Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Striving to remain firm on guidance

Allah the Almighty says:

And most surely I am most forgiving to him who repents and believes and does good, then continues to follow the true guidance. Qur'an, 20:82

This holy verse shows that repentance, faith, and good deeds are not enough for the forgiveness of Allah and His contentment cannot be acquired except by following the true guidance.

It has been mentioned that Imam as-Sadiq (a.s.) said:

Surely Allah does not forgive, except one who repents, believes, does good and is guided through the guardianship of us, the Ahlul Bayt.

By this, it is understood that guidance and being guided are two synonymous lines that each completes the other, but guidance is a divine favor that Allah endows His creatures with. Surely, His guidance has included all His servants with no exception. Allah says:

And the soul and Him Who made it perfect. Then, He inspired it to understand what is right and what is wrong. Qur'an, 91:7-8

Surely, We have shown him the way: he may be thankful or unthankful. Qur'an, 76:3

As for being guided, it is a personal effort that man exerts according to the general guidance to arrive after searching and trying to rely on his mental faculties, in distinguishing the truth from the untruth. And then chooses willingly the path of the truth after having been away from it. What explains this meaning is this saying of Allah:

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

The meaning of the verse is that a reasonable servant opens his ears for arguments and listens to all sayings and theories. He distinguishes the good from the bad, and then chooses to follow the truth and avoid the untruth. Such a servant returns to the original divine guidance willingly and so he deserves the praising of Allah to him that he is from the men of understanding.

The clearest example on the explanation of “guidance” and “being guided” is what has happened and is happening to the nation of Muhammad (S) whom Allah guided through the Prophet (S) and took them out of darkness into light and guided them to walk in His right path. He left them at the luminous destination after He had perfected to them their religion, completed His favor to them, and chosen for them Islam as a religion.1

However, the nation separated, disagreed and divided after the Prophet (S) departed, into different groups, sects and creeds after it had been the best nation raised up for mankind.

The first reason behind this separation and disagreement belonged to the first companions who carried the banner of the Mission to deliver it to the next generations that followed. They disagreed and separated after the demise of their Prophet (S). They fought and killed each other. They considered each other as unbelievers and were free from each other.

The next generations followed them in that and made the problem more complicated. They widened the circle of disagreement with new thoughts and strange theories they attached to the religion of Allah. Therefore, sects and creeds came out and different groups disputed and fought each other. Muslims became confused in darkness that they did not know where to go and where the truth was, for every group claimed they had kept to the Qur'an and the Sunna, every creed claimed that they followed the Prophet’s line, and every party was pleased with what it had.

If we leave aside our emotions, give up blind following, turn our backs to fanaticism, look at things with the eye of insight and ask - where is the position of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) among all these sects and creeds? This is especially so when we face the Prophet’s traditions which order the nation to refer to the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) in all religious and worldly affairs to assure guidance and protection from deviation. These traditions are true and reliable in all sects of Muslims. One of these traditions is the tradition of Thaqalayn where the Prophet (S) said:

I have left among you the Two Weighty Things; the Book of Allah and my progeny, my family. If you keep to them, you shall never go astray after me at all. I recommend you to obey Allah through obeying my family.

He repeated this three times.

One, who studies the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) and their position to the nation today, does not find but respect and reverence to them among all Muslims, but the will of the Messenger of Allah (S) was not limited to respect and reverence to the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.). He ordered the nation to obey, follow and imitate them in everything. He said:

Do not precede them lest you perish, do not lag behind them lest you perish and do not teach them, because they are more knowledgeable than you.

If it is so, we do not find today any group except one that does according to the will of the Messenger of Allah (S) and keeps to the line of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) since the time of Imam Ali (a.s.) until today. This group was called “Shi’atu (followers of) Ali” at the time of Imam Ali (a.s.), and later on, everyone who followed Imam Ali (a.s.) and the infallible Imams of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.), were called Shia (or Shiite).

