Shia'ite Faith defined

As stated earlier, the main purpose of writing the present book is to acquaint the readers with the character and reality of the Iranian Revolution, and the personality and religious outlook of Ruhullah Khomeini. The Iranian Government is spending billions of dollars on projecting the Revolution as purely Islamic in character and the unknowing are being influenced by it, but it is belied by the writings of Khomeini himself which, as we have seen, have established beyond doubt that the basis of the Revolution is no more and no less than Shia religion, particularly its theory of Imamate. To understand the real character of the revolution and the personality of Khomeini it is essential to know what is Shiasim. We will, therefore, be devoting the coming pages to it, and drawing wholly upon authentic and important Shia books and the so-called sayings of the Innocent Imams. The rise of Shiasim will, also, be traced briefly for, without it, it is not possible to appreciate the Shi’ite faith properly.

Since it is easier for those who know about Christianity and its history to understand Shia religion and its origin, we will begin, here, with a short discussion on it as well. We will begin, here, with a short discussion on it as well. We will, at the outset, take up an important and extraordinary prophecy of the Prophet of Islam relating to Hazrat Ali and the statement of Hazrat Ali himself in respect of it. It, also predicts the rise of Shiasim in Islam and, also, the other form of deviation that was bitterly opposed and antagonistic to the Shi’ite creed i.e., Kharijism.1 It will, further, bring to light the close affinity between Shiasim and present Christianity owing to which it will become easier for those who know the history of Christianity to understand the Shi’ite faith.

Shi’ism and Christianity:

In Musnad-I-Ahmad, Mustadrak-e-Hakim and Al-Kamil by Ibne Adi and several other books on the Prophet’s Traditions it is recorded that Hazrat Ali narrated that the holy Prophet (peace be upon him) had once told him:-

"Oh Ali, you are very much like ‘Isa (Jesus). The Jews bore so much malice and enmity against him that they even slandered his mother, Mariyam, and the Christians bore in so much love that they put him on a pedestal that was not his" After narrating it, Hazrat Ali remarked:-

"verily, this will come true. Two types of persons, with relation to me, will be ruined: one, those who will cross the limit in their love for me to he extent that they will attribute greatness to me which I do not possess; the other, those who will go so far in their ill-will and enmity against me that their enmity will lead them to calumniate me."2

This prophecy of the Prophet came true during the Caliphate of Hazrat Ali. The Kharijiite sect bore so much malice, hatred and enmity towards him that it declared Hazrat Ali as liquidator of religion, infidel and fit for execution, and one of them, Abdul Rahman bin Muljim, assassinated him, and described the act as Jehad in the way of God and a means to salvation. As against them there appeared those who indulged in so much exaggeration that they elevated Hazrat Ali to the pedestal of divinity. There were, also, those who believed that Hazrat Ali was the fittest person to be raised up as the divine Apostle and God actually intended to make him the Apostle and had sent Gabriel to him with the Revelation, but Gabriel made a mistake and carried it to Mohammad. Then, there were people who regarded him to be the Wasi of the Prophet of Islam, and designated by the Lord Himself to be the Caliph, Imam and ruler of the Muslim territories after him. They thought that Hazrat Ali was innocent like the Prophet and it was obligatory to obey him; he was superior in rank and status to all the other Prophets and had Divine authority over the universe and knew the Unseen.

Christ and the present Christianity:

No Muslim has any doubt whatsoever that Jesus Christ was a Prophet and Messenger of God and had given the same Call to the People to believe in the Oneness of God, and in the same law of Salvation and Punishment, and Heaven and Hell which all the earlier Prophets had been giving to their people, and that Christ had proclaimed himself to be a bondsman of God, and His Apostle and Messenger. For the Muslims, specially, the most authoritative statement in this regard is that of the Quran which, also, conforms to reality and is most acceptable to commences and rationality. In Sura-I-Maida, it is stated in connection with the Call and teachings of Christ that:

"And (Our Apostle), the Messiah, himself said, ‘O Children of Israel! Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord; Lo, whose ascribeth partners unto Allah, for him Allah hath forbidden Paradise. His abode is the Fire. For evil-doers there will be no helpers.’". (V:72)

And, in Sura-I—Aal-I-Imran, it is stated that after showing the miracles, God had granted to him to his people, Jesus had said:

"I come unto you with a sign from your Lord. So, keep your duty to Allah and obey me. Verily, Allah is my Lord and your Lord; so worship Him. That is the Straight Path." (III: 50-51).

