The Qur'an and Hadith

The Qur'an andHadith

Author:Sayyid Akhtar Razawi

www.alhassanain.org/english

Table of Contents

Chapter One: Revelation 4

1. Meaning of Wahyi & Ilham 4

2.modes of Revelation 4

INSPIRATION 4

FROM BEHIND A CURTAIN 5

THROUGH ANGELS 5

3. Epilepsy & Revelation:A Christians' Allegation Analyzed 5

Chapter Two: Pre-Islamic Revelations 9

1. Some Previous Books 9

2. The Torah 9

History Of Present Compilation 9

Further Details Abour The Torah 11

OLD TESTAMENT:CONTRADICTIONS & ABSURDITIES 11

3. The Injil 12

WAS IT A BOOK? 12

THE GOSPELS: NOT TRUSTWORTHY 13

THE NEW TESTAMENT:MISINTERPRETATIONS 14

4. THE QUR'AN, HADITH QUDSI &HADITH 15

Chapter Three: The Qur'an 18

1. The Preliminary Details 18

THE REVELATION OF THE QUR'AN 18

NAME 18

SURAH & AYAH 18

MAKKI & MADANI 19

2. Writing & Collection of the Qur'an 19

3. Collection of the Qur'an 21

4. More About Authenticity 22

5. The Qur'an: A Miracle Performer 23

Miracle Of Language 24

Miracles Of Prophecies 28

FREE FROM DISCREPANCIES 28

SCIENTIFIC REVELAITONS 29

Miracles As The Best Code Of Life 32

6. How To Interpret the QUR'AN 34

AN EXAMPLE OF ABSURD INTERPRETATION 34

7. ORIENTALISTS ON THE QUR`AN 38

Chapter Four: The Hadith 40

1. Preliminary Details & Definitions 40

2. The Status of HADITH 41

MEANING OF OBEDIENCE & FOLLOWING 41

3. The Categories of HADITH 41

The Four Types Of Hadith 42

MUTAWATIR & WAHID 42

4. Recording of the AHADITH 43

The Style Of Ahadiths Books 46

THE FOUR BOOKS (AL-KUTUBU'L-ARB'AH) 46

THE THREE LATER BOOKS 48

THE SUNNI COLLECTIONS 48

5. The Problem of Fabrication & Its Solution 49

How To Test A Hadith? 52

Chapter One: Revelation

1. Meaning ofWahyi &Ilham

"WAHYI" (وحي ) literally means inspiration, revelation suggestion, to point out a thing to someone, to put a thing into the mind of someone secretly; letter, writing: something revealed or written or the idea inspired or revealed; saying; commandment; to dispatch a messenger to someone; to speak with someone secretly; to urge; voice. In Islamic terminology,wahyi means communication of idea, command and information from Allah to a chosen human being, conveyed either directly or through supernatural agencies like angels. "ILHAM" (الهام ) literally means to inspire: to put a thought or an idea into the mind of someone. In Islamic terminology, ILHAM means inspiration of an idea or information from Allah to any chosen person.

It will appear from above that while ILHAM is limited to unspoken and unwritten inspiration, WAHYI is used for spoken as well as unspoken and written as well as unwritten inspiration and revelation. Every religion which believes in God believes in revelation.

2.modes of Revelation

According to the Qur'an, there are three basic methods of revelation:

"It is not possible for a man that he should receive the message of Allah except either by inspiration or from behind a curtain, or Allah sends angels and the angels bring the message of Allah, whatever Allah wishes. Verily Allah is High, Omniscient". (42-51).

INSPIRATION

There are two types of inspirations; 1.True Dreams; this method is not new. There are at least four instances in the Bible where Israeli prophets received the divine message in dreams. The Dictionary of the Bible records under the word "Dream" about divine dreams: "Dreams, employed by God for the purpose of His Kingdom… they are (a) intended to effect the spiritual life of individuals; (b) Directive and prophetic dreams… they seem to have carried with them credentials of their divine origin".