If we look at the history and leaf through what historians have recorded, we find that the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) were wronged, kept away from the stage of the public life and were fought by the rulers and governments that ruled over Muslims during the first three centuries of Islam.

In fact, those rulers were successful in separating the nation from its real leadership, and keeping it away from the true path. However, they could not succeed in taking out the love and reverence for the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) from the hearts of Muslims. In spite of the abusing and cursing announced from above the minbars and the forcing of Muslims by all kinds of force, those rulers failed to extract the love of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) from the hearts of the faithful.

Due to this, we justify the contradiction we find today in most of Muslims that they love the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) and acknowledge their superiority in virtues and knowledge, nevertheless they imitate other than them and refer to the rulings and legislations of imams who neither saw nor lived at the time of the Messenger of Allah (S), but they were born after the Great Sedition that distorted the religion, did away with the righteous leaving the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) and their followers discarded and isolated.

The infallible Imams of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) remained unknown by most of Muslims whom if you ask about “the Ahlul Bayt”, they shall say that they are the wives of the Prophet (S).

It is naturally clear that when the Prophet (S) ordered his nation to refer to his progeny, he did not mean his wives, but the twelve imams about whom he said:

The caliphs after me are twelve ones; all of them are from Quraysh.

And it is well known for all scholars and researchers that the infallible Imams (a.s.) tried their best and on every possible occasion to introduce themselves to people so that people might come back to them, but:

People are slaves to this worldly life, and religion is just a pretense on their tongues. They claim it as long as they are at ease, and when they are tried with affliction, the faithful become very few.

Therefore, Imam as-Sadiq (a.s.) said, when reciting this verse:

And most surely I am most forgiving to him who repents and believes and does good and then continues to follow the right path. Qur'an, 20:8,

and, then follows the right path of guardianship of we the Ahlul Bayt.

It may be understood from this holy verse too that it is not enough for the Muslims, who truly believe in Allah and His messenger to repent on their sins, do good deeds and give up bad deeds - in order to deserve the forgiveness of Allah the Almighty. They should be guided to the infallible Imams who are the successors of the Messenger of Allah (S) for they (the Imams) alone are the ones who can teach Muslims the real meanings of the Qur'an and the Sunna. Thus, Muslims’ faith, deeds and repentance would be according to what Allah had imposed on them with no misinterpretation or distortion.

Since misinterpretation took place in the Holy Qur'an and distortion in the Prophet’s Sunna and since every sect has relied upon a proof misinterpreted from the Qur'an and argued on basis of untrue traditions considered to be true by them, so disagreement, confusion and many doubts have surfaced.

Therefore, if a Muslim wants to know the truth, be protected from going astray, delivered on the Day of Resurrection and to win the Paradise and the contentment of Allah, he has to do nothing but to ride on the Ship of Deliverance and turn to the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.), because they are the security for this ummah where Allah will not accept (the deeds of) a servant except when done in their way. No one shall enter (the Paradise) except from their gate. This is actually what the Prophet (S) asked the ummah to do due to the command of Allah the Almighty.

If we review the disagreement of the companions after the Prophet (S), we shall find that they disagreed for the sake of caliphate and authority over the ummah and every disagreement that came out after that was because of the caliphate. If unqualified people assume the rule and high posts, they certainly shall lead the nation to deviation because of their ignorance, selfishness and personal desires.

Today, as the Islamic Caliphate has gone to the unknown and there is nothing that may make it come back, would Muslims then return to their own reasons to observe the commands of their Prophet (S), follow the Book of their Lord and follow the progeny of their prophet in order to restore fraternity, concord and peace amongst themselves in order to make the ummah reunite and recover from its disagreement and separation? This is a cry from a pitiful, compassionate brother!

We have known from the previous discussion that guidance is a great blessing, which Allah has bestowed on His servants. And, we have known too that being guided to the guardianship of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) and following them is a greater blessing that deserves the forgiveness of Allah the Almighty for His sinful servants. Then, how would jihad (strive) be for remaining fixed in this path?

