Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

All Solutions are with the Prophet’s Progeny

Author(s): Muhammad al-Tijani al-Samawi

Translator(s): Abdullah al-Shahin

Publisher(s): Ansariyan Publications - Qum

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Table of Contents

Introduction 7

Notes 8

Preface 9

Notes 12

This is the true Islam 13

Notes 14

The Ahlul Bayt are the natural continuity of the Mission of their grandfather 16

Notes 20

Keeping to religion in the past and the present 22

Notes 26

Is Islam difficult so that people cannot comply with it? 28

Notes 30

Does Islam accept development? 31

Notes 36

The political problems created by civilization 39

Notes 40

Enjoining of good and forbidding of the wrong 42

Notes 43

Modern man and the lenient religion 44

Notes 56

The Shia in brief 57

The Shia in the Qur'an 57

The Shia in the Prophet’s Sunna 58

Notes 60

Today, I have perfected for you your religion… 61

Eid al-Ghadeer 61

Notes 73

Striving to remain firm on guidance 77

Notes 82

The Shia are the followers of the Sunna, but… 84

Every day is Ashura and every land is Karbala 86

Notes 88

The Shia and the prayer 90

Notes 93

The Shia and the Friday Prayer 96

Note 97

Smoking in the places of prayer 98

Notes 102

I bear witness that Ali is the Friend of Allah 104

Notes 108

Epilogue to the previous chapters 110

Notes 114

The Shia and the Sunni refute the Wahabis 117

Notes 122

Kharijites’ doubt in the past and Wahabis’ in the present are the same 124

Notes 128

Argument with one of the Wahabi ulema 129

Notes 133

The Prophet refutes the Wahabis and their misleading 134

The companions seek the blessing of the Prophet’s hair 135

Notes 135

Companions and caliphs seek blessings in the Prophet’s belongings after his death 136

A necessary note 136

Notes 137

The Prophet admits seeking blessing and teaches it to his companions 139

Notes 139

Muhammad is a human not like other humans, but as corundum among gems 141

Notes 142

Seeking healing by the Prophet’s blessing 143

Notes 144

Wahabism has historical roots 145

Notes 146

Wahabism prohibits visiting of graves 148

Note 149

The Ahlul Bayt and a modern Muslim 150

Note 151

The solution is in the Ahlul Bayt’s school 152

To relieve from hardship 152

This is the wudhu’ 153

Notes 153

This is the prayer 155

Notes 156

This is the Zakat 158

Notes 160

Temporary marriage and its importance 161

Woman is wronged among us 163

Notes 166

Temporary marriage is the very solution 167

Notes 169

Temporary marriage was legislated for woman’s welfare 170

Notes 172

Temporary marriage and its benefits 173

Notes 176

This is al-Mahdi 177

Note 178

“Then I was Guided” is the Ahlul Bayt’s book 179

Notes 180

“Then I was Guided” in the court 182

Note 186

Reference Books 187

In this text, the author Al-Tijani Al-Samawi tries to present the idea that a contemporary Muslim, who lives in the civilization of the twentieth century and faces different challenges, cannot abide by the Islamic Sharia correctly unless he follows and associates with the Immaculate Progeny of the Prophet (S). The fact that the Holy Qur'an and the Prophet’s Sunna have been liable to misinterpretation and distortion creates more need for us to understand more the need of the infallible Imams to guide us and provide the correct interpretations as teachers and experts of the holy Qur’an.

Introduction

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

Praise be to Allah - the Lord of the worlds and the best of blessings and purest of greetings be on the one who was sent as His mercy to all creatures, our master and guardian Abul Qasim Muhammad ibn Abdullah (S), the last of prophets and messengers and on his immaculate progeny - the leaders of guidance and lanterns in darkness, the Imams of the nation and Saviors of mankind.