Our Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w ) even before he was commanded to proclaim hisprophethood , used to receive divine messages through this medium. In later days, he saw two dreams, which are mentioned in the Qur'an. In the first dream, he saw that theUmayyads were climbing his pulpit like monkeys. He was so grieved by that dream that he did not smile from then on till his last breath. This sorrow was based upon the sure knowledge thatUmayyads would destroy his religion, as they actually did. They used the name of Islam to alter Islamic teachings and Islamic spirit. In the second dream, he saw (in the 6th year ofHijra ) himself together with his followers enteringKa'bah . It was a time when, by worldly reasoning, he had no chance of doing so. Within less than 2 years, this dream became a reality.

This type of inspiration still continues. The Holy Prophet said, "There is noprophethood after me except the good tidings". He was asked, "And what are the good tidings, O Messenger of Allah?" He said, "Good dreams or true dreams". But the difference between a dream of a Prophet or Imam and that of others is that a Prophet or an Imam appointed by Allah never sees a false dream; whatever he dreams is a message or command from Allah; while other people's dreams are more often than not false, caused by physiological or psychological reasons.

2.Prophetic Inspirations: these inspired thoughts may be accompanied with clear words or may be in the form of a thought without words. The Qur'an says, "He (i.e. the Prophet) does not speak of his own desire, it is nothing but a revelation revealed". (53:3-4).By the authority of these verses of Qur'an even the traditions of the Holy Prophet are treated as revelation. Their words are not from Allah; but the idea is.

FROM BEHIND A CURTAIN

The revelations, which are sent "from behind a curtain", are, also, of many kinds;

1.The first is like hearing some low murmuring sounds (like buzzing of bees) and knowing the interpretation.

2.The second is like hearing high-pitched sounds and knowing the interpretation.

3.The third is hearing the sound from a material object. The first call to the Prophet Musa (a.s ) is one example. He was astonished to see a bush burning and yet remaining unconsumed by fire. As he turned aside, gazing at a sight so unique, he received an authoritative call from God, calling him toprophethood . Another example is of our Prophet (s.a.w ) when he ascended to the heavens inmi'raj . He, at last, arrived at a sublime place where neither any prophet nor any angel had ever reached. He saw a curtain of light, and then heard a voice from it.

4. The fourth type of this revelation is hearing the voice of an angel without seeing him. It should be mentioned here that this fourth type of revelation "from behind a curtain" is not reserved for the prophets. Other chosen people also may be honored by such angelic conversations. They are called "al-muhaddath " (المحدّث ) i.e. the one with whom the angels talk.

THROUGH ANGELS

Now we come to the last type of the modes of revelation, i.e., receiving the message through an angel. Gabriel usually came to our Prophet (s.a.w ) to convey the messages of Allah. Sometimes he came in his own image, other times in likeness of a man. Messages sent through an angel were mostly oral. But at least in one case it was a written one. The Torah was sent to the Prophet Musa (a.s .) as "written tablets": and wrote we for him in the tablets lessons of every kind… (7:145).

3. Epilepsy &Revelation:A Christians' Allegation Analyzed

These were, in short, some method by which the messages of God come to the prophets. As I have mentioned earlier, the Divine revelations to our Prophet (s.a.w .) began with "true dreams"; later on, he used to see the heavenly lights and visions and hear the voices, but without seeing the speaker. After that, he saw the angel Gabriel, who brought the Divine message. This was the easiest and clearest from of revelation.

Sometimes, continuous and high-pitched voices would reach his ears, at the end of which he would find the message of God imprinted on his heart. This was the hardest form of revelation. Often, at the time of receiving such revelations, he would be overcast with gloom. The color of his face would fade away. Sometimes he would bend his head, and his companions would understand that he was receiving the revelation and they also would bend their heads. At times, even during the coldest months, perspiration would pour down from his forehead. After some time he would raise his head and relate the revelation to them. According toShaykh as-Saduq , this mode was chosen by Allah when He wished to reveal something to the Holy Prophet without using the agency of Gabriel.