Jihad in Islam is of two kinds; the jihad against enemy, which is called “the minor jihad”, and the jihad against one’s self (desires, fancies and lusts) which is called “the major jihad”.

What concerns us in this subject is “the major jihad” which concern the soul and to treat it against perverse doctrinal diseases. One time, man is in jihad against himself and at another time in jihad against others. The jihad against oneself is accomplished by doing good deeds, being righteous, accompanying good people, offering worships and being truthful in dealing with people according to what the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) have determined by narrating from their grandfather (S) who had received it from Allah the Almighty.

As for the jihad against others, it is accomplished by the enjoining of good, forbidding from the wrong and inviting to the way of Allah through wisdom and good exhortation. Such kind of jihad can be accomplished through speaking at one time and through the pen another time. This kind of jihad is better and greater near Allah than the jihad by the sword. The Messenger of Allah (S) said:

The ink of scholars is better near Allah than the blood of martyrs.

What scholars write to show and support the truth and explain different affairs for people to be guided to the right path of Allah through irrefutable arguments and convincing proofs is better near Allah than the blood of martyrs, although the blood of martyrs is holy and highly sanctified in Islam. On the other side, we find that some people struggle to impose the religion by force and coercion, where Allah says:

There is no compulsion in religion; truly, the right way has become clearly distinct from error. Qur'an, 2:256.

Therefore, scholars and thinkers must try their best to spread the true Islam,2 to introduce the Imams of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) and their sciences, and spend from their monies and times. How many circles of disbelief, atheism and corruption are there which are financed with millions of dollars, whereas wealthy Muslims do not spend in the way of Allah except very scanty amounts!

We see that unbelievers come to Somalia under the pretense of saving its people from famine, whereas their brothers in religion are inadvertent to them.

We have seen the activities of the Christian Missionaries in the west and east of Africa, Egypt, Sudan, Indonesia and other Muslim countries. They offer to people over there, a little food and drugs that affect their hearts and they convert to Christianity after having been Muslims. Nonetheless, wealthy Muslims, whom Allah has endowed from His bounty and made as His deputies on earth to serve His people, are indifferent to everything. These wealthy people may go to the hajj twenty times and spend much monies every year, whereas in their neighborhood there are many hungry, destitute sufferers who find no one to offer them a bite of food to satisfy their empty stomachs, or a piece of cloth to cover their naked bodies.

Did the Messenger of Allah (S) not say, “The nearest of you to Allah is the most useful of you to His servants”?

Would Allah accept this deed (every-year-hajj), which He has imposed on people as a one-time obligation throughout their lives? The Messenger of Allah (S) performed the hajj one time in all his life because he might have wanted to make us realize that the wealthy people of this ummah may exaggerate in worships and ignore dealing with others (social communication and association), which is the basis of the Sharia. Therefore, the Prophet (S) often said:

Certainly, the religion is (human) dealing.

So, how about the one who performs the hajj many times while he is in debt to people, or that some of his relatives are poor whom he does not help or feel pity for?

If we add to that the wasting and prodigality of smoking among Muslims, then the punishment shall be severe near Allah on the Day of Punishment. If we look with a general view at what is spent on smoking by Muslims, we shall be surprised by the statistics. For example, the number of Muslims in the world today is more than one milliard and if only one fifth of them smoke, then there shall be two hundred million smokers who spend two hundred million dollars a day, six milliard dollars a month, and seventy-two milliard dollars a year. Yes, Muslims spend at least seventy-two milliard dollars a year to buy fatal diseases!

O Muslims fear Allah for your selves and properties! If these monies of only ten years are collected, they shall be 720 milliard dollars, which shall suffice all poor Muslims in every spot of the earth:

And you deemed it trifle, while with Allah it is great. Qur’an 24:15

In the end, I would like to attract the attention of my Shia brothers, who follow the school of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) towards the following points:

1. They have to argue with their Sunni brothers in the best manner and to avoid abusing and reviling which causes alienation. Imam Ali (a.s.) said:

Do not be abusers or cursers, but you say: ‘they did so and so’, and this is more effective in argument.