Allah has, by the grace of Muhammad (S) and his progeny (peace be on them), favored me with the guidance to know the Truth beyond which there is nothing except deviation. He made me taste the sweetness of the fruit that had ripened in the six books1 - Then I was Guided, To be with the Truthful, Then ask the People of Remembrance (those who know), The Shia are the People of the Sunna, Fear Allah, Know the Truth - in order to inform people of that concealed truth. As a consequence many truthful people, who are always in search for the pure truth, turned to follow the way of the immaculate Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) and became Shia.

Such people cannot be counted. In fact, only Allah the Almighty knows their real number:

And none knows the hosts of your Lord but He Himself. Qur’an, 74:31

However, many letters that come to me in Paris and in Tunisia from all over the world make me happy and hopeful that the deliverance of Allah is imminent and that His promise is true. Thus, I quote this verse that reads:

Or do you think that you would enter the garden while yet the state of those who have passed away before you has not come upon you; distress and affliction befell them and they were shaken violently, so that the Messenger and those who believed with him said: When will the help of Allah come? Now surely the help of Allah is nigh. Qur’an, 2:214

Through the reading of these letters, I feel that goodness does not and shall never stop at all. The truth prevails and it is not overcome. Allah the Almighty says:

Nay! We cast the truth against the falsehood, so that it breaks its head, and lo! it vanishes. Qur’an, 21:81

Since it is Allah who casts the truth against the falsehood, I do not and will never hesitate at all in announcing that what I believe is the truth - until Allah judges between me and those fanatics who approve of nothing except that which they have been accustomed to, even if it is false and deny nothing except that which they have ignored even if it is truth. Nevertheless, I pray Allah to endow them with guidance and success, for it is He who guides whomever He likes to the Right Path.

And since I communicate with a great number of readers and researchers through letters or direct reviews during the lectures that I give on different occasions, I have found that some people see what I have written (in my books) as the truth. Yet they often say: we are in no need to provoke these problems that may be against the unity of Muslims at a time when the West and the East have gathered together to do away with the Muslims.

I see an acceptable logic and reasonable opinion in their saying because they are trying their best to narrow the cycle of disagreement and to unite the rows (of Muslims). Therefore, I have followed their request obediently and accepted their advice with gratitude, calling to the mind a saying of Ameerul Mo'minin (a.s.):

“Let the most beloved of affairs to you be the most moderate in truth, the most comprehensive in justice, and most thorough in the satisfaction of the subjects, because the dissatisfaction of the public annuls the satisfaction of the upper class and the dissatisfaction of the upper class is forgiven by the satisfaction of the public…”2

For these reasons I have put before dear readers this book ‘All solutions are with the Prophet’s Progeny’ in which I have tried my best to avoid the sensitive issues that may provoke some people and then take them away from truth, and thus the purpose of guiding them becomes in vain.

In fact, I think that the provocative manner which provokes high souls, on which I have depended upon in my previous books, has given fruitful and wonderful results. Nevertheless, it is no problem for me to follow a peaceful, lenient manner that may convince many more people, and here the fruits become more delicious and more appetizing. Thus, I follow the two manners together as shown in the Holy Qur’an which has followed the manner of both reward and the warning - to take the greedy to the Paradise and save the fearful from the Hell.

Since we cannot achieve the position of Imam Ali (a.s.) who did not worship Allah out of the greed for His Paradise nor out of the fear of His Fire and who even if the veil to Truth was removed from him, would not have been any more certain than he always was, so we ask Allah the Almighty to favor us with His mercy and join us with the righteous.

Muhammad at-Tijani as-Sammawi

Notes

1. Earlier books written by the author

2. Imam Ali’s message to Malik al-Ashtar when Imam Ali appointed him as the Governor of Egypt

Preface

We have tried our best in our previous books to convince Muslims of the necessity of adhering to the Holy Qur'an and the immaculate progeny of the Prophet (S) and to keep them together to ensure guidance and the deliverance from deviation. This is according to what the Prophet (S) had confirmed and reliable narrators had narrated in their true books of Hadith of the two sects, the Shia as well as the Sunni.

We think, we have carried out the research on this subject fully and did not spare any effort in explaining this fact in the different ways that the research required and took us to it, whether willingly or unwillingly, until some people thought that we were trying to defame the Prophet’s companions, hurt their dignities or deface their honesty.