Having recorded the above-mentioned effects of this type of revelation, Washington Irving says, that "The ringing of ears is a symptom of epilepsy". A Muslim brother from Aden had asked me whether it was true, as many Christian writers hadwritten, that our Holy Prophet was suffering from epilepsy. A short article was published in The Light (May-August, 1968) in reply to that question, some parts of which are reproduced below: This allegation is the outcome of Dr. Gustav Weil's imagination. He was an orient-list. Latter writers have blindly followed him because it suited their purpose. It is this tendency of the Christians about which Bishop Boyd Carpenter wrote in The Permanent Element in Religion: "Muhammad is by many seen only through the fog which dread and ignorance have spread around him. To them he is an object of horror against which anything evil might be said… But, now the mists of prejudice have cleared away, we can afford to see the founder of Islam in fairer light".

Did not those Christian writers know that such effects at the time of receiving revelation were not unique in the history ofprophethood ? Alfred Guillaume writes in his book Islam about the institution ofprophethood that "the Hebrew religion gave content and meaning to the word "Nabi ", which, originally, applied to a person who in a state of uncontrollable emotion and excitement proclaimed a message which his hearers attributed to a god… the outward marks of a prophet in Israel were (a) impassioned utterance; (b) poetry: (c) intense pre-occupation with God and moral issues: (d) a sense of compulsion urging him to declare the will of God. Naturally these characteristics varied from prophet to prophet".

Also, the following statement from Concise Bible Commentary is worth noting; "The prophets of the (Old Testament) as their writings show, based their teachings largely on ecstasy and vision". Again it says; "Probably the main difference between false and true prophets was that the former used traditional methods to go into ecstasy, while the latter were seized, often against their will, by God.

So, it is crystal clear that "uncontrollable ecstasy" was a common feature of revelation even in Israelite prophets. Are the Christians prepared to say that all the prophets of Israel suffered from epilepsy?

Now let us see the charge of his suffering from epilepsy from medical point of view. PearsCyclopaedia , 68th edition (1959-60) says about epilepsy: "Epilepsy manifests itself in various ways, the common being grand mal-seizures, in which the patient falls down unconscious, his muscles become tense, his jaws clenched so that he is in danger of biting his tongue, and the limbs begin to contract rhythmically. As this phase passes away the patient lays down his limb, and gradually recovers consciousness. Often he does not know what has happened. Sometimes, he is confused, forgets where he is, and wanders away in an attack of loss of memory (amnesia or epileptic fugue). In petit mal -the name means little sickness - the attack may be hardly noticeable. The patient is perhaps talking or doing some-things, when without any warning, he simply stops, looks dazed or confused for a brief period, and then carries on again".

The thing to note is that neither every attack of epilepsy is accompanied by unconsciousness nor every attack of unconsciousness is a symptom of epilepsy. The PearsCyclopaedia says: "Fits may have many causes.. It is important not to jump to the conclusion that because someone has a fit, they therefore have epilepsy, and all such cases should be carefully investigated".

So, according to the medical authorities unconsciousness (evenIf we accept that the effects at the time of revelation meant 'unconsciousness') and epilepsy are not inter-connected as cause and effect, either way. I fail to understand how can a sane person jump to the conclusion that a prophet must have suffered from epilepsy, just because he appeared to go into ecstasy (or even let us say, unconsciousness)?

The other facts are also worth considering. The Holy Prophet (s.a.w ) generally received the Divine message when some event had either taken or was about to take place, or someone had put a question to him. We must remember that: often (an epileptic) does not know what has happened. Sometimes he is confused, forgets where he is, and wanders away in an attack of loss of memory". Had the Holy Prophet (s.a.w ) ever been attacked by epilepsy after question had been put to him, he would have forgotten as to where he was or who had asked him what. Instead, he always gave most satisfactory and to-the-point answer in an extremely forceful, fluent and eloquent language immediately after this so-called epilepsy attack. Another point to consider is that the fits of epilepsy are more likely to occur at the time of emotional stress on nerves. But no historian has ever said that there was ever such an attack on the Holy Prophet during any battle or distress.

