The status and position of the sect that labels itself as “Ahlul Sunnah” in the view of the rightly-guided Ahlul Tashayyu’ is a precarious and volatile topic. Praise be to Allah, this article is being written in the West, and will be read by those in the West, where there is freedom of speech and expression for a Shia to express his religious views without antagonism and hostility from Sunnis (not physical at least). This article is not intended to be a ramble, but rather an erudite investigation, based on scholarly sources, on the status of Sunnism, whether the followers of that sect are indeed Muslims, as well as whether unity is appropriate and if so to what extent.
The belief in the Imamate of the 12 Imams of Ahlel Beit is one of the Usul al-Deen. It is a fundamental and necessary belief, without which salvation is impossible, and we shall look at this later. In a Hadith agreed upon by Sunnis and Shias, the Prophet Mohammed said, “He who died without knowing his Imam dies the death of the “jahiliya”.” What is meant by the death of a jahil? This is in reference to one dying during the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliya period), but what connotations does this have? The Sunnis, in their rejection of Imamate, die without knowing the Imams and accepting their authority, and so what are the ramifications of this.
The narrators of the following tradition are Ahmed Ibn Idrees, Mohammed Ibn Abdul Jabbar, Safwan, Fudhayl and Harith Ibn Mughira, all of whom were reliable and trustworthy.
أحمد بن إدريس، عن محمد بن عبدالجبار، عن صفوان، عن الفضيل، عن الحارث بن المغيرة قال: قلت لابي عبدالله عليه السلام: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله: من مات لا يعرف إمامه مات ميتة جاهلية؟ قال: نعم، قلت: جاهلية جهلاء أو جاهلية لا يعرف إمامه؟ قال جاهلية كفر ونفاق وضلال
I said to Imam al-Sadiq, the Messenger of Allah said, “He who dies and does not know his Imam, does he die the death of the ignorant?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “Ignorance of the ignorant or Ignorance of those who don’t know their Imam.” He said, “The ignorance of disbelief, hypocrisy and misguidance.”
(Bihar al-Anwar Volume 23)
This clearly explains the position of the one who dies rejecting Imamate. Why is this? For someone to reject part of the religion of Islam is a great misdeed, and the Holy Quran says:
[2:85] Do you then believe in a part of the Book and disbelieve in the other? What then the reward of such among you is as do this but disgrace in the life of this world, and on the day of resurrection they shall be sent back to the most grievous chastisement and Allah is not at all heedless of what you do.
Sunnis disbelieve in a fundamental part of the religion of Islam – they disbelieve in the wilayah (guardianship) of Imam Ali, which he has been designated with in the book of Allah:
[5:55] Only Allah is your Guardian and His Messenger and those who believe, those who keep up prayers and pay the poor-rate while they bow.
The above verse mentions the actions of Imam Ali, who gave the poor-rate whilst bowing, and the verse was hence revealed. By rejecting wilayah, the Sunnis are disbelieving in part of the book of Allah, and are thus their Islam is incomplete.
“Islam is founded on five pillars: Salat, Zakat, Hajj, Sawm and Wilayah.” Zurara asked the Imam: “Which one is the predominant?” The Imam answered, “Wilayah is because it acts as the key for them (i.e. the five pillars) and the Waali is the guide towards them.” (Wasail al-Shia, volume one, p. 40 and Kitab al-Kafi, Volume 1, p 462)
Wilayah is one of the five pillars of Islam; without one the entire edifice will collapse. For this reason, we say those who reject Wilayah will not have their deeds accepted, and those who reject Wilayah will not achieve salvation.
“Be aware that the man who spends his nights in prayer and his days in fasting and gives as all his property as charity and performs hajj throughout his life without knowing the wilayah of the Wali of God and without following him, and without conducting himself, in all his actions, according to his guidance-[such a person] has no right to any reward from God and is not one of the faithful:”
(Kafi Volume 2 Page 19)
Of course, there is a clear cut distinction to be made between those who have actually rejected Wilayah, and those who are ignorant of it.
95% of Sunnis have not come across Wilayah, or other such things – they have not come across the truth. In this case of ignorance and lack of knowledge, their position is not the same as those who have been shown proof yet ignore it, or refuse to accept it.
Sheikh Mortadha Basha, on his official website, replicates the view of Allamah al-Majlisi and divides non-Shia Muslims into two groups:
1. Those that have come across the truth, and have been made to know it, but is obstinate and stubborn. There is no doubt of this person’s entry into the fires of Hell as he has opposed the truth after being shown proof.
2. The Mustadh’afeen: those who have not been shown proof, and have not heard the voice of truth and have not come across it. This person is subject to the mercy of Allah, and it is infinite.
Therefore I want to make it clear from the offing that I am not referring to the Mustadh’afeen, but rather those who choose to continue to reject the haqq and would rather remain with the batil.
Imam Khoei said in his book ‘Kitab al-Tahara’ in volume 2 on page 87:
“It is correct to rule that those who oppose the Twelver Shias are tahir and their Islam is outward… In truth, they are all disbelievers and are those who we have labelled Muslims of this life and Kafirs of the hereafter (Muslim al-dunya wa kafir al-akhira).”