We swear by Allah the Almighty that we did not want anything but to exalt the Prophet (S), who represents the whole of Islam and deem him far above every defect, and to exalt and deem his progeny who are equivalent to the Qur'an, far above every defect. Whoever knows them knows the Qur'an and whoever ignores them ignores the Qur'an. This is as the Prophet (S) often declared.

By the assistance of Allah the Almighty, we shall uncover in this book that a contemporary Muslim, who lives in the civilization of the twentieth century and faces different challenges, cannot abide by the Islamic Sharia1 correctly unless he keeps with the Immaculate Progeny of the Prophet (S).

A fact that cannot be overlooked is that the Holy Qur'an and the Prophet’s Sunna have been liable to misinterpretation and distortion. The verses of Qur’an have been interpreted into different meanings away from the actual concepts of the Sharia, and the Prophet’s Sunna has been distorted by adding fabricated traditions to it - such that the Prophet (S) was free from.

All the tafsirs2 that we have in our hands nowadays are not free from some Israelite fables and false interpretations or some personal opinions of interpreters who say that some verses have been abrogated. The same is said about the books of Hadith that underwent fabrication, insertion and distortion. It can thus be said that no book has remained untouched. Therefore, Muslims have to revert to the infallible imams of the Prophet’s progeny as they are the only ones who can correctly interpret and explain the revelation of Allah and purify the Prophet’s traditions from all blemishes and distortion.

If the final goal of Muslims today is the call to go back to the righteous first companions to take the two sources of legislation from them only as they were the best of people, as most of Muslims believe - then we have to ask these people what their argument is. We can ask them for a convincing evidence and inevitable proof from which no Muslim can turn here or there. This would make any Muslim submit satisfactorily while his heart is certain. Just trusting in someone or even his righteousness and good conduct do not make it certain that he has sound perception or infallibility.

Imam Ali, the Gate to the Prophet’s City of knowledge, referred to this point when he said:

In the hands of people there is truth and falsehood, truthfulness and untruthfulness, abrogating and abrogated (rulings), general and special (rulings), clear and ambiguous, memorizing and supposition. There was fabrication against the Messenger of Allah (S) in his time itself until he made a speech saying, ‘Let him, he who intentionally fabricates against me - take his seat in the Fire…’

In fact, those who convey to you such speech are four kinds of men, and there is no fifth one.

First is a hypocrite man who shows faith, pretends Islam, does not refrain from sins or feel shy and fabricates intentionally against the Messenger of Allah (S), may Allah have blessing and peace on him and his progeny. If people knew that he is a hypocrite and liar, they would not accept from him or believe what he says. Instead they said, ‘he is a companion of the Messenger of Allah (S), may Allah have blessing and peace on him and his progeny, that he (the hypocrite) has seen him - the Prophet (S), heard from him, and taken from him’.

And so people accepted him even though Allah has informed you about the hypocrites with what He has informed and described them to you with what He has described. They followed him after the Prophet, peace be on him and approached the leaders of deviation and the inviters to the Fire with falsehood and fabrication. They entrusted them with posts and made them rulers over the necks of people, and consumed with them this worldly life. Surely, (most of) the people are with rulers and the worldly life except those whom Allah has preserved. So, this is one of the four men.

And then there is a man who heard something from the Messenger of Allah (S) but did not memorize it as it was and he was uncertain of it and did not intend to tell lies. Thus, this (saying of the Prophet) is in his hands and he narrates and acts according to it and says, ‘I heard it from the Messenger of Allah (S), may Allah have blessing and peace on him and his progeny’. If Muslims knew that he was uncertain about it, they would not accept from him and if he himself knew that it was so, he would deny it.

And a third man is one who heard from the Messenger of Allah (S) something that he - the Prophet (S) ordered people to do, and then he ordered them not to do it, but the man did not know this. Or he heard the Prophet (S) forbid something and then he permitted it, but the man did not know, so he memorized the abrogated thing and did not memorize that which was forbidden and allowed subsequently. If he knew that it had been abrogated, he would deny it, and if Muslims when hearing from him knew that it was abrogated, they would deny it.