The following words of Alfred Guillaume are enough to expose the hollowness of this malicious and baseless charge: "A past generation ofArabists … advanced the theory that Muhammad was an epileptic. The charge had been made by a Byzantine writer long before. Such a hypothesis seems gratuitous and can safely be ascribed to anti-Muhammadan prejudice. Study of the psychological phenomena of religious experience makes it extremely improbable.

Prophets are not normal people; but that does not authorize the assertion that their abnormal behavior is due to a morbid condition. Moreover, Muhammad was a man whose common sense never failed him. Those who deny his mental and psychic stability, do so only by ignoring the over-whelming evidence… had he ever collapsed in the strain of battle or controversy, or fainted away when strong action was called for, a case might be made out. But all the evidence we have, points in the opposite direction, and the suggestion of epilepsy is as groundless in the eyes of the present writer as it is offensive to all Muslims…"

Chapter Two: Pre-Islamic Revelations

1. Some Previous Books

The revelations sent to the previous prophets were often committed to writing. But only three of them have been mentioned by name in the Qur'an. TheTawrat which was revealed to Prophet Musa, theZabur which was revealed to ProphetDawud , and theInjil which was revealed to ProphetIssa (peace be on them all). Apart from those, there is a mention of "SUHUF- books" of Ibrahim (a.s .).

Zoroastrians claim that theZend Avasta is a divine book. Hindus claim the same about the Vedas. Allah had sent prophets to every nation and every region. (Qur'an 35:24) Obviously they must have been given some books in their own languages. (14:4). However, we can neither confirmnot deny the claims made about theZend Avasta or the Vedas because they are not mentioned in the Qur'an.

The Books of Ibrahim (a.s .) are completely lost, as is theInjil of ProphetIssa (a.s .). The two remaining books were all altered, added, subtracted and extensively changed by those very people who professed to believe in them. Some details of those alterations will be given in later chapters. Here this fact is mentioned just to explain why Allah sent a new SHARI'AH (Islam) and a new Book (the Qur'an). Our responsibility towards previous prophets and their books is that we should believe that they were true prophets sent by Allah and that they were given the books as mentioned in the Qur'an. But as we know that those books were either completely lost or extensively edited, we cannot accept anything written in them unless they conform completelywith what is revealed in the Qur'an.

As the subject of this booklet is not the review of the previous books, I will not go into details about all of them. However, in these days our youths are mostly confronted with Christianity; therefore, in the following chapters, I will mention some aspects of the Old and the New Testaments only.

2. The Torah

HistoryOf Present Compilation

The Torah (Law) is the name of the book of Prophet Musa (a.s .). The Jews and the Christians use this name for the first 5 books of Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Together they are called 'Pentateuch'. Pentateuch was believed to have been written by Musa (a.s .). He is probably to be dated in the fifteenth to thirteenth century BC and the belief that he wrote Pentateuch continued up to the 18th century CE; and this was in-spite of the inherent impossibilities of this belief, like the account of the death of Moses himself. In the 18th century, some Christian scholars started what is now known as 'higher criticism'. Their views are now accepted by majority of Christians. They proved that the Pentateuch was not written by Moses; that it is not even work of a single man or single era; that it contains the works of unknown number of people right up-to 1,000 years after the death of Moses.

Rev. W.K.L Clarke in his Concise Bible Commentary gives the following timetable and sequence of editing:

The book says that by the end of the 19th century, it was generally recognized that there were four main sources in the Pentateuch, to be assigned to 9th, 8th, 7th and 5th or 4th centuries BC respectively. "The first book at the Pentateuch shows three characteristic styles illustrated by Genesis 1, Genesis 2 and Deuteronomy and the documents marked by these styles were first to be noticed.

