Shia Islam for Dummies: Ask Those who Know

[Haider Bangash 2.0]

Assalam O alaikum to everyone!
I started this thread, in response to the so many anti-shias threads found on here, with the hope that I will be able to clear some grave misconceptions about Shias and their beliefs. So let me begin by presenting to you the basic, fundamental beliefs of Shia Muslims.

1. Tawhid:
"Say: He is Allah, the One and Only! Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not nor is He begotten. And there is none like unto Him." Quran: 112: 1-4

We believe that Allah (God) is One, Alone, Peerless, Eternal, without Beginning or End, the First and the Last, the All-knowing, the Wise, the Just, the Living, the Omnipotent, the Independent of all things, the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing. We believe that Allah is not to be attributed any form or body, therefore, He Has neither body nor appearance nor subtance nor form. He is neither heavy nor light, neither moving nor motionless; He is not confined to a single place or time. He neither has any equal nor any partner nor has he any opposite. He is free of all human (the creatures) characteristics, and therefore He has no wife, child, or any partner and He can't be compared to. He cannot be seen. He cannot be likened to his creatures (i.e. you cannot say that he has a face, hands, ears, etc). We also believe that those who believe that HE WILL BE SEEN BY HIS CREATURES ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT is an unbeliever. We believe that Allah is Adil e Ghair Zalim; He does not treat His makhlooq without justice, nor does He rule them unfairly or mercilessly. We believe that Allah has set "halal" upon us is for our best interests, and things that He has set "haraam" are disadvantageous/malignant to us.

Cont.

[Dreamer]

dont waste ur time bro... there are some here who just like 2 churn out hate.... at the same time they are incapable of defending their own sunni beliefs yet attacking shia with the same old garbage

[شمله ور خراساني]

Assalam O alaikum to everyone!
I started this thread, in response to the so many anti-shias threads found on here, with the hope that I will be able to clear some grave misconceptions about Shias and their beliefs. So let me begin by presenting to you the basic, fundamental beliefs of Shia Muslims.

1. Tawhid:
"Say: He is Allah, the One and Only! Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not nor is He begotten. And there is none like unto Him." Quran: 112: 1-4

We believe that Allah (God) is One, Alone, Peerless, Eternal, without Beginning or End, the First and the Last, the All-knowing, the Wise, the Just, the Living, the Omnipotent, the Independent of all things, the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing. We believe that Allah is not to be attributed any form or body, therefore, He Has neither body nor appearance nor subtance nor form. He is neither heavy nor light, neither moving nor motionless; He is not confined to a single place or time. He neither has any equal nor any partner nor has he any opposite. He is free of all human (the creatures) characteristics, and therefore He has no wife, child, or any partner and He can't be compared to. He cannot be seen. He cannot be likened to his creatures (i.e. you cannot say that he has a face, hands, ears, etc). We also believe that those who believe that HE WILL BE SEEN BY HIS CREATURES ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT is an unbeliever. We believe that Allah is Adil e Ghair Zalim; He does not treat His makhlooq without justice, nor does He rule them unfairly or mercilessly. We believe that Allah has set "halal" upon us is for our best interests, and things that He has set "haraam" are disadvantageous/malignant to us.

Cont.

Yes, you say so. But what do your scholars and books of Shi'ism say in this regard?

[Millatpal Noorzai]

Bangash Khana you are more welcome to this forum as a Pashtun than a Shia.

[king-zazai]

OOOO WAITT WAITTT YOUR a shia????

authu bilahii where should i start on shia's wrora plz listen u r on the wrong path and i can argue with u day and night about how wrong shia's r but since shia's came from a JEW they r mostyl ignorant even though they know the truth

and lets stick to talking ab out thaweed you guys lack alot of the fundamentals of thaweed like asma wa sifat and uliouhiya

and its mostly about the imam's you guys make shirk in give all power to allah aza wa jel and follow the "right" books of hadith and inshallah allah will guide you!

[Haider Bangash 2.0]

2. Nabuwat (The Prophethood)
We believe that Allah has sent His Messengers from time to time to guide His servants. We believe that All the messengers were infallible and were from among His good servants, the best among best of his creations. We believe that Allah sent some 124,000 Prophets and that Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) IS his Last Messenger.
"Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets. Allah has full knowledge of all things." (33:41)

We believe that Quran was revealed by Allah to His honorable Prophet Muhammad (SAW), and that It is an everlasting miracle. No, we do not believe that Quran was altered or missing any Para/chapter for that cannot be true because Allah, the Creator, himself has taken the responsibility of the protection of Quran. We believe that no one can touch Quran save teh purafied:
"In a Book kept hidden that is protected which none shall touch but those who are clean, the purified ones." (56:79)

Cont.

[amna.]

I have a question. Why do Shias hit themselves and bring pain upon themselves?

[Dreamer]

I have a question. Why do Shias hit themselves and bring pain upon themselves?

If your reffering to matam I believe the ayatollahs have rules this haram

[amna.]

Nearly every Shia does it..

[Dreamer]

Nearly every Shia does it..