And a fourth man is one who fabricated neither against Allah nor against His Messenger (S). He hates lying for fear of Allah and for glorification of the Messenger of Allah (S), may Allah have blessing and peace on him and his progeny. And he was not uncertain, but he memorized what he heard as it was. He narrated exactly what he heard with neither increase nor decrease. He memorized the abrogating ruling and did according to it, and memorized the abrogated thing and avoided it. He knew the general and special (rulings) and the clear and the ambiguous, so he put everything in its right place.

A speech of the Messenger of Allah (S), may Allah have blessing and peace on him and his progeny might have two aspects - a special meaning and a general meaning. One may hear it and not know what Allah the Almighty has meant nor what the Messenger of Allah (S) has meant by it - and so the hearer interprets it without knowing its actual meaning, purpose and reason.

Not all companions of the Messenger of Allah (S) asked and enquired from the Prophet (S) nor did they wish a nomad or a foreigner to come forward and ask him so that they would hear (the answer). But nothing from him passed by me except that I asked the Prophet (S) about it and memorized it. These are the aspects that people are in disagreements about and have defects in their narrations.3

From this speech of Ameerul Mo'minin (a.s.) it becomes clear that a great difficulty surrounds us in order to arrive at the real concepts and meanings of the Sharia.

Since this was Imam Ali’s analysis at his very time when there was no more than twenty-five years that had passed after the Prophet’s death, he was available and most of the Prophet’s companions were alive to revise and purify the Prophet’s traditions, then what can be said about the state of Muslims after the passage of fourteen centuries - when the nation has disagreed and divided into different sects and cults? For all that, a researcher has to be fully cautious before he judges a certain sect and considers it true or turns against another and denies it.

We have mentioned in our previous books through scientific historical studies that the ‘Twelver Shia’ is the group with salvation representing the right Islamic line. This judgment was not the result of the conditions and circumstances that I had lived with and then reacted accordingly. Rather it is a fact proven by the Qur'an and the Sunna.

This has also been proven by true history which is free from distortion and fabrication. In fact, it is easy to get to this clear fact through reason endowed by Allah along with the ability to argue and distinguish through evidence. Allah the Almighty says:

…therefore, give good news to My servants, who listen to the word, then follow the best of it; those are they whom Allah has guided, and those it is who are the men of understanding. Qur’an, 39:17-18

Allah also says about those who set their reasons aside and therefore deserve torment:

And they shall say: Had we been wont to listen or have sense, we had not been among the dwellers in the Burning Fire. Qur’an, 67:10

In spite of all this and in spite of all the clear arguments and irrefutable proofs that have been mentioned in my previous books, some people - may Allah forgive them - do not read with their minds and hearts but with their emotions. They only read what pleases their feelings and inclination. They have learnt to be against all what may oppose their beliefs and to despise all what may disagree with their wishes.

Since we are from the faithful who love goodness to be for all Muslims and try the best to guide them to the right path, which we think, is the Ship of Deliverance, we do not become desperate. We continue to invite them to goodness and happiness that is to be found nowhere except in the Garden of Bliss, until the last of our lives.

Ameerul Mo'minin Imam Ali (a.s.) says:

May Allah have mercy on a man who sees truth and assists it, or sees injustice and denies it and assists against the doer of injustice with truth.

He also says:

I hate for you to be revilers, but you may describe their deeds and mention their conditions and it would be more correct in saying and more effective in excusing. You may say instead of abusing them: O Allah, spare our bloods and their bloods, and reconcile between us and them and guide them from their deviation until those who have ignored the truth know it and those who have attached themselves to aggression and enmity refrain from it.4

In my six previous books, I have followed this style which Imam Ali (a.s.) had advised his followers to follow. I was not a reviler, but I described their5 deeds and mentioned their conducts, so that those who ignored the truth would know it. Yet, what shall I do for those who do not accept even to describe and mention the deeds and conducts of those companions? And what shall I do when the truth cannot be shown except in this way?