"The obviously early source begins in Gen.2: 4. This source is called 'J' after the 'J' of Jehovah (pronouncedJahweh ). ' J', is generally thought to have been put into written form about 850BC

"Another source…is D, so called from the book of Deuteronomy, which was the book law discovered in Josiah's reign. " The third source is called Priestly document, P for short. The writer is particularly interested in legislation and most of the laws of Exodus and all those of Leviticus and Numbers belong to P. A large part of the Priestly Code is believed to have been composed in Babylonia and brought to Jerusalem by Ezra in 397BC. How much of P was omitted in final compilation of Pentateuch we have no means of knowing. Nothing has been said yet about a subordinate source found in Lev. 17-28 and known as the Code of Holiness, H for short. It was adopted into P but evidently had a separate history… Opinion is divided as to its date, whether it was written before 586 or whether exiled priests after the fall of the city committed to writing the Temple traditions…"

"Nowcomes the fourth source. After taking P,D and J from the Pentateuch a considerable amount of material remains, parallel to J, but in Genesis usingElohim for God and not Yahweh. This non-PElohim matter begins in Gen. 20: 1-7… Altogether E is more mature religiously and is thought to have reached written form about 750 BC". These are the four main sources of Pentateuch. How they were compiled to form the Pentateuch? "The first step was to combine J and E. this must have been done after the fall of Samaria in 721 BC. The two were combined in a document which is called JE.

"Then in 621 Deuteronomy was discovered, or at least a large part of it. The next stage was to putJE, and D together. This will have taken place during the exile.. A perceptible amount of editing of JE took place. "P was written in Babylonia and brought to Jerusalem by Ezra in 397 BC. Later, editors used it as a frame work and incorporated JED, thus producing the Pentateuch… in about 300 BC".

We might as well sum it up in the words of the commentator himself. "Probably a multitude of persons have combined 1,000 years after Moses is called the Book of Moses! But it appears from the same authorities that probably it was not attributed to Moses till 200 BC! Even that minority of the Christian scholars which still holds fast to the theory of Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch has to admit that it must have been re-written by the subsequent generations to modernize the language. This concession has to be given because "it is hardly probable that the Hebrew of Moses' day was like that of Biblical Hebrew". (See the Westminster Dictionary of the Bible under "Pentateuch").

2: Taqiyya in Qur'an and Tradition

The second matter that “cavillers” and “our fanatic oppositions” animadvert on followers of Ahl -e- Bait (a.s.) is Taqiyya. They say that why you do Taqiyya? Isn’t it a kind of concision?!

They change this matter to a big problem that as if Taqiyya is Haraam or a great sin or even worse than that.

They are unknown of this matter that Qur'an has allowed Taqiyya explicitly in several verses with special conditions, and cabbalas in their own references confirms the matter, and also above all Taqiyya (under its conditions) is the exact command of the sanity and they experienced and did this in their own lives too.

For explaining this matter, noticing to some points is necessary:

1- What is Taqiyya?

Taqiyya is the act of hiding one’s religious belief in front of fanatic and obstinate opposites when there may be possibility of a danger to that person.

For example when an Unitarian Muslim trapped among obstinate infidels, and if he express his belief maybe those infidels kill him, hurt him hard, wring his money or even aggress his family, then he hides his belief to save himself and his belongings.

Or if a Shi’aa caught in the middle of desert by an extremist Wahhabi who thinks killing a Shi’aa is allowed, then he hides his belief for saving his life, his assets and his family.

Any wise person confirms that this is a wise and completely logical act, because nobody should give over his/her life due to fanaticism of fanatics.

2- Difference between Taqiyya and Concision (Nifaq)

Concision is definitely against Taqiyya. A hypocritical is a person who does not believe in Islam or has doubts about it, but express believing of Islam among Muslims.