2. They have to avoid in their worships and dealings all the heresies that were not available at the time of the Prophet (S) or the time of the infallible imams (a.s.) - such as beating oneself with injurious tools until bleeding in Ashura. It makes others keep away from embracing the creed of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.). Imam as-Sadiq (a.s.) said:

Be propagandists for us by your deeds not your sayings! Be a source of praise to us and not a source of dispraise against us!

3. They have to pay much attention in their lectures and discussions to scientific matters that have proofs and evidences in the reliable books of the Sunni themselves. They have to avoid weak traditions that provoke disputes and disagree with reason.

4. They have to try their best to be good, pious and righteous - as their infallible Imams (a.s.) were. They have not to rely on the belief that Imam Ali (a.s.) would intercede for his followers and adherents. Imam Ali (a.s.) himself said:

Faith is not obtained by wishing or adorning, but faith is that which is fixed in the heart and proved by your sayings and doings.

5. They have to take lessons from the lives of the infallible Imams (a.s.) who have left incomparable treasures of knowledge and morals. For example, Nahjul Balaghah alone is a curative drug for all diseases. It is time for shaking off the ignorance and underdevelopment and take the nation to the high meanings of civilization and development. So, if the Imam of the Shia was the Gate to the City of knowledge, then his followers must be the first in all sciences.

6. The Shia have to unite and avoid all kinds of political partisanship and regional blocs. They have to strive to unite the religious authorities and obey them and thereafter, strive to unite all Muslims.

If the Shia followed these instructions, which I have taken from the Holy Qur'an, the Prophetic Sunna and the school of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) - security and peace shall prevail everywhere. If we changed the bad beliefs, ignorance and deviations inside ourselves, Allah will change our poverty and meanness into richness and glory, and make Imam al-Mahdi (a.s.) reappear among us to fill the earth with justice and fairness after it has been filled with injustice and oppression.

Notes

1. The love to the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) has been considered as the recompense for the fulfilling of the mission by the Messenger of Allah (S). Allah says,

‘Say: I do not ask of you any reward for it but love for my near relatives. Qur'an, 42:23

This love is the gate and the way to the contentment of Allah the Almighty and without this love the house may only be entered from the rear (wrong side) as Allah says:

…and it is not righteousness that you enter the houses from their backs. Qur'an, 2:189

Imam Ali (a.s.) is the gate of the Prophet’s city of knowledge. The Prophet (a.s.) often said, “I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its gate”. “Ali is with the truth and the Qur'an. He has divorced this worldly life thrice…”

Imam Ali (a.s.) did never compete for authority, nor did he strive for power, wealth, pleasures, desires, or lusts, but his great soul struggled to build the religion and firm on its pillars. He said, “By Allah, if the Arabs and foreigners gathered together against me, I would not run away.” His strike against Amr ibn Abd Wudd that equaled the worship of men and the jinn, his plucking out of the gate of Khaybar…etc. were just a drop in the sea of his achievements.

Allah the Almighty had supported His messenger (a.s.) with Ali (a.s..). Refer to Tarikh Baghdad, vol. 11 p. 173. The same is mentioned in Thakha’ir al-Uqba and Kanzol Ummal. We see him weep for a Jewish woman who had resorted to Islam when been wronged by some man. He said, “I was informed that a man from you broke into (the house of) a Muslim woman and another covenanted one whom he plundered her necklaces, jewels, and adornments and she could not defend herself except by sighing and seeking Allah’s mercy.” Refer to Nahjul Balaghah, by Subhi as-Salih, p. 69.

He often said, “It is my soul that I tame with piety.” He said, “Ah, for the lack of provision (good deeds and means for the afterlife), long distance of the journey, and the loneliness of the way!” (Nahjul Balaghah, by Subhi as-Salih, p. 480).

The great man of letters George Jerdaq loved him too much and wrote on him the best of his works. One of the popes composed poetry on him. Ibn Abil Hadeed loved and wrote on him. So did Muhammad Abdu, Subhi as-Salih, and the author of this book. Peace be on Ameerul Mo'minin, the highest example for mujahidin!