Here in my seventh book, I try my best not to mention the conducts of those companions or describe their deeds. Instead I try to prove the right of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s..) and their followers in a new manner which may please most of people. Although I think that the satisfaction of all people is an unreachable goal, I pray to Allah the Almighty to make me successful in doing what He may please, to make all Muslims successful in doing everything good and guide them and us to the truth, make us not die except on the Right Path, and make our end the best.

Longing for his Lord’s mercy

Muhammad at-Tijani as-Sammawi

Notes

1. The Islamic code of religious law based on the teachings of the Qur’an and the traditional sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (a.s.).

2. Books of interpretation and commentary on the Qur'an.

3. Nahjul Balaghah, Sermon 208.

4. Nahjul Balaghah, sermon 204.

5. The companions were men of authority in the first stages of Islam who had committed some errors and injustices and who had been taken as a role model by a great number of Muslims.

This is the true Islam

This was the title that I chose for the lecture I gave two years ago in the mosque of my Sunni brothers in the city of San Francisco, California, the United States of America. That day, there was a great crowd of men and women from different nations and countries - people from Africa, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Egypt attended the lecture and most of them left satisfied after a free and purposeful debate.

An academic Egyptian, who had recently received his doctorate, objected to me during the debate saying, “How could Shiism be the true Islam, whereas the well-known thing is that the Sunni are the group with Salvation on the Day of Resurrection as the ones who kept to the Qur’an and the Sunna altogether, while the other sects were in deviation?”

Very calmly, I answered him and directed my speech to all present in attendance, saying, “O brothers, I loyally swear that if I found one group from the Sunni or other than them practicing their religion according to a creed ascribed to Abu Bakr - I would say: Well blessed! Abu Bakr was a great companion and he was one of the first Muslims. He accompanied the Messenger of Allah (S), was the second of the two in the cave, and was the first of the (four) orthodox caliphs. I would be satisfied with that and be one of that sect.

And if I found a group of the Sunni practicing their religion according to a creed ascribed to Umar ibn al-Khattab, I would say: Well blessed! Our master Umar was a great companion. He was the Farouq, who differentiated between the truth and falsehood, by whom Allah had strengthened Islam. He was from the first Muslims, and he was the second orthodox caliph. Then, I would be satisfied and would follow this group.

And if I found a group of the Sunni or any other than them practicing their religion according to a creed ascribed to Uthman ibn Affan, I would say: Well blessed! Our master Uthman was from the first companions, and he was one of the two lights of whom angels felt shy. He was the third of the orthodox caliphs, and it was he who had gathered the Qur'an (in one written book). Then, I would be satisfied and follow this creed.

However, I did not find any group of the Sunni, nor from other than them claiming that they followed a creed belonging to one of these three caliphs or any one of the first companions. On the other hand, I found one group practicing their religion according to a creed ascribed to Ali ibn Abi Talib (a.s.), and this group is the Twelver Shia.

The other sects of Muslims follow Abu Haneefah, Malik, ash-Shafi’ee, or Ahmed ibn Hanbal. These scholars, in spite of their high positions, great knowledge, and piety - had never accompanied the Messenger of Allah (S) for even one day, nor had they seen him at all. They all lived after the great sedition that spread over them from its darkness and they all had been affected by its bad effects.1

And if we divested Imam Ali (a.s.) of everything and did not acknowledge any preference or virtue as due to him, even then he would always remain the great companion and the first Muslim who spent all his life beside the Messenger of Allah (S). So I adjure you all by Allah, that if you gave up fanaticism and emotion, made reason your judge in order to please your Lord before anything else and then to please your conscience, whom would you choose to follow and obey?”

Most of them cried out, “Imam Ali (a.s.) is the worthiest to be followed…”

I said, “What if I added to these reasons the traditions of the Messenger of Allah (S) that have been mentioned by the Sunni in their books of Hadith (Sahihs and Musnads), like the following ones:

I am the City of knowledge and Ali is its gate.