This Taqiyya which we are talking about is believing Islam deeply, but don’t following some extremist Wahhabi who know every Muslim as infidel except themselves and threaten them. Whenever believers hide their belief to save their life, their assets or their family and honor from this fanatic group, this is Taqiyya and vise versa is concision.

3- Taqiyya in Scale of Sanity

Actually Taqiyya is a defensive shield and due to this in our cabbalas has been introduced as “shield of a believer”.

Sanity never let the human to express his/her belief in front of dangerous and illogical people and endanger his/her life, assets or honor, because wasting energies, powers and facilities is not a wise act.

Taqiyya is similar to the method that all soldiers use in the battlefield. They hide among foliage, in tunnels and behind bulwarks, choose their clothing in color of trees for saving their live and not wasting their blood.

All wise people in the world use method of Taqiyya against their obstinate enemies for saving their lives and never admonish a person to use this method. You cannot find any human in the world who does not accept Taqiyya under its conditions.

4- Taqiyya in Qur’an

Holy Qur'an allowed Taqiyya in several verses against infidels and opposites. For example:

In the story of believer of Pharaoh’s clan we read:

“A believer man who was hiding his belief (of Moses religion) said: Do you want to kill a man who says my god is Allah, whereas he has miracle and clear proofs?”1

And he continued: Leave him alone, if he lies the affects of his lie will capture him, and if he tells the through maybe some of those divine punishments which he warns about will capture you.”

In this way believer of Pharaoh’s clan whilst doing Taqiyya and “hiding his belief”, gives necessary advices to those fanatic group which decided to kill the prophet of god, Moses.

1- Ghafir Sura, verse 28.

We read in another explicit command of Qur'an: “Believers should not take infidels as friends; anyone who does this is alien to Allah, unless you want to use Taqiyya among them.”1

This verse has completely prohibited friendship with enemies of Allah, unless in occasions that leaving friendship causes hurting a Muslim and using Taqiyya as a defensive shield in continuing in friendship with them.

All interpreters of Qur'an have cited the story of Ammar son of Yasser and his parents. All of them captured by Arab pagans and forced to deny the prophet of Islam (a.s.). Ammar parents refused and died as martyrs, but Ammar used Taqiyya and agreed them and after that go to holy Prophet (a.s.) crying.

At this time this verse descended: “People who deny after they believe will punish hard, unless those who were under pressure ...”2

Holy Prophet (a.s.) said that Ammar parents are of martyrs and clean his tears and told him: You are not in charge of that; if they force you again you repeat those words!

1- Aal -e- Imran Sura, verse 28.

2- Nahl Sura, verse 106.

Agreement of all Muslim interpreters on descending this verse about Ammar and his parents and the words of Prophet (a.s.) after that, shows that the matter of Taqiyya is acceptable for everyone. This is wonderful that with these inarguable evidences from Qur'an and words of Sonni interpreters, they continue on animadverting on Shi’aa for accepting Taqiyya.

Yes, neither Ammar nor believer of Pharaoh’s clan were hypocritical, they just used the divine command of Taqiyya.

5- Taqiyya in Islamic cabbalas

Also in Islamic cabbalas Taqiyya has been shown extensively and for example: Musnad (documentary) of Abi Shiba is one of Sonnies famous Musnads. He tells in story of “Liar Musailama” that Musailama captured two companions of Prophet of Allah (s.a.) in his territory. He asked both of them that are they confessing his prophecy from god?! One of them confessed and released but the other Muslim did not confess and they killed him.

When Prophet (s.a.) got informed about them said: The one who killed chose the way of truth and the other one accept the divine chance and there is no sin written for him.1

In Ahadith of Ahl -e- Bait Imams (a.s.) specially Imams who were living in the time of Bani Umayya and Bani Abbas power when companions and followers of Ali (a.s.) were killed anywhere they found, we can see the order of Taqiyya lots of times, because they had to use Taqiyya shield for saving their lives from those cruel killers.

