Who are the Shia? pt.1

Here is one verse of the Holy Quran often wrongly used by opponenets of the Shia to try and prove that the Quran is against all Shias. The objective of these type of people is to try and make Shias look like they are not part of the Muslim Ummah. Also following it is a typical commentary of the verse suggesting that the Shites are deviant. The first question for most people who have knowledge of the term Shias is 'what type of shias, all shias'?

---------------------------

"As for those who divide up their religion and break up into sects (Shiites), you have no part in them: their affair is with Allah: He will in the end tell them the truth of all that they did." (6:159)

In this verse, God warns us not to divide ourselves into Shiites and declare people who do so as people who don't belong to the prophet Muhammad (p).

----------------------------

The Answer is:

1)the verse is speaking of sects and groups in general and not specifically one group who happen to be called Shias.

2)In this verse the term Shia is used but is it the only verse in which this term is used and is it always used in a negative way?

3)Anyone with an understanding of Arabic words would know that a verse like this cannot be so superficially interpretated to mean one group of people who happen to call themselves shias. There is an oft quoted saying of the Prophet that says that the Ummah will split into 73 sects all of them in hell except one. Are the 72 sects that go to hell all shias? This hadeeth is related by Abu Hurayrh in the book of Tirmidhi, kitaabul Imaan # 2564.

4) Did the word Shia go from being a good word to a bad word? Are all the Shia prior to the Prophet good and all the Shia after the Prophet bad? It makes no sense to generalise without an understanding of Tafseer of Quran and what meaning is intended in the ayat, as well as an understanding of the early groups of Muslims historically.


Definition of the term Shia:

In the Arabic language the word Shia translates as group, followers, partisan or sect. Meaning that one can be a shia (follower) of Abu Bakr or the Sahaba, as well as a Shia of Bush or Blair or Democracy etc.

The term Shia is more commonly understood amongst Muslims to refer to those who chose to follow Ali Al Murtaza, otherwise known as Ali ibn Abu Talib, after the death of the Holy Prophet Muhammad as oppossed to electing a member of the Sahaba. Because not only did they believe that others were not as meritous as Ali to the position but they believe that Allah and His Prophet had declred Ali to be the immediate successor to the Prophet.

Negative and Positive:

The term Shia, as we have seen from the above verse can have a negative tone.

But if the term Shia was such a bad and negative word why then does Allah call one of His greatest Prophets, Ibrahim, a Shia? The Holy Quran, (Surah saffaat) 37:83.

If the term Shia was such a negative one why then does Allah use it for the followers of Musa was not Haroon (the brother of Musa) a follower of Musa? The Holy Quran, (Surah Qasas) 28:15.

"And he (Moses) went into the city at a time when people (of the city) were not watching, so he found therein two men fighting, one being of his Shia and the other being his enemy, and the one who was of his Shia cried out to him for help against the one who was of his enemy" (note Musa's party, termed shia, are distinct from his opponent, called the enemy.

Why also would the Prophet himself use the term?

The Messenger of Allah said to Ali: "Glad tiding O Ali! Verily you and your companions and your Shia (followers) will be in Paradise."

The following are all Sunni references for the above hadeeth:

Fadha'il al-Sahaba, by Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, v2, p655
Hilyatul Awliyaa, by Abu Nu'aym, v4, p329
Tarikh, by al-Khateeb al-Baghdadi, v12, p289
al-Awsat, by al-Tabarani
Majma' al-Zawa'id, by al-Haythami, v10, pp 21-22
al-Darqunti, who said this tradition has been transmitted via numerous authorities.
al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqah, by Ibn Hajar Haythami , Ch. 11, section 1, p247


Also Jabir Ibn Abdillah al-Ansari narrated that:

The Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HF) said: "The Shia of Ali are the victorious ones on the day of resurrection"

al-Manaqib Ahmad, as mentioned in:
Yanabi al-Mawaddah, by al-Qundoozi al-Hanafi, p62
Tafsir al-Durr al-Manthoor, by al-Hafidh Jalaluddin al-Suyuti, who quotes the tradition as follows: "We were with the Holy Prophet when Ali came towards us. The Holy Prophet said: He and his Shia will aquire salvation on the day of judgment."

Are all Shia the same?

We continue to ask 'are all Shia the same'? Obviously not.

Salafis are not all the same and neither are the Shia. Sufis are not all the same and neither are the Shia. So to continue to generalise about all Shia is either mischievous or plain ignorance and lack of reading.

Wal Hamdulilahi rabil Alameen.