HISTORY OF ISLAMIC THEOLOGY (bI)

HISTORY OF ISLAMIC THEOLOGY (bI)

4. Debates like this – if there is any need of it – should be between experts from both sides in a separate forum, that is on private e-mail addresses, the result ofwhich will later be made known to the NMN and its members. And the medium of communication should strictly be the language in which original Islamic books arewritten, that is the arabic language, to avoid misapprehensions that reallyoccur in translations.5. Brothers should not wastetheir talents debating upon some topics selected by the Shi’ites intentionally to createan amount of doubt in the minds of muslims asregards their sources. For one thing many do not observe is that Shi’ite attacks on the Sunnis is mostly – if not always – on either the authenticity of the Qur’an,that is by reminding you that this Qur’an was collected andwritten in the final form of a book in the time of the first caliphs, Abubakar, Umar andespecially inthe reign of Uthman in whichit was compiled and distributed to all muslim countries – or the authenticity of the Sunnah and that is by making you believe that theSahaba through whom we received the whole of this religion are infidels, not trustworthy etc., the result ofwhich is either a total negation of anything narratedby them or at least doubting its authenticity. This I will discuss in more detail- in shaAllah – under the topic of theShi’ites stand on the Sahaba, and their conceptof ‘ismah (infallibility) of the Imams.6. The best thing therefore is for the muslim ummah to know who these people are, what they carry with them asreligion, where they are heading to, what theircreeds and beliefs are built on, who their predecessors are after alienating the companions of the prophet e, are they true lovers of the Ahl-Bayt etc.Thus by virtue of my specialisation, I have a humble contribution to makein this field, in the form of objective and fair research. I had done a detailed researchon the various sects in Islam and their historical origins, both existing and those that have died out with the passage of time, and I was intending to present a briefsummary of this research to my fellow brothers in this forum, when the issue of Shi’ism came up. Thus I havedecided to start by giving a detailed discussion onShi’ah right from the time of its conception and delivery up to its present day manifestation, in an objective and scholarly manner, vowing not to mention anythingbelieved by the Shi’ites but from their authentic books generally accepted and recognized by their mullahs. Later on, in sha Allah, I can go back to other parts ofthe topic in a series of articles. This, I believe, will be more useful to members who really want to know.**NOTEThis is a series of artices written by the Sheikh, as a sincere reminder to the (Nigeria Muslim Forum) way back in 2008.