Of whomever I am a guardian; here Ali is to be his guardian.

Ali is with the truth and the truth is with Ali. It turns with him wherever he turns.

Ali to me is as Aaron was to Moses.

Ali explains to my nation what they shall disagree on after me.

Ali is with the Qur'an and the Qur'an is with Ali; they shall not separate until they come to me at the Pond in Paradise.

If Muslims know these facts after having acknowledged their reasons to follow Imam Ali (a.s.) just for his companionship with the Prophet (S), then no doubt shall remain that the true Islam is the Islam adopted by the Twelver Shia who are also called Refusers (rawafidh) because they refuse to follow anyone else other than Imam Ali (a.s.).”

After having given answers to the questions and discussing calmly through the scientific, historical research, many in attendance came to me - congratulated me and kissed me, and praised Allah, the Almighty for the guidance. They asked me to give them all my books and to lead them to some books of the Shia.

From among these people was the imam who managed the mosque. He was crying while I was talking to him about the tragedy of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.). He was an Egyptian physician who loved the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) too much. He said to me, “Be delighted my brother! I did not think that you would convince us so easily. I was warned about you by some fanatic persons who did not like you, but by the grace of Allah and by your influential and truthful speech, you could affect their hearts…yes by Allah!”

Notes

1. Ibn Khaldun in his Muqaddimah (p. 411), shows the cause of the difference between the first companions and the imams (of the Sunni) who came later by saying, “The new events are not covered by the (religious) texts, and for what is not clear in texts, it is required to turn to other (texts) when there is similarity between them (events). And all these things cause disagreement which necessarily takes place.”

It is clear that there came widespread dispersal of the companions and the second generation that came after them in different countries and towns. Some of them were appointed as judges or were in charge of giving fatwas. It led to differences in their theories and ijtihad (personal reasoning in giving a certain fatwa on a certain event). These differences arose depending on the situation of the country they lived in and the personality of the jurisprudent himself when facing different questions. As a result, two schools came to light for them.

First, the School of Opinion that was famous among the Iraqis. The most prominent one of this school were Abu Haneefah an-Nu’man ibn al-Munthir in Kufa and his disciples and adherents. This school had some characteristics. One, they used branchings and then violated them - even the imaginary and abstract things. Therefore, they would often say, “what do you think if it was so”, then they asked about a contradictory situation, and then derived a ruling for that situation. Then, they turned the question over and over - upside down considering all its possible aspects, until they were called by the scholars of Hadith as Ara’aytiyyun (in Arabic, ‘…do you think…’ is ‘a ra’ayta’). Secondly, they narrated and trusted in a few traditions and only according to certain conditions. So, only a few traditions were accepted by them, some of which were so excessive in nature, that it was thought not to depend on Prophet’s traditions at all. Their argument in this was that they suspected the narrators of Hadith and there was much doubting in traditions about narrators.

Second was the School of Hadith whose characteristics were - one, they very much disliked to ask about situations because the source for them was Hadith, which was limited. They disliked giving personal opinion (on these matters). They disliked being asked about an event except when it had actually happened. They often criticized the Iraqis for their discussion of possible situations. Secondly, they depended on all traditions, even the weak ones. They were not strict about the conditions for accepting traditions and they preferred this to the giving of one’s opinion. Refer to Fajr (dawn of) al-Islam by Ahmed Amin, p.243.

The disagreement and dispute between the two schools was so strong that they abused, reviled, and accused each other of impiety and disbelief. In fact, some of them fabricated false traditions. It was narrated from Abu Bakr and Umar that they approved and reproved the acting according to Hadith.

The same was narrated from ibn Mas’ud. Some scholars overexerted themselves to reconcile the contradictory sayings of the disputing schools. Therefore, the truth and honesty was not observed and Allah the Almighty was not feared. For more details, refer to the book Know the Truth, p. 96-98, and Fear Allah, p. 67-72, by the author of this book.