2. From the situations that the ulema and jurisprudents face is the trial they are tried with, and here, the advantages of Major Jihad, the struggling against one’s self , and suppressing it shall appear clearly!

Sheikh Murtadha al-Ansari was a religious authority and one of the ulema who had been educated in the school of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.). One night, one of his students saw in his sleep Iblis holding in his hands threads, ropes, and iron chains. When he asked him about that, Iblis replied, “These are traps by which I attract people to me. Last night, I tried all these tools against Sheikh al-Ansari, but I failed, and in the end, the thick iron chain was broken.” When this student woke up, he hastened to the house of his teacher Sheikh al-Ansari and told him what he saw. After much insistence, the Sheikh said, “Last night, my wife was in parturition. My self enticed me to take from the monies of khums and zakat with me to hire a midwife, but I often and often resisted my self, and so on, until my wife gave birth to her child by herself. Then, I praised Allah too much.”

On the other side, we see those who gave a fatwa on the killing of Imam al-Husayn ibn Ali (a.s.) by saying, “Al-Husayn was killed by the sword of his grandfather (the Prophet Muhammad), because he rebelled against the imam of his time”. This was the statement of Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi al-Andalusi in his book al-Awasim, p. 232, verified by Muhyiddeen al-Khateeb!

When Harun al-Rasheed became the caliph, he was very fond of one of his father’s bondmaids. He tried to sleep with her, but she said to him, “I am not fit for you, because your father has slept with me.” However, he was very fond of her. He sent for his famous judge Abu Yousuf who was called as “the jurisprudent of the earth and its judge”. The judge replied to the caliph, saying, “Violate the inviolability of your father and satisfy your lust, and make it (the responsibility of sin) in my neck.” Refer to Tarikh al-Khulafa’ by as-Sayooti, p. 291.

Like al-Rasheed, Abu Yousuf, and these stories there were many rulers, royal court preachers, drinking companions, officials…etc.

The Shia are the followers of the Sunna, but…

We have known from the previous discussions that the Twelver Shia are the true followers of the Prophet’s Sunna. This is a clear fact free from any doubt for whoever studies the teachings of Islam in all its beliefs, rulings and historical stages.

However, their enemies from “the Sunni”, whose origin and goals we have known in the previous studies, defame the Shia. They criticize their beliefs and deeds, evoke suspicions against them, doubt their religion and sometimes fabricate false stories to defame and cause troubles and make others detest and despise them.

One of these fabrications is the claim that (a Shia believes that) Gabriel has betrayed the Trust and delivered the Mission to Muhammad instead of Ali. The second one is the unreal story of Abdullah ibn Saba’ - the Jewish as the founder of Shiism. A third one is that the Shia have a special Qur'an called “Mushaf Fatima” other than the Qur'an available among all Muslims, or that the Shia prepare a horse every night at the door of the vault in Samarra’ (in Iraq) waiting for al-Mahdi to ride that horse. They also claim that the Shia worship the graves and consider the Imams as gods, and they prostrate for stones. The worse of it is their claim that the Shia permit adultery and that they (more than one) sleep with the same woman in the same night. They fabricate many other lies against the Shia with not any bit of reality or evidence.

Anyhow, there are some objections that the Sunni put forth in our present time and make them as obstacles in the way of scientific research and then block the way to arrive at the sought truth. Such people when presenting such spurious arguments, which we shall discuss later on, have never read them in books or heard them from traditions. Yet, they swear that they have seen them with their own eyes and have attended themselves. Therefore, this matter is too dangerous and serious and it may have a negative effect on the scholars and researchers who seek pure truth.

As we have accustomed readers to seek the truth and be neutral without any fanaticism towards any creed or sect, following the Prophet’s tradition which says, “Say the truth even if it is against you”. Also Allah the Almighty does not feel shy away from the truth. So, we must have a clear situation in this concern to be able say to the doers of good among the Shia that they have done well and to the wrong doers among them that they have done wrong and sinned. We do not fear in the blaming of any blamers, for we just seek the contentment of Allah the Almighty.