In Sura-I-Maryam, it is set for the that Jesus had told his people about himself that:

"Verily, I am the slave of God; He hath given me the Book, and hath appointed me a Prophet". (XIX:30).

Again, Jesus had declared: "Verily, God is my Lord and your lord. So serve Him. That is the right path." (XIX:36).

And, at the end of Sura-I-Maida, it is stated that in order to fix responsibility upon the erring Christians and demonstrate the exoneration and exculpation of Jesus on the Day of Reckoning, the Lord will ask him before everyone: "O Jesus, son of Mary! Didst thou say to men" ‘Take me and my mother as two gods apart form God?" he will reply: "Be Glorified; It ill-becomes me to say that which I know to be not the truth …. I said nothing to them except that which Thou commandeth me. (I only said) Worship God, my Lord and your Lord". (V: 116-117).

In the face of these categorical and emphatic statements, it is beyond doubt and disbelief that Jesus had preached Unity of God, and so, also, had the apostles directly instructed by him. But soon afterwards, the Christians abandoned the doctrine of Unity of God, and adopted that of Trinity in its place, and discarding the teachings of all the former Prophets concerning Salvation and Punishment adopted the principle of Atonement, and it is on these two tenets that the entire edifice of Christianity is based. A Christian who does not believe in Trinity and Atonement but professes faith in pure and unalloyed Divine Oneness and in the reward or retribution on the basis of deeds done in the present existence cannot, now, be treated a Christian by any canon of the Church.

One may, however, ask how the call and teachings of Jesus came to be discarded and it found such universal acceptance among the Christians that in spite of all the religious and ideological differences, the entire Christian wold believes unequivocally in Trinity and Atonement as the essential principles of the Christian faith.

By God’s grace, the history of this change and distortion, too, is well-preserved. Many of our Ulema have made a thorough investigation and research into this matter and written very comprehensive and valuable treatises on the subject. But, naturally, we can discuss it only in brief over here.11

What we learn from the history of Christianity in this regard is that when God appointed Jesus as His Apostle and Messenger and he presented himself in that capacity before the children of Israel and conveyed the Divine guidance and showed the miracles given to him by God, the first to denounce him were the Jewish religious leaders and rabbis, and, thereafter, all the believers in Judaism followed suit. They called Christ a pretender, a magician and a sorcerer, and declared that according to Jewish law he was accursed of God and fit to be executed. They tormented him in every way, humiliated and insulted him, and prosecuted him in a religious court which pronounced the penalty of death through crucifixion. The permission of the Roman Governor was, then, obtained, and, in their belief, he was executed on the Cross and his body was buried. The Israelites were satisfied that they had liquidated the pretender of Prophethood2, and exterminated and wiped out his religious call. But the sincere apostles of Christ continued their campaign of propagating the teachings of Christ in far-off lands, and their selfless efforts and scarifies bore fruit and it appeared that the mission of Christianity would succeed in course of time.

An extraordinary event, however, took place at that time. A Jewish rabbi. Saul by name, who was particularly inimical to the religion of Christ and was oppressing its followers in every way, declared that he was proceeding to Damascus to widen the area of tyranny and oppression against the followers of the new religion. It is said that on the way he saw a celestial light coming down from the sky to the earth and, also, heard the voice of Jesus. Jesus said to him in the Hebrew language: "Oh Saul ! Why are you tormenting me?" He invited Saul to accept his religion and to preach it. Seeing the miracle. Saul embraced the new faith and dedicated himself to its service. He changed his name from Saul to Paul.

Paul approached the apostles of Christ and informed them about the miracle and his own conversion. Knowing him full well and his attitude of hostility, most of them rejected his story, but it found favor with a distinguished apostle, Barnabas, who, also, persuaded others to accept it. He moulded his conduct in such a manner and assumed such an air of spiritualism that the common Christians began to treat him as the greatest champion of Christianity and he gained considerable popularity.

