When I was young, I was bullied by a number of misinformed Sunni Muslim kids in my class. In their heads, I was an enemy – a kafir who invoked the dead, part of an infidel group that broke away from the circle of Islam. Knowing now the influence of Wahabism on them, I cannot blame them – false propaganda and accusations against Shi’ism has been used as a marketing technique for Wahabism since 18^th Century.

In this article, I try to counter some of the most common misconceptions I had heard about Shi’as and Shi’ism using sources acceptable to both sects. If you’re a Sunni Muslim, this article can help answer some of your most prominent questions about the Shi’a faith. If you’re a Shi’a Muslim, you can use the points mentioned in this article (and the resource at the end) to equip yourself with answers – if you are ever cornered and harassed to answer claims of infidelity like I did when young, you’d be able to defend yourself and your faith.

Note: To truly grasp the meaning of a faith, you must refer to the books and the sources of the faith rather than focusing on individual actions of the people of. That is why I compiled the list of questions to show the essence of Shii’ism rather than addressing baseless questions such as ‘I saw one Shia boy on Instagram doing…’

Let’s start at the beginning. Shi’ism is clearly not a part of Islam and Shi’as are infidels. They innovate practices and tenets, such as ‘Imamat’.

In its most fundamental state, Shi’a faith and Sunni faith might not be as different as you might think. Let me go over a brief summary of the main beliefs of the Shi’a sect. We believe in:

• Allah and His Unity: Allah is the One God and He is All-Powerful. Nothing and no one is comparable to him, and He is the only One that can be worshipped.
• Prophethood: Allah sent down prophets throughout history that preached the tenets set forth by the five major prophets – Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and the Holy Prophet (S) whose religion will last until the Day of Judgement.
• Day of Judgement: Allah Almighty has fixed recompense for our deeds to be given to us in Paradise (Jannah) or Hell (Jahannum) and the day fixed for it is called the Day of Judgement.
• The Holy Quran: These things have all been foretold in all the divine books (Torah, Bible, Holy Quran) from which the most authentic source of guidance is the Holy Quran, which has reached us from the time of the Holy Prophet (S) without any change.
• Articles of practice: Commandments mentioned in the Holy Quran such as the Holy Qur’an, prayers (salah), fasting, Zakat and Khums, and Hajj are obligatory and must be followed. Sins, both minor and major (say, gambling, drinking, fornication, etc) are forbidden by the Holy Quran and must be avoided.

Do these sound familiar? Exactly – while the condition to be a Muslim is only the first three (or, according to some sources, the first two) of the list, the rest are also the common grounds of faith between Shi’as and Sunnis. Such should be more than enough to combat the ‘infidel’ label and provide strong grounds for the unity between Shi’as and Sunnis.

It must be noted that there are factions such as the Zaidiyyas, the Kaysaniyyas, the Qaddahiyyas and the Ghullat that are termed as ‘Shi’as’ by some but in reality, since they reject one or more of the tenets mentioned above, do not count as Shias and are outside of the contemporary discussion. (Their respective links can each prove exactly why they do not compromise the Shi’ism.)

Thus, the main fundamental beliefs of Shi’as and Sunnis are alike, except for…

• Imamah: We believe that like all the prophets before the Holy Prophet (S) appointed a successor to continue the thought and practice after their demise and to avoid confusion in the Ummah, so did the Holy Prophet (S) – who was the most perfect and exalted of all prophets, and whose religion will last till the Day (which would make perfect sense as to why a successor would be needed). The chain of successors he appointed, starting with Imam Ali (A), are called Imams. They are ordained by Allah and introduced to us by the Holy Prophet.

No, wait – that is exactly the problem. How come you believe in Imamah? How come you can let these people lead you on the sensitive matter of religion, when the only source we really need is the Holy Quran?

Let’s zoom out from the Shi’a faith and take a closer look at the Sunni faith. The Sunni faith compromises of four schools of law: Hanafi, Shafi’i, Maliki, and Hanbali. Each of these rites follow the teachings of the jurists they’re named after – ‘Imam’ Hanafi, ‘Imam’ Shafi’I, ‘Imam’ Maliki and ‘Imam Hanbali’. All Sunnis refer to one of these Imams for their religious matters.

It is, then, clear that the Holy Quran (while being the primary source) is not the only source to both Shi’as and Sunnis. Specific religious teachings, such as jurisprudence, is derived from the Quran by these experts for both of the sects.

The difference lies in people we follow.

The chief of the Shi’as, the Commander of the Faithful Ali (A), was brought up and trained by the Holy Prophet (S) from early childhood and received his religious knowledge from him. On multiple occasions, the Holy Prophet called him the Gate of Knowledge. According to Ibn Hajar, a Sunni scholar who compiled Sawa’iq, it states on page 135 of Bab-e-Wasiyyatun-Nabi a hadith from the Holy Prophet wherein he says, “The Quran and my progeny are my Trusts; if you keep yourselves attached to these two, never shall you go astray.” There are many more ahadith where this one came from.

While the infallibility of the Imams (A) and their appointment by Allah can be argued at a later time, the abovementioned explanation is enough to provide a ground of unity for Shi’as and Sunnis.