We must distinguish the fundamentals of Islam and that which is really in the sharia from traditions, habits and personal conclusions. And as we have been frank and daring in criticizing some companions of the Prophet (S) for the violations they had committed, we also have to criticize some Shia and not keep silent before their violations.

However, there is an important difference here. What the companions changed and invented became parts of the religion, which changed the rulings of Allah and His messenger, but what some of the Shia changed or invented did not change any divine rulings, nor did any one of them say it was obligatory; nevertheless, we must criticize it.

I shall discuss the most important points raised about these new invented things (heresies) through which some others criticize and try to falsify Shiism and ascribe to it different kinds of defects. Dear reader, you yourself may suffer from them and not find a satisfying answer that will assist you to face an opponent or convince yourself.

These new things in fact, are heresies fabricated against Shiism and Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) who always refused and refuted every heresy whatever it was and whatever it adorned and called “a good heresy”. They, peace be upon them, have often and always declared that they did not say or do anything except according to the sayings and doings of their grandfather the Messenger of Allah (S). Thus, everything that came out after the infallible Imams (a.s.) are heresies - that harm and not benefit, alienate and not attract, complicate and not make it easy. The learned youth find in them a flaw in Shiism and may find it very difficult to justify or refute them.

We mention here, for example, some of those heresies, which the Sunni criticize the Shia for: the exaggeration in the rituals of consolation in Ashura where some people beat themselves with chains, daggers, and knives until they bleed, the disorder in offering the prayer and the indifference to other praying people, smoking in mosques and places of prayer, neglecting the Friday Prayer, and some other things that we shall mention later on which prevent many people from getting to the truth.

Every day is Ashura and every land is Karbala

If people would understand this meaning and observe it in every land they stay in and every day they live - the right of Islam for which Imam al-Husayn (a.s.) was martyred, would be met!

If they did that, the face of Muslims in the world would change and they would be the masters instead of being slaves. However, a majority have understood it to be just to weep, wail, beat themselves with iron chains and knives - a dramatic performance which is repeated for a few hours of the year on the anniversary of Ashura and imitating some things like a parrot from the revolution of Imam al-Husayn (a.s.). Then everything is to be forgotten thereafter. Most of the Sunnis criticize the Shia for such doings that are practiced on the day of Ashura which causes them to bleed.

Western and Arabic media in this age have spared no effort to show the Shia in Iran, during the season of Ashura, behaving as predatory beasts - knowing nothing but violence and admiring nothing better than to see bloods flowing from human beings. Though the Shia in India and Pakistan also practice this and much worse than that, the media - especially TVs, do not focus on them, rather they focus only on the Shia of Iran for a special purpose which is clear to everyone watching the events in the world and especially the affairs of Islam and Muslims.

The media do not show the Friday Prayer in Tehran where more than two millions gather to offer the prayer congregationally behind the President (as the imam of the prayer). The media do not show the wonderful reverence covering millions of Muslims while reciting the du’a of Kumayl on the nights of Friday when streets become fully crowded, avenues are closed and traffics stop. Here, you see men, women, old, young and children supplicating to their Lord humbly in the calmness of night and asking for forgiveness in the dawn.

These media are only concerned in showing the rituals of Ashura - focusing on the beating of heads with knives and chains and the bloody scenes involving a few persons!

It is true that what some of the Shia do during these rituals is not from religion at all, even if mujtahids give fatwas to say that there are great rewards in such deeds. These doings are but habits, traditions and emotions that overcome some people and make them behave unusually and little by little these habits become part of the folklore inherited by one generation from another in blind imitation and without sense. In fact, some ordinary people feel that the shedding of blood by beating oneself is a deed that brings man closer to Allah and that whoever does not do that does not love Imam al-Husayn (a.s.).

