A Strife-free Dialogue (A Step towards Understanding)

The Epilogue: The Future Belongs to the Shi‘ism

Our success in introducing the Shi‘ism in the best possible manner will, hopefully, lead those who had dealt heavy blows on this school of thought (to change and) adhere to it. They did it because many of them, unable to perceive the grand realities and peculiarities of this school, feigned thousands of lies against the Shi‘ism, displayed it wrongly and finally distanced themselves from it. The Wahhabis will easily convert to this school of thought and propagate for it once they have clearly perceived the Imamiyyah’s shining realities.

What has surprised the Wahhabis is that the Shi‘ism has withstood surges of enmity that had aimed at crushing it, and has successively spread in the nooks and crannies of the world. The secret for the increasing expansion of the Shi‘ism lies in the Imamiyyah’s deeply-rooted strength of thought that has attracted hundreds of the Sunnis and scores of the Wahhabis: those who were, until recently, the Shi‘ahs’ most stubborn enemies have now turned into its strongest defenders.

Almost no region—Arab or non-Arab—can be found in which the Shi‘ism has not penetrated. The Wahhabis have now clearly understood that in the near future, it is the Shi‘ahs that will constitute “the majority” in the Muslim World because they have already found a strong foot-hold in the regions where the Wahhabis expected it the least. They have thus realized that the future belongs to the Shi‘ism.

Dr. ‘Ali Salūs, the contemporary Wahhabi writer has confessed saying, “The Imamiyyah is the greatest of the Islamic schools of thought.”[^1]

It is our hope that the Wahhabis will gradually turn to the Shi‘ism and that the future belongs to us, provided that we apply the best method in presenting the Shi‘ism.

Shaykh Rabi‘ ibn Muhammad Sa‘ūdi, another Wahhabi writer says, “Having returned to Egypt after four or five years, I felt that there was a new line of thought in Cairo… What surprised me the most was that it was our brothers, the children of the most eminent Egyptian scholars, our former classmates, those in whom I used to have good faith, who had all been attracted to this new line of thought, viz. the Shi‘ism.”[^2]

I have addressed the present book to people like him to let them know that a strife-free dialogue between the Shi‘ahs and Wahhabis is not impossible.

As a further proof I would like to quote Dr. Nasir Qaffari, the famous and biased Wahhabi writer, who says, “Many have converted to the Shi‘ism… Anyone reading the book ‘Unwan al-Majd fi Tarikh al-Basrah wa Najd will take fright when he learns of the great number of the communities that have turned to the Shi‘ism.”[^3] He then calls the Shi‘ism a great clan. The more we study the Wahhabis’ writing, the more we understand that the future belongs to the Shi‘ism, and that this school of thought has increasingly been growing among the Wahhabis and Sunnis.

In his compendium of Ibn Taymiyyah’s Minhaj al-Sunnah, Shaykh ‘Abd Allah Ghaniman, a professor of graduate studies at Madinah Islamic University says, “The Shi‘ism is now ruling over all Islamic regions.”[^4] This proves that the Wahhabis know that the Shi‘ism will soon attract them.

Another promising piece of news comes from Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman Maghrawi, a Wahhabi author, who says, “I fear the spread of the Shi‘ism among the Western youths.”[^5]

Yet another author, Majdi Muhammad ‘Ali Muