that Quran is intact. Some narrations in our books might mean that people distorted the meaning (Tafseer) of some verses away from the real meaning explained by the Prophet (SAWA) and his Ahlul Bayt (AS) which is a sad fact, but it never means that Quranic text was distorted by any way.

Leading Shia scholars al-Shaikh Al-Saqouq (381 H), al- Shaikh al-Mofeed (413 H), al-Sayyed al-Mortadha (436H), al-Shaikh al-Toosi (460 H), al-Shaikh al-Tabrasi (548H), al-Shaikh al-Bahaa'ee, al-Faydh al-Kashaani, al-Shaikh Kashif al-Ghitaa', al-Sayyed Sharaf al-Deen, Allamah Tabataba'ee, al-Sayyed al-Kho'ee, al-Sayed al-Khomaini, al-Sayyed al-Gulpaygani, al-Sayyed al-Borojordi, al-Shaykh al-Saafi, al-Sayyed al-Sistani, al-Sayyed al-Hakeem and all our leading scholars are very clear in confirming the fact that Quran is absolutely intact from any change or distortion.

Wassalam.

76343

Sunni-Shi'a . Abu Bakr . Imam Ali

In the Musnad of Imam Ahmad (835) it is stated that Ali (RA) considered Abu Bakr to be the best of this Ummah after its Prophet. How do the Shia respond to it?

Abbas Di Palma, Shaykh Abbas Di Palma holds a BA and an MA degree in Islamic Studies, and certifications from the Language Institute of Damascus University. He has also studied traditional Islamic sciences in... Answer updated 1 month ago

as salam alaikum

mere single reports from Musnad Ahmad cannot be validated according to Shia view. Also, according to the most accurate opinion any single report (khabar al-wahid) with no external evidences cannot be used to establish doctrinal principles or historical facts.

With prayers for your success.

76336

Sunni-Shi'a . Qur'an . Tahrif . Muhammad Baqir Majlisi

Did Allama Majlisi or any other top Shia scholars believe in the distortion of the Quran?

Mahmood Abu Maryam, Trying to make sense of it all... Answered 1 month ago

It is the consensus of the Shi'a scholars that there is no distortion in the Qur'an. You can read more about this topic in the article below that gives references to the statements of a variety of scholars.

https://www.al-islam.org/articles/beliefs-do-shiah-believe-different-quran

A famous scholar Ayatullah Sayyid Abu'l Qasim al-Khu'i has a detailed discussion around this topic in his book that you can also go through for a more in-depth treatment of this subject.

https://www.al-islam.org/al-bayan-fi-tafsir-al-quran-prolegomena-quran-ayatullah-sayyid-abulqasim-al-khui/7-protection-quran