When I ponder with myself and in spite of my being Shia, after knowing satisfactorily that Shiism is the true creed - I am not satisfied with those ugly scenes that alienate souls and sound minds, especially when someone unclothes himself and beats himself with an iron tool in crazy movements shouting out too loudly: Husayn, Husayn!

The odd thing in this matter that makes you doubt it is that you see those very persons, who behave unusually and whom you think that the sorrow for Imam al-Husayn (a.s.) has affected terribly, a little after the end of the rituals, jest, laugh and eat sweets as if everything ends with the end of the rituals. The oddest of all this is that most of these people are not religious or pious. Therefore, I have permitted myself to criticize them directly many times and say to them that what they did was just folklore and blind imitation.1

May Allah have mercy on the martyr Muhammad Baqir as-Sadr who helped me much in this calamity when I asked him before my converting a Shia. He said to me, “The beating of bodies and shedding of blood that you see is from the practices of ordinary and ignorant people. No one of the ulema ever practices it. In fact, they always prevent and prohibit it.”

I hate heresies and fight them wherever and with whomsoever they are. We must make the Shia aware to be able to give up heresies and make the Sunni understand that these practices cannot be obstacles preventing them from knowing the truth and following the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.). They do not have to observe the practices of ordinary and ignorant Shia which are unfounded in true Shiism.

Anyhow, we have to imitate our great example the Messenger of Allah (S). When his uncle and protector Abu Talib died, he felt great sorrow for him. He felt this when his most beloved wife Khadijah died. And then he suffered the terrible loss of his uncle Hamza who was martyred and maimed and his body was found torn into pieces with no liver which had been taken out and chewed by Hind, the wife of Abu Sofyan. He felt great sorrow in all these instances, but he just wept out of his affection for them. He wept for his son Ibrahim, for his grandson al-Husayn (a.s.) when Gabriel told him that he would be murdered, and wept for his brother and cousin Ali (a.s.) when he foreknew that the most wretched of people would dye his (Imam Ali a.s.) beard with the blood of his head.

The Prophet Muhammad (S) often wept and he ordered Muslims to feign crying if they could not cry. He sought the protection of Allah from the eye that did not shed tears. Nevertheless, he prohibited Muslims from being excessive in expression of their sorrow, beating their faces or tearing their clothes. Then, what is this about beating one’s head or body with iron tools until one bleeds?

Our first imam after the Prophet Muhammad (S) - Ali ibn Abi Talib (a.s.) did not do anything like that when his brother and cousin the Messenger of Allah (S) died. After a short time of six months, his wife Fatima (a.s.) left to join her father in the better world. Imam Ali (a.s.) felt great pain and sorrow, but he did never do anything unusual as what ordinary people do nowadays.

Imam al-Hasan (a.s) and Imam al-Husayn (a.s) did nothing of that when they lost their merciful grandfather Muhammad (S), and their kind, loving mother Fatima (a.s.), nor when their father Imam Ali (a.s.), who was the best of all human beings after the Prophet Muhammad, was killed by the cursed ibn Muljam in the mihrab.

Imam as-Sajjad (a.s.) as well, did nothing unusual when he saw scenes that had never happened anywhere else at all. He saw with his own eyes the massacre of Karbala when his father, uncles, brothers, cousins and companions were murdered and after this terrible event also he faced great difficulties and suffering that even mountains would not be able bear.

History did not record that any of the infallible Imams (a.s.) did something of that or ordered their followers to do it. The only thing they did was that they liked to hear from some poets elegies about the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) where they wept and felt sorrow and ordered people to weep and be sad for the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.). In fact, this is a recommended thing if not obligatory.

I myself, attended many occasions of Ashura in many countries and did not find anyone of the ulema doing that at all. Scholars and learned people of the Shia avoid that and try to refute and forbid it.