His real intention, however, was to alter and destroy Christianity and he began to work from within for it. He was a very shrewd and clever person and realised that the easiest way to lead the Christians astray was to exalt and glorify the personality and position of Christ beyond the due limit, and begin to call him the son of God, a partner in God-head, and, in truth, God Himself , and to declare that the real significance of crucifixion lay in the fact that Jesus had got himself crucified in order to atone for the sins of all men who believed in him, and, thus, his execution on the cross had became the expiation for the sins of his followers and a means to their salvation.

Saul, then, started working along those lines. His calculations proved correct and the doctrine of the Divinity of Jesus, Sonship of God, Trinity and Atonement rapidly found acceptance among the Christians.

The apostles of Christ who were alive then and his rightly-believing disciples must have endeavored to keep the Christian community true to the faith brought by Jesus, but it appears that their reformist efforts did not succeed and not a century had passed since he was raised up from the earth that the religion of Christ gave way to the religion of St. Paul and it so happened that almost the entire Christian world accepted the new polytheistic creed, and Trinity and Atonement became the fundamental articles of faith among the Christians.

The Beginning of Shiaism in Islam:

The beginning of Shiaism in Islam is identical to the beginning of present Christianity. Shiaism has the same relationship with Islam as the religion of St. Paul has with the original religion of Christ which undoubtedly was true.

We do not propose to write a comprehensive treatise on the rise of the Shi’ite faith, but only a short essay to meet the requirements of our study. For details the readers may see Tarikh Al-Umam wal Muluk by Ibn-e-Jarir Tabari, Al-Bidaya wan Nihaya by Ibn-e-Kaseer, Al-Fasl fil Milal wan Nihal by Ibn-e-Hazm, Al-Milal wan Nihal by Shahrastani etc. etc.

It is needless to tell that almost the whole of Arabian peninsula had come under the sway of Islam during the time of the holy Prophet, and no hostile power either of the Polytheists or the People of the Book – Jews and Christians – had remained which could stem its tide. This position was further strengthened in the reign of Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq though it lasted only for two and a quarter years, and Islam began to spread outside the peninsula. In the ten years’ reign of Hazrat Omar, process of the Islamic expansion and military conquests advanced to rapidly that most of the occupied territories of the two most powerful empires of the day, the Roman and the Persian. Came under the Islamic rule. After the martyrdom of Hazrat Omar and during the Caliphate of Hazrat Usman, it continued to forge ahead at the same pace. Countless people of different countries and nations entered the fold of Islam. Most of them had sincerely accepted the new religion as the true faith and means to salvation, but there were still many people who had embraced Islam as hypocrites, and harboured intense malice and hostility towards the Muslims in their heart. They had joined the Muslims simply with the intention to cause harm and trouble to Islam and the Muslims whenever an opportunity came their way.

Among them was a Jewish theologian of Yemen, named Abdullah Bin Saba. He had declared his acceptance of Islam in the reign of Hazrat Usman. Some traditions say that he had come to Medina and approached Hazrat Usman and accepted Islam at his hands. He might have thought that he would, in that way, gain some distinction, and earn Hazrat Usman’s trust and good opinion. But Hazrat Usman showed him no special favour. His future conduct provided ample evidence that he had abandoned Judaism and embraced Islam with the same aim and intention with which Saul (St. Paul) had abandoned Judaism and accepted Christianity. His real objective was to erode Islam from within by causing dissension and discord. He had, perhaps, realised, during his brief stay at Medina, owing to his exceptional intelligence, that he could not make much headway there, or, rather, in the whole of Arabia for there was enough religious consciousness among the people there and such custodians of faith were present among them that he could not succeed in his design before them. Thereupon, he went to Basra and, then, to Syria, but there, too, he was disappointed. He then, proceeded to Egypt where, at last, he found people he could use as his tools in the evil game. From the success of St. Paul he might have learnt that the easiest way to mislead an Ummat or religious community was to take to the path of excess and exaggeration in respect of the place and personality of its most beloved and revered person.