People do things in every school of thought that that the faith doesnt approve of... look at what the faith/religion teaches not what its followers do

[Haider Bangash 2.0]

3. Imamat
We believe that Imamate is one the fundamentals of Islam. We believe that Imam represent the Prophet in his absence and perform his duties such as guiding the people, and showing them the way of the truth and Haq. We believe that someone can only be appointed Imam by the Will of Allah through the Prophet (SAW) or through the previous Imams. We believe that people cannot choose someone as an Imam because they have no authority to do so.
002.124 And remember that Abraham was tried by his Lord with certain Commands, which he fulfilled: He said: "I will make thee an Imam to the Nations." He pleaded: "And also (Imams) from my offspring!"
Source

021.073 And We made them leaders [Imams], guiding (men) by Our Command, and We sent them inspiration to do good deeds, to establish regular prayers, and to practise regular charity; and they constantly served Us (and Us only).
Source

032.024 And We appointed, from among them, leaders [Imams], giving guidance under Our command, so long as they persevered with patience and continued to have faith in Our Signs.
Source

As it is evident from the above Ayas, it is not for people to decide who is gonna be the leader (Imam). Therefore we the shia are compelled not to accept as successor of the Prophet(SAW), or Imam, anyone that is chosen through mutual consultation. We believe that Imams appointed by the Prophet are infallible; after all, They are the successors of the Prophet (SAW) and representatives of Islam. We believe that there are twelve (12) Imams in total with Hazrat Ali(AS) being the First Imam and Hazrat Muhammad Al Mahdi (AS) being the last Imam.

Let me quote a few narrations from Siha-e-Sitta for your convenience.

Sahi Muslim Volume 9, Book 89, Number 329:

Narrated Jabir bin Samura:
I heard the Prophet saying, "There will be twelve Muslim rulers (who will rule all the Islamic world)." He then said a sentence which I did not hear. My father said, "All of them (those rulers) will be from Quraish." Source

Sahi Muslim Book 020, Number 4478:

It has been reported on the authority of Jabir b. Samura who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say: The affairs of the people will continue to be conducted (well) as long as they are governed by twelve men. Then the Holy Prophet (may peace be upon him) said words which were obscure to me. I asked my father: What did the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say? He said: All of the (twelve men) will be from the Quraish. Source

Sahi Muslim Book 020, Number 4480:

It has been narrated on the authority of Jabir b. Samura who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say: Islam will continue to be triumphant until there have been twelve Caliphs. Then the Holy Prophet (may peace be upon him) said something which I could not understand. I asked my father: What did he say? He said: He has said that all of them (twelve Caliphs) will be from the Quraish.

Sahi Muslim Book 020, Number 4481:

It has been narrated on the authority of Jabir b. Samura that the Holy Prophet (may peace be upon him) said: This order will continue to be dominant until there have been twelve Caliphs. The narrator says: Then he said something which I could not understand, and I said to my father: What did he say? My father told me that he said that all of them (Caliphs) would be from the Quraish.

Sahi Muslim Book 020, Number 4483:

It has been narrated on the authority of Amir b. Sa'd b. Abu Waqqas who said: I wrote (a letter) to Jabir b. Samura and sent it to him through my servant Nafi', asking him to inform me of something he had heard from the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him). He wrote to me (in reply): I heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say on Friday evening, the day on which al-Aslami was stoned to death (for committing adultery): The Islamic religion will continue until the Hour has been established, or you have been ruled over by twelve Caliphs, all of them being from the Quraish. also heard him say: A small force of the Muslims will capture the white palace, the police of the Persian Emperor or his descendants. I also heard him say: Before the Day of Judgment there will appear (a number of) impostors. You are to guard against them. I also heard him say: When God grants wealth to any one of you, he should first spend it on himself and his family (and then give it in charity to the poor). I heard him (also) say: I will be your forerunner at the Cistern (expecting your arrival).

I have more, but I think this will suffice for now. Now, let me give you a few references regarding our Last Imam, Hazrat MUHAMMAD al Mahdi (AS).


Sunaan Abu Dawud Book 36, Number 4269:

Narrated Abdullah ibn Mas'ud:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: If only one day of this world remained. Allah would lengthen that day (according to the version of Za'idah), till He raised up in it a man who belongs to me or to my family whose father's name is the same as my father's, who will fill the earth with equity and justice as it has been filled with oppression and tyranny (according to the version of Fitr). Sufyan's version says: The world will not pass away before the Arabs are ruled by a man of my family whose name will be the same as mine.

Sunan Abu Dawuud Book 36, Number 4270:

Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: If only one day of this time (world) remained, Allah would raise up a man from my family who would fill this earth with justice as it has been filled with oppression.

Sunan Abu Dawud Book 36, Number 4271:

Narrated Umm Salamah, Ummul Mu'minin:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: The Mahdi will be of my family, of the descendants of Fatimah. Abdullah ibn Ja'far said: I heard AbulMalih praising Ali ibn Nufayl and describing his good qualities.

As you can see from the above narrations, the Last Imam (AS) has to be from the descendants of Hazrat Fatima (SA).

[Haider Bangash 2.0]

I would request all the non-participants to hold their questions for now as it will affect the flow or organization of this discussion. Thanks.

[Haider Bangash 2.0]

Now, to Shumla, I presented to you the core beliefs (Usool Al Din) of Shia Muslims. Now, do you have any objection to what I said? Please post your questions now before we move on.

[شمله ور خراساني]

I would request all the non-participants to hold their questions for now as it will affect the flow or organization of this discussion. Thanks.

why do you quote sahih muslim? You shi'tes dont believe in authenticity of those books. Plus according to Shi'ism all sunnis are kaafirs. So why do you use Sunni sources to prove your point?

[Dreamer]

hes using it 2 disprove u!