We, after having become Shia, do not imitate ordinary people of the Shia in all what they do without researching and being certain of its truth. We celebrate the anniversary of Ashura by reciting the maqtal (the story of Imam al-Husayn’s martyrdom) and the tragedies that the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) faced. We weep and feel sad for that. The point is that the heart should respond and weep with the eyes. Thereafter all of man’s entity should submit to the remembrance of Allah the Almighty and to the truth that He has revealed. The hearts should promise their Lord to follow the path of Imam al-Husayn (a.s.) which is the same path of the Messenger of Allah (S) and all the Ahlul Bayt (peace be on all of them).

Ashura - with its condolence, sorrows, weeping, observing of remembrance and taking lessons from its situations and heroes, remains pure for the loyal Shia who abide by the true Sunna of the Prophet (S) and the instructions of the infallible imams (a.s.). On the other hand, the acts and practices of ordinary Shia remain liable to criticism and fabrication by those who fish in troubled waters to distort the beliefs of the Shia and separate them from the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) and then consider them as disbelievers.

Praise be to Allah Who has made us from the discerning Shia who has been guided to the truth through study and research and not from imitating the Shia.

Thus, readers have to be exemplar in abiding with the true Prophet’s Sunna transmitted by the infallible Imams (a.s).2

Notes

1. These doings are doings of ignorant and underdeveloped people; they are a way of expressing their love and allegiance to Imam al-Husayn (a.s.) as they think. Once, one of them said to a religious authority that he had served food for al-Abbas (a.s.) and all the time he did not take off his shoes. The alim (scholar) asked him how he performed wudhu’ and prayers then, but he paid no attention, thinking that he would get his reward from al-Abbas (a.s.).

On the other side, we find the circles of dhikr (remembrance) near the Sunni with their different methods like Qadiriyyah, Naqshabandiyyah, and others, as shows for nothing but to be close to the chief of the creed (method). These shows are done by inserting nails in the head and eyes, and daggers and swords in the body with tambourines and smokes and shaking the heads and bodies in harmony with the melodies. Some of them rotate for continuous hours.

We knew some of them well that so-and-so drank intoxicants, so-and-so did not offer prayers, so-and-so was impious… did not refrain from abusing Allah and His messenger…committed adultery or sodomy…etc. However, those persons were invited by the chief (Sheikh) to attend the circles. They did not leave except when blood came out of their bodies, and then the Sheikh cried out: “Get out! Either you have not washed after janaba (sexual intercourse), or you have come here while having drunk wine…!”

I say that these things are recent heresies, which the colonists have emphasized on and fed for certain purposes. They are about to vanish among the Shia; so would they be so among our Sunni brothers?

2. It is well known that many ulema like Sayyid Muhsin al-Amin and nowadays Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamanaei, Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Fadhlullah, and many others have given a fatwa that these practices (beating oneself with iron tools) are not permissible. Those, who say they are permissible, mean some things else. That one of the scholars said, “The swords that the Shia unsheathed in the face of oppressors are used today to strike their heads with” - is so that the British gave some swords to the processions of the Shia on Ashura!

These traditions came from the nations of Asia and India where there were groups practicing such rituals in their celebrations. When they gathered in Karbala, every group (procession) showed its way in expressing emotions. It is worth mentioning that different colonies lived in Karbala and kept on imitating their ancestors that made others admire what they practiced. Therefore, these things became as a part of the rituals of Ashura…

In addition to that, some people, who love Imam al-Husayn (a.s.), think that the issue of Imam al-Husayn (a.s.) shall die out if there is no shedding of blood…etc.

The pressures against the Shia in the past, during the Ottoman reign, and then during the oppressive rule of the Iraqi tyrannical regime that prevented military men, placemen, and state officials from going to Karbala on Ashura and punish (if not hang) them if they went there, made people emotionally practice these traditions.

Nowadays, these practices have become limited because of wide comprehension and the fatwas of the religious authorities. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, these practices have abated 98%. So have they in Iraq, Lebanon, and in different percentages in India, Pakistan, and other places according to the milieu surrounding them. In fact, these practices are practiced by the ignorant among ordinary people who think that the cause of Imam al-Husayn (a.s.) to them is greater than the fatwas of so-and-so of ulema!!!