Thus, as historians tell, the first step he took was to express surprise at the Muslims who believed in the return of Christ to the world and yet did not have a similar notion about Prophet Mohammad though he was better and higher than Moses and Jesus and all the other Prophets, and would, definitely come again. He presented his theory before ignorant and illiterate persons who, in his view, were likely to accept the nonsense. When this was agreed to totally opposed though it was to the teachings of the Quran and Islamic precepts, he began to show exceptional devotion for Hazrat Ali Murtuza on the basis of his close kinship with the Prophet and say various exaggerated things about him. He attributed strange miracles to him in order to show him as a superhuman begin. The ignorant sections that had fallen a prey to his deceitful cunning accepted all these preposterous things. Thus, as Abdullah bin Saba had planned, he succeeded in building a circle of disciples around himself who entertained such ideas and beliefs about Hazrat Ali, Gradually, it came to be believed that it was, in fact, the rightful claim of Hazrat Ali to be the caliph and leader of the Ummat after the sacred Prophet. According to Saba, every Prophet had a Wasi and it had been the Wasi who had succeeded a Prophet and become the leader of the people after him, and the Wasi of the Prophet of Islam was Hazrat Ali. He went on to add that in Torah, too, Ali had been mentioned as the Wasi of the holy Prophet, but on the holy Prophet’s death, people usurped his right through intrigue and appointed Abu Bakr as the Caliph, who nominated Omar as the succeeding Caliph. The conspiracy against Hazrat Ali continued and Usman was made the third Caliph who was most incompetent and guilty of all sorts of irregularities.

This was the time when in Egypt, and a few other cities, grievances had begun to be heard against some officials of Hazrat Usman. The situation was fully exploited by Abdullah bin Saba. He advocated that it was the duty of every Muslim to sanction what was right and forbid what was wrong, as also to strive to remove the rot and deterioration that had set in the Ummat. They should, therefore, rise against Hazrat Usman and his official and take all possible measures to end the misrule. He played his hand secretly, cleverly and with the traditional Jewish deceit and guile in the same way as the underground movements are conducted, and apart from Egypt, created his following in other towns and territories as well. Secretly, he organized an armed force to reach Medina on an appointed day. A whole army of rebels and ruffians, thus, marched to ‘Medina under the leadership of Ibne Saba and his lieutenants. What followed need not be repeated here. The readers of these lines will be aware of it. Had Hazrat Usman who, at that time, was the head of the most powerful kingdom of the world, simply allowed the use of force against the insurgents, the story would have been different. But he preferred to lay down his life rather than have the blood of a believer shed for his protection, and set up an everlasting example of self-sacrifice and martyrdom.1

In this sanguine atmosphere, Hazrat Ali was chosen to be the fourth Caliph. He, undoubtedly, was the rightful Caliph. No one, in the whole of the Ummat was worthy of being preferred over him for that high office. But, as a result of the martyrdom of Hazrat Usman, the Ummat got divided into two groups and the battles of Jamal and Siffin were fought between them in which Ibne Saba’s group was on the side of Hazrat Ali. Ibne Saba took advantage of the situation to mislead the ignorant sections of the army into entertaining exaggerated beliefs and notions about Hazrat Ali so much-so that he taught them all that St. Paul had taught to the Christians, and they came to believe that Hazrat Ali was God incarnate and the spirit of God dwelt within his frame, or, so to speak, he was the Lord Himself. Among some simple minded elements, he propagated the theory that the Almighty, in fact, had selected Hazrat Ali for the Apostleship and he as the fittest person for it, but Gabriel, the Trustworthy, had erred and carried the Revelation to Mohammad Bin Abdullah.

It is recorded in history that when Hazrat Ali came to know that some men in his army were spreading such beliefs and ideas about him, he decided to execute them, and in order to make an example of them, have them burnt alive, but on the advice of his cousin and friend and counsellor, Hazrat Abdullah bin Abbas and some others he agreed, in the circumstances, to put off the punishment to a more appropriate time.1

During the battles of Jamal and Siffin, Ibne Saba had full opportunity to propagate the new notions and beliefs among the ignorant and gullible soldiers of Hazrat Ali’s army. Later, when Hazrat Ali shifted the Capital to Kufa in Iraq, it became the centre of the activities of that group. Since, due to various reasons, its people and those of the nighbouring territories were more prone to believe in wrong and exaggerated beliefs concerning Hazrat Ali, those elements attained greater success in their mission there.

Emergency of sects among Shias:

What has been stated above is only a brief account of the emergence of Shiaism. Since it was a clandestine movement all those who came under its influence were not of one mind or conviction. Its preachers told a person only what seemed expedient to them and stopped at that if he accepted it. Hence, there were, among them, people who believed in the divinity of Hazrat Ali and that he spirit of God had passed into him, as well as those who thought that he was even higher and superior to the Prophet of Islam, and the most deserving person for Apostleship and Gabriel had erred in carring the Revelation to the holy Prophet. And yet others who believed that God had nominated him to succeed the Prophet and he should have been his immediate successor. Amir, Imam and Caliph, and, thus, all the Companions who had elected the first three Caliph, and thus, all the Companions who had elected the first three Caliphs were hypocrites and infidels or, at least, usurpers, tyrants and traitors. The only thing common among them was the exaggerated notion in respect of Hazrat Ali though the degree of exaggeration varied. In the beginning, they had not slit into different groups, but with the passage of time, they got divided into various sects till their number exceeded seventy. Details about them can be seen in Al-Milal wan Nihal by Ibne Hazm. Hazrat Shah Abdul Aziz, in his Tuhfa-e-Isna Ashariyya, also, has shed light upon those sects and their views and beliefs, and mutual differences.

The differences among them in relation to the Imams, after Hazrat Ali, are so numerous that it is difficult to enumerate them. Some of those sects no longer exist in the world and find mention only in books, but some others still are found in various countries. The leading sect among them, both numerically and otherwise, is that of Isna Ashariyya which, alone, we would be taking up for discussion here mainly because Khomeini himself belongs to it. His concept of Islam, his religion, his views and theories are the same as mentioned in the authentic and basic books of Isna Ashariyya, and which he ascribes to the ‘Innocent’ Imams and believes that those were taught by them.

From what has been said above about the beginning of Shiaism and the division of Shias into various sects it would be evident that Abdullah Bin Saba had only laid the foundation of the Shi’ite faith. The different sects that appeared after him were the creations of those who, directly or indirectly, had the benefit of his guidance and Isna Ashariyya is one of them. The Shia Ulema and scholars deny the role of Abdullah bin Saba while some later-day scholars treat him as a mythical figure. But this repudiation and denial is as absurd as anyone refusing to accept the truth of the tragedy of Karbala and calling it a figment of imagination. The name of Abdullah bin Saba figures in the most reliable book of Shias on Asma-ur-Rijal, entitled Rijal-e-Kashshi and it is related in it from Imam Jafar Sadiq that Ibne Saba believed in the divinity of Hazrat Ali, and, ultimately, he was burnt alive at his command. About Abdullah bin Saba, Rijal-e-Kashshi says:-

"Many knowledgeable people have stated that Abdullah bin Saba was a Jew who had accepted Islam and showed great devotion for Hazrat Ali. As a Jew, he used to exaggerated the personality of Joshua, the son of Nun, and the Wasi of Moses. After becoming a Muslim he began to exalt the personality of Hazrat Ali much beyond the due limit, and he was the first person to declare that it was obligatory to believe in the Imamate of Hazrat Ali, and completely dissociated himself form his enemies and he openly opposed them and denounced them as infidels". (Page 71).

A detailed knowledge of the views, beliefs and concepts of Isna Ashariyya can be obtained only from the standard Shia books. We will mention, in the next Chapter only the basic beliefs which sere a the foundation of this creed. It will show how different is their creed from Islam and its fundamental tenets, and the Quran and the Sunnah, and what is the nature of this difference and how grossly ignorant of the reality are those who consider it to be similar to what obtains among the various Muslim schools of thought such as the Hanafi, Shafi’ee, Maliki, Hambali and Ahle Hadith, and what a grave error they are committing from the religious point of view. Such persons can realize form what we will proceed to indicate in the following pages what a great responsibility they are taking upon themselves of misleading the Muslims who are disposed to rely on their opinion and judgement and in the matter of faith.