1- Musnad of Abi Shiba, vol. 12, page 358

6- Dose Taqiyya perform just in confronting with infidels?

When some of our oppositions find themselves in front of these explicit versus and cabbalas had no chance unless accepting the fact that Taqiyya is according to Islamic laws, but they say that Taqiyya performs just in confronting with infidels and it can not be done against or in front of Muslims.

But referring to proofs above difference between these two is clear:

1- If the meaning of Taqiyya is saving life, asset, family and honor from fanatic and dangerous people, which it is, what is the difference between unknown and fanatic Muslim and an infidel? If sanity orders to save these matters and do not waste them, then what is the difference between these kinds of people?

We know people who because of extremity of ignorance and false propagandas, they say: killing Shi’aa makes a man closer to Allah. If a pure Shi’aa and follower of Amiralmo’menin Ali (a.s.) and Ahl -e- Bait (a.s.) tangled among these people and they ask him/her about his/her belief, shall this Shi'aa say explicitly that I am Shi’aa and give his/her throat to the knife of ignorance and crime?!

Is there any wise man who orders to do this?!

In other words if Bani Umayya and Bani Abbas rulers and other people like them follow the acts of Arab infidels to Ammar and followers of liar Musailama to two companions of Prophet (s.a.) then how can we say that Taqiyya is Haraam although it will cause dying hundreds or thousands of pure followers of Ahl -e- Bait (a.s.), just because that these rulers are apparently Muslim?!

If Ahl -e- Bait Imams (a.s.) did not emphasis Taqiyya so much that they said: “Nine tenth of Islam is Taqiyya”1 , maybe number of immolates during the time of Bani Umayya and Bani Abbas reached the hundred thousands or even millions, meaning that they might kill ten times more that their cruel and brutal carnages.

Can we have any doubt in lawfulness of Taqiyya in these conditions?

We never forget that also Ahl -e- Sonnat had hard religious disagreements for many years, like the matter that Qur'an has happened some day or it exists from the day of beginning, and many peopled killed for these issue! (The issue that today is pointless and meaningless according to scholars).

If the people who believed that they are correct tangled among oppositions, shall they explicitly express their belief and cause themselves to die without any advantage?!

1- Bahar Al Anvar, vol. 109, page 254

2- Fakhr Raazi in interpretation of verse “Unless you perform Taqiyya against them (and hide your belief for more important purposes)”1 says: “appearance of verse implies that Taqiyya is allowed in confronting with dominant infidels, in Shafeie sect whenever the relations between Muslims become similar to relations between Muslims and infidels, then Taqiyya is Halaal for saving the life.”

Then he continue the issue on the reason of permit of Taqiyya for saving asset and reasoning the Hadith of Prophet (s.a.) which is “The reverence of Muslim’s asset is like reverence of his blood” and another Hadith “Anyone who died for saving his assets is martyr.”2

1- Aal -e- Imran Sura, verse 28.

2- Great interpretation of Fakhr Raazi, vol. 8, page 13.

We can also read in interpretation of Neishaboori which is in annotation of Tabari interpretation that Imam Shafeie said: “Taqiyya is allowed for saving lives between Muslim as though it is allowed between Muslims and infidels.”1

3- It is interesting that in the time of Bani Abbas some of Sonni Hadith tellers who believed that Qur'an exists from the day of beginning suppressed by rulers of Bani Abbas and they use Taqiyya and confessed that Qur'an has happened some day, so they released.

Famous historian, Ibn Sa’d, in the book “Tabaghat” (stages) and another famous historian, Tabari, in his book point to two letters which had sent from Ma’moon to chief of Police of Baghdad, Ishaq (Isaac) ibn Ibrahim (Abraham).

