A Shi'ite Encyclopedia (chapter 9)

Subject: the Shi'ites and Sunnis

Basically, a small number among the Sunni believe and claim that the Shia are non-Muslim; a number among the Shia hold a somewhat similar opinion of the Sunni.

As a person who belongs to that small group of shiat, I am declaring that none of us has ever told that sunni is non-muslim.

Briefly about shiat:

1)- Shait says that "Logic" is very important and is a part of life. As you eat, you must use the logic.

2)- The point is not that Ali-Ibn-Abitalib should have been the Caliph. That is not the case any more. It is too late to choose Ali as the first Caliph after the death of the prophet since it is almost 1350 years by now.

(Even if all muslims, shiat and sunni, agree right now that Ali must have been the first Caliph, nothing can be done.) The point is that the true knowledge is transferred to muslims through Ali and his sons, and other sources are not as reliable as this chain. The point is to know that it is not too late to listen, think, and obey these true sources of knowledge, Ali-Ibn-Abitalib and his sons.

Subject: Health rules in Hadith books?

I am getting closer to realize what Islam says about health of human. I strongly urge scientists to investigate the following important traditions. I hope that when they get Nobel Prize on this, share it with me (say %5 only).

I would be grateful if my sunni brothers and sisters tell me if they really benefit these islamic laws or not. Thanks a lot.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah's Apostle said, "If a fly falls in the vessel of any of you, let him dip all of it (into the vessel) and then throw it away, for in one of its wings there is a disease and in the other there is healing (antidote for it) i e. the treatment for that disease."

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said "If a house fly falls in the drink of anyone of you, he should dip it (in the drink), for one of its wings has a disease and the other has the cure for the disease."

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah's Apostle said, "None of you should walk, wearing one shoe only; he should either put on both shoes or put on no shoes whatsoever."

I understand that there might be some use not using any shoe, and more advantage using both shoes. I do not understand where ONE shoe can be applicable, and if not applicable at all, why it is mentioned anyway. Thanks for your comments.

The traditions are taken from Sahih Bukhari:

The translation of the meaning of Sahih al-Bukhari Arabic-English Dr. Mohammad Muhsin Khan Islamic University, Medina al-Munawwara

The Ahl al-Sunnah View of Ibn Taymiya and his Works

The following article is written by a Sunni brother

Subject: Ahl al-Sunnah and Ibn Taymiya

Ibn Taymiya and his writings and those of his students have recently been used by "Wahabbis" and "Reformists" to provide evidence against madhaib and the Aqueedah of Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jamaat (The Four Schools).

As can be seen from the following brief biography, taken from "The Reliance of the Traveller" which is an AUTHENTIC book of fiqh, Ibn Taymiya (Rahim-ullah) was considered an innovaitor and a heretic and some scholars went so far as to declare his writings as Kufr.

Ibn Taymiya is Ahmad Ibn Abd al-Salaam ibn Abdullah, Abu al-Abbas Taqi al-Din ibn Taymiya al-Harrani, born in Harran, east of Damascus, in 661/1263. A famous Hanbali scholar in Qur'anic exegesis (tafsir), hadith and jurisprudence, Ibn Taymiya was a voracious reader and author of great personal courage who was endowed with a compelling writing style and a keen memory.

Dhahabi wrote of him, "I never saw anyone faster at recalling the Qur'anic verses dealing with subjects he was discussing, or anyone who could remember hadith texts more vividly." Dhahabi estimates that his legal opinions on various subjects amount to three-hundred or more volumes.

He was imprisoned during much of his life in Cairo, Alexandria, and Damascus for his writings, scholars of his time accusing him of believing Allah to be a corporeal entity because of what he mentioned in his al-aqida al-Hamawiyya and al-Wasitiyya and other works, such as that Allah's 'hand', 'foot', 'shin' and 'face' are literal (haqiqi) attributes, and that He is upon the Throne in person.

The error in this is suggesting such attributes are literal is an innovation and unjustifiable inferance from the Qur'anic and hadith texts that mention them, for the way of early Muslims was mere acceptance of such expressions on faith without saying how they are meant, and without additions, subtractions, or substituting meanings imagined to be synonyms, while acknowledging Allah's absolute transcedence beyond the characteristics of created things, in conformity with the Qur'anic verse "There is nothing whatsoever like unto him" [Qur'an 42:11].

