Bashing Tool #1: Ibn Saba.........who?

This person whether a factual character or a fictional one is of the tactics that some people use to bash the Muslim Shias.

The accusers say for example things like ‘Ibn Saba is to the Shia like Paul was to Christianity’.

This is why they call Shias Sabaee, meaning the followers of ibn Saba but let us make a few things clear to those who are new to this and those who are not so new to this.

1. Christians hold Paul a central and highly important figure in Christianity, after all he is a writer in the Bible and Christians take direct instructions from him. But if Shia are like the Christians then where is the same treatment of the Shia towards ibn Saba, where is the veneration and the recognition? Truth is this similitude is not suitable to be cast onto Shias.

2. If at all there were people who called themselves Shia and followed ibn Saba, in the past, then it is right to call those Shia Sabaees, and not all Shias. But that would lead to another discussion as to what types of Shia existed at that time? Were there only one type of Shia and what does the term Shia actually mean? Does it apply only to Shias as we know them today?

3. Where are the numerous hadiths that the Shia have taken from Ibn Saba? Where are the numerous hadiths that any of the scholars, old or new, have received from ibn Saba? Paul wrote so much for Christianity but not one hadeeth from ibn Saba, even a weak one? What is becoming apparent is the weakness of this charge against Shias as a whole.

4. If Shia are Sabaees why do they not call themselves Sabaees should they not feel proud that this person gave them the idea to follow Ali, if it was ibn Sabas idea? In fact Shias say that the instruction to follow Ali after the Prophet is a Quranic and Prophetic idea, and not the idea of some nakirah.

5. But let us suppose for a moment that ibn Saba said follow Ali after the Prophet’s death, should the Shia detach themselves from this idea just because this person also happened to repeat what the Prophet said in this matter? No, but if ibn Saba said follow Ali because Ali is a god or because Ali should of received the revelation or any other type of madness and blasphemy like this then the Shia stop there and leave that sort of falsehood to those who are duped by it.

6. The Prophet said in his farewell sermon there will be no new religion after me, but the people that call Shias Sabaees say that Shia are outside the fold of Islam and in fact they go as far as to say that Shia are a new religion. If Shia are outside the fold of Islam then they are not Muslims and nor are they a sect of Islam which would mean that they are a completely new religion after Islam, this is the logic of the accusers. But what they say goes against what the Prophet said that there would be no new religion. So make up your minds oh you confused people.

7. Ibn Saba does not have cult following amongst the Shia.

8. So the question remains are Shias a new religion or a cult or a sect of the Ummah? If they are a sect of the Ummah then we have to be careful to establish the facts about Shias as a group and Shias as individuals. People often talk about the saved sect, perhaps some of the Shia that are being accused of this or that are from that saved sect. Shias are not like Qadianis/Ahmadis who actually name themselves after the person who they follow and the place that their leader sprung from. Shias do not give any importance and no significance to ibn Saba nor is ibn Saba held in high esteem amongst the Shia, if he is even mentioned it is just for the sake of removing the oft propagated lies about Shia.

9. Where is the grave of this person ibn Saba? Shias, they say, are famous for visiting graves why do they not visit the grave of their ibn Saba? No real answers just conjecture and weak accusations.

10. So how do they try to make this ibn Saba accusation stick, easy it does not stick but they continue to regurgitate this stuff until people believe them. Islam has a natural appeal to the seeker of truth and some people see that reflected in the Madhab/school of Ahlul Bayt, who the Shia try to follow, as all Muslims try to follow, because the Sunnah of the Prophet was practised by the household of the Prophet. Now is this idea of following the Prophets household an innovation of ibn Saba? Anyone who suggests this has thumb sucked the word bida/innovation until they cannot even differentiate between Islamic and non Islamic. Muslims follow the Sahaba because they think that following the Sahaba is following the Prophet and likewise those that put Ahlul Bayt first over all others after the Prophet.