Ibn Sa’d writes about the first letter that Ma’moon wrote to chief of police to send seven persons of famous Hadith tellers (Mohammad ibn Sa’d Katib Vaghadi, Abu Muslim, Yahya ibn Moein, Zohair ibn Harb, Ismael ibn Dawood, Ismael ibn Abi Mas’ood and Ahmad ibn Doraghi) guarded to him. When they came to Ma’moon, he asked them as a test that what is your belief about Qur'an? All of them answered that Qur'an is created (although the common belief between them was that Qur'an exist from the day of beginning and they believed in that).2

1- Neishaboori interpretation (in annotation of Tabari interpretation), vol. 3, page 118.

2- Tabaghat by Ibn Sa’d, vol. 7, page 167, printed in Beirut.

Yes, they used Taqiyya in fear of Ma’moon hard penalties and confessed that Qur'an is created and released.

We can read in continue of second letter to Chief of Police of Baghdad which is quoted by Tabari that: When letter of Ma’moon reached him, he called some of Hadith tellers whom their number can be counted to 26 and read the letter of Ma’moon, then called them one by one to express their belief. All of them but four confess that Qur'an is created (and released by using Taqiyya).

Those four persons who did not confess were Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Sajjada, Alghavariri and Mohammad ibn Noah. Chief of police commanded to capture them and send them to prison. The next day he called them and repeated his question, Sajjada confessed and released, but the others returned to prison.

In the third day chief of police called them again and Alghavariri denied his previous belief and released, but Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Mohammad ibn Noah insisted in theirs, and chief banished them to city of “Tartoos”1 .

1- A city in Shaam by the sea (Mo’jam Al Boldan, vol. 4, page 30).

When some people protest those who used Taqiyya, they point to the act Ammar in confronting with infidels.1

All these show that whenever a person suppressed by some group of people and the only way of release is Taqiyya, he can use it even it was in confronting with infidels or Muslims (Attention!).

7- Haraam Taqiyya

In some cases Taqiyya is Haraam, and those are when by hiding the religious belief Islam will be in danger or honor of Muslims harms seriously. In these situations Muslims should express their real belief even they face danger or others hurt them.

And those who think that this is some kind of “killing by own hands” which Qur'an explicitly deny that and said “Do not kill yourselves by your own hands”2 are definitely mistaking, because necessity of this is that attending Jihad will be Haraam which no wise man accept this expression. This issue clears from the arise of Imam Hussein (a.s.) against Yazid, which was definitely a religious duty, and Imam do not accepted, even by Taqiyya, to agree with imposter Yazid and Bani Umayya, because he knew that this act can harm the essentials of Islam and honor of Muslims and also his arise will benefit Muslims by waking them up and releasing them from raffs of ignorance claws.

1- Tabari history book, vol. 7, page 197.

2- Baqara Sura, verse 195.

8- Adaptive Taqiyya

This is another kind of Taqiyya which is used to save the unity of Muslim in matters that do not harm Islam or sect in communicating with other sects.

For example followers of Ahl -e- Bait (a.s.) believe that can not prostrate on carpet and coverings and prostration should be only on earth or it’s components like stone, they know Hadith of Prophet (s.a.) as proof which is “Earth chosen for me for prostration and ablution”1 .

Now if they want to pray with other sects in theirs mosques or Masjid Alharaam or Masjid Alnabi, and for keeping unity of Muslims they prostrate on those carpets like others.

This act is allowed and this prayer is correct in our opinion. This kind of Taqiyya is adaptive Taqiyya, because there is no fear of loosing life or assets but there is just the matter of adapting with other sects of Islam.

1- Sahih of Bokhari, vol. 1, page 91 and Sunan (traditions) of Beihaghi, vol. 2, page 433. (This Hadith quoted in lots of other books).

Now I will finish the issue of Taqiyya by an expression from one of grand scholars:

One of Shi’aa grand scholars attend a meeting with one of masters of Al-Azhar school in Egypt and that master told this Shiite scholar as an admonition that: I heard you perform Taqiyya?!

Shiite scholar answered: May Allah damns the one who forced us to perform Taqiyya!