As for figurative interpretations that preserve the divine transcendence, scholars of tenents of faith have only had recourse to them in times when men of reprehensible innovation (bid'a), quoting hadiths and Qur'anic verses, have caused confusion in the minds of common Muslims as to whether Allah has attributes like those of His creation or whether He is transcendently beyond any image conceivable to the minds of men.

Scholars' firmness in condemning those who have raised such confusions has traditionally been very uncompromising, and this is no doubt the reason that a number of the Imams of the Shafi'i school, among them Taqi al-Din Subki, Ibn Hajar Haytami and al-Izz ibn Jama'a, gave formal legal opinions (fatawa) that Ibn Taymiya was misguided and misguiding in tenents of faith, and warned people from accepting his theories.

The Hanafi scholar Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari has written "Whoever thinks that all the scholars of his time joined in a single conspiracy against him from personal envy should rather impugn their own intelligence and understanding, after studying the repugnance of his deviations in beliefs and works, for which he was asked to repent time after time and moved from prison to prison until he passed on to what he'd sent ahead."

While few deny that Ibn Taymiya was a copious and eloquent writer and hadith scholar, his career, like that of others, demonstrates that a man may be outstanding in one field and yet suffer from radical deficiencies in another, the most reliable index of which is how a field's Imams regard his work in it.

By this measure, indeed, by the standards of all previous Ahl al-Sunnah scholars, it is clear that despite voluminous and influential written legacy, Ibn Taymiya cannot be considered an authority on tenents of faith (aqueeda), a field in which he made mistakes profoundly incompatible with the beliefs of Islam, as also with a number of his legal views that violated the scholarly consensus (ijma) of Sunni Muslims.

It should be remembered that such matters are not the province of personal reasoning (ijtihad), whether Ibn Taymiya considered them to be so out of sincere conviction, or whether simply because, as Imam Subki said, "his learning exceeded his intelligence." He died in Damascus in 728/1328.

Taken From:

English/Arabic Traditional Sunni Manual of Shari`ah

_______________________________________________ | Reliance of the Traveller (`Umdat al-Salik): | | A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law (Fiqh) | | By Ahmad ibn al-Naqib al-Misri (d.769/1386) | | Translated by Noah Ha Mim Keller | | English/Arabic (dual columns) | | xxii+1232 pages, Hardcover | | Published by Sunna Books 1991, 1993 | |_______________________________________________| *`Umdat al-Salik is a traditional Fiqh manual by Ibn al-Naqib (d.769/1386). It summerizes the conclusions of Imam al-Nawawi (d.676/1277),the great Hadith scholar and Shafi`i jurisprudent. It is based mainly on al-Nawawi's Fiqh works; al-Majmu` and al-Minhaj.

*Reliance of the Traveller contains `Umdat al-Salik in Arabic with facing English translation, Commentary, Appendices, Biographical Notes about every person mentioned (391 biographies), Bibliography of each work mentioned (136 works), and a detailed subject Index (95 pages).

The Appendices form an integral part of the book and present readers with original texts and translation from classical works by Imam al-Nawawi, al-Ghazali, al-Dhahabi and other famous scholars on many Islamic topics such as Islamic Law (Fiqh), Principles of Jurisprudence (Usul al-Fiqh), Faith (Iman/`Aqidah), Spirituality (Tazkiyah/Suluk).

Of the 136 works drawn upon in its commentary and appendices, 134 are in the original Arabic. The sections and paragraphs have been numbered to facilitate cross-reference which is utilized extensively.

*Noah Ha Mim Keller is an American Muslim who produced this work in Damascus and Amman from 1982 to 1990. He studied the book word by word in the traditional way with two Shaykh-s (teachers) over a period of five years after which they gave him their written warrant (ijazah) to expound the book and translate it into English.

*Certificate:

"...We certify that the above-mentioned translation corresponds to the Arabic original and conforms to the practice and faith of the orthodox Sunni Community (Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama`a)..." Islamic Research Academy (Majma` al-Buhuth al-Islamiyyah), al-Azhar. al-Azhar is the Muslim world's most prestigious institution of higher Islamic learning, Cairo.

The following article is written by a Sunni brother