You mentioned ‘progeny’ – while Ali (A) is a relative of the Holy Prophet, he is not the progeny and thus this hadith does not apply to him. As for the rest of the Imams, as the Holy Prophet (S) did not have any sons and these are the descendants of his daughter Lady Fatima (S), they are also not applicable because descendants come from the male heirs only.

For Imam Ali (A), this is not the only hadith that praises his knowledge and wisdom. There are many other ahadith that praise him individually.

For the other part of the claim, let’s take a look at this verse of the Holy Quran: “And we gave to him Isaac and Jacob… and Jesus and Elias; every one was of the good.” (6:84-85)

This verse is discussing the progeny of Abraham. I might ask you, now, who was the father of Jesus? No one, and yet Allah included him in the progeny of Abraham through Mary. As proven by the Quran, being related to the Prophet (S) from the mother’s side is not a barrier to relation at all.

Alright – let’s discuss the elephant in the room, shall we? Polytheism. Shi’as use the progeny of the Prophet (S) and their holiness as an excuse to pray to them and ask help from them!

First, let’s discuss polytheism. What is polytheism? While it has many branches, the one you are referring to is when a cause or a power is taken besides the cause of Allah. For example, the Sun. If we say that the Sun is a power in itself and the cause of the nourishment of plants on its own merit then that is polytheism as we are appointing the Sun as a primary power independent of Allah. However, if I say that the power of the Sun is given to it by Allah and only through His command can the Sun nourish the plants, not only is this not polytheism but it is also a form of worship to Allah as He says in his Quran to ponder the signs of Him on multiple occasions and use it to reach nearness to Him.

Similarly, Shii’ism does not pray to or worship the Imams – we merely acknowledge their greatness as created by Allah and use their help to strengthen our religion and to gain nearness to Him.

It is polytheism to ask for help from humans. Period.

If one asks another for help without considering him or her Allah or His partner, is it polytheism? Because if it is, then the entire humanity is polytheistic. People, all the time, ask each other for help – (Doctor, can you write me a prescription for this illness? Mother, can you give me food?) – without explicitly mentioning Allah and yet no one is attributing to Him a partner. We are all aware that Allah is the real Healer, and Raaziq and yet He has created means to reach health and food in this world.

Polytheism is a matter of heart. If you go to the doctor, hoping for medicine, with the intention that the doctor will provide you with health all on their own using their independent power, then you are committing polytheism. And on the other hand, if you do the exact same action but with a different intention, you are not polytheistic.

For the matters of heart and intentions, one cannot be judged externally without knowing what lies in their heart.

If this is not convincing enough, here are some examples of prophets asking for help from other than Allah (without, of course, committing any kind of polytheism) and here is another example that even Caliph Omar invoked the descendants of the Prophet (S) for help in acceptance of a Du’a.

Why do you not invoke Allah directly, then? Why seek human means of approach? For example, your Dua-e-Tawassol mentions each of yours Imams one by one and ask them for help. Why that and not Allah directly?

While our permanent attention regarding our desires and distresses is fixed on Allah the Absolute, the Holy Quran addresses us and says, “O you who believe! Do your duty to Allah and seek the means of approach to Him.” (5:38)

If needed, here is a list of Sunni sources that accept the means of approach to be the progeny of Holy Prophet (S): Hafiz Abu Nu’aim in his Nuzulu’l-Quran fi Ali, Hafiz Abu Bakr Shirazi in his Ma Nazala minal-Quran fi Ali, and Imam Ahmed Tha’labi in his tafsir (commentary).

Dua-e-Tawassol is an invocation that uses the influence of the family of the Holy Prophet (S) and the Prophet (S) himself to approach Allah. This is a translation of the paragraph after each invocation: “O our master and guide! We seek your help to reach Allah. O most respected in the eyes of Allah Almighty, recommend us to Him.”

As you can see, no polytheism occurs.

And how about asking for help from the dead? That is clearly forbidden.

Of course, but who does? The Shi’as do not.

What? The Imams are not living…

The Quran says that they are! Verse 169-170 of Chapter III states that those martyred in the way of Allah are alive and getting their provision from Allah. Unless one goes against the clear word of the Quran, each and every single one of our Imams is living and alive.

I had compiled many more questions such as…

• Why do Shi’as deviate from the Sunnah of the Prophet? For example, they combine their prayers of Dhuhr/Asr and Maghreb/Isha.
• What is Mut’a marriage and how come is it not an innovation when the Caliphs clearly forbid it?
• Why do Shi’as prostate in front of the Mohr/Turbah?

… but due to limitation of time and platform, I could not explore them in the article. However, I have linked each of these to the resource of this article and interested individuals can inform themselves by clicking on them.

Remember, the goal of this article is to merely strengthen Islamic Unity and the bonds between Shi’as and Sunnis so that the two, instead of arguing amongst themselves, find a point of similarity and use it to defeat the real enemies of the Muslim Ummah (i.e. israel) together. As such, I request you to share this article with others and spread the message of unity.

Featured image via Bing Image Creator