What is meant by this? Based on the Hadith of dying without knowing the Imam and its explanation by Imam al-Sadiq, those who die rejecting Imamate die the death of a disbeliever. However, in this life, they are ruled to be Muslims, and are treated as such. This is because the like of the Sunnis believe in the Shahadatain and do not reject the oneness of Allah and the message of the Prophet Mohammed. We do not label them kafir, as some Sunni propagandists attempt to make out. We do not make takfeer of Muslims.
So basically, whilst Sunnis are Muslims in terms of their rights and privileges such their slaughtered meat being halal and so forth, and they are Muslims in the legislative sense of the word, those who reject Imamate out of stubbornness will not attain Paradise, and will die a kafir. This is our belief and this is our view.
Sheikh Mufid said, “The one who rejects the Imamate of one Imam and rejects the obedience to them which Allah ordered is a misguided disbeliever deserving to remain in Hell-Fire forever.”
Sheikh Saduq said, “Our belief is that the one who rejects the Imamah of the Commander of the Faithful and the Imams after him, has the same position like the one who rejects the Prophethood of the Prophets.”
Abu Abdullah said, “There are three types of people that Allah will not talk to on the day of judgment and will not look upon them, and upon them is a painful punishment (3:77): those who claim Imamate from Allah for themselves when it is not for them; those who deny an Imam from Allah; and those who claim those two have a share in Islam.”
(Kafi Volume 1 Page 373 Number 4)
As we can explicitly see from the Hadith, Allah will not look at and there will be a painful punishment for those who deny an Imam, and those who claim such an individual has a share in Islam.
Our stance is clear, and this brings me to efforts of unity. Over the last few years, there have been many calling for religious unity between the Sunnis and the Shias. We ask, on what grounds and on what basis should we unite with those who follow and seek guidance from misguided usurpers, and love them and shelter their memory in spite of their actions. Sunnis are people of innovation, and so how can we unite with them when the Prophet said, “If you see people of seek innocence from them.”
Indeed, those who do call for unity tow a very noble stance. However, do the Sunnis reciprocate these efforts? Do they condemn our killers and demonstrate against them? Do they disassociate from the scholars who call for the shrines of our Imams to be razed to the ground? Sayed Khomeini was one such person who would call for unity between Sunnis and Shias. How did Ahlul Sunnah repay him? They supported Saddam and sent him money and weapons to use against Iran. Furthermore, Khomeini’s contemporaries and colleagues from the Sunni sect did outright takfeer of him, declaring him a kafir.
Question: What is the Islaamic ruling regarding (Ayatollah) Khomeini?
Response: … he is not a Muslim.
(Sheikh Albani, Al-Hawi min Fatawa Sheikh Albani, Page 349)
Those who reject the truth regarding the leadership of Imam Ali are certainly committing a great sin, and so how can we unite with sinners and those who strip Imam Ali of the position which he was granted with by Allah. These people have taken gods beside Allah, and unity with such polytheists is impossible. Abu Bakr and Omar are two idols, taken as gods by Sunnis. When I say this, I do not mean they bow and prostrate towards them, but they reject what Allah ordered for their sake, and it is in this sense they have been taken as false deities. We are hated for the sake of those two men, who we are proud and honoured to seek disassociation from. They, on the other hand, oppose us for this, and thus we are faced with a choice: either changing our stance towards two men who usurped the succession to the Messenger of Allah in order to “unite” with Sunnis, or remain on the side of truth ‘hata lo karihal mushrikoon’ (even if the polytheists hate it).
We have five Usul al-Deen, and in order for any chance of unity to occur, we have to be united on them. Tawhid: many Sunnis attribute forms of physicality to the Almighty. We cannot unite with them on this. Nabuwwa: Sunnis reject the complete infallibility of the Prophet. We cannot unite with them on this. Imamah: Sunnis reject Imamah, mock it and scorn it. We cannot unite with them on this. Adala: Sunnis have their own belief regarding the justice of Allah. We cannot unite with them on this. Qiyamah: Sunnis hold the belief that Allah will be seen by the believers on the Day of Judgment! We cannot unite with them on this. What is left to unite upon? It will tantamount to rejecting our faith, and accepting theirs, God forbid. Unity is bound to one condition and that is them converting to Shiism, otherwise, to them their religion and to us ours.
Of course, what has been said does not apply to all Sunnis and most certainly, I do not have an ounce of hatred towards your average Sunni. I have many Sunni friends, and we respect each other’s traditions and beliefs. However, the case remains that entrenched in the vehicle known as Sunnism is violence, racism, murder and slander against opponents. Look at the actions of the Sunnis in the Shia African territories after 400H. Look at the brutal tactics adopted during the “glorious Jihad” in Persia, and all the blood that was shed. Look at the Shia that continue to be killed with only few Sunni leaders objecting. Sheikh Qaradhawi, one of the biggest Sunni scholars on the globe, instead of calling for peace and reconciliation amongst the warring Iraqis, chastises the oppressed Shia at every available opportunity, and has even called for the Kurds of Iraq to join the civil war and help kill Shias if mediation fails. Allahu Akbar. Is this the Sunnism you want to unite with? To them we shall always be Zionist/American collaborators, supporters of the Mongols, Jews and other pathetic epithets. It is high time for the Shia of the world to establish and consolidate our own control, in order to for us to assist our impoverished and oppressed Shia brethren in Iraq, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and other countries, and allow true Islam to be viewed by non-Muslims as opposed to the one transmitted by Abu Bakr and his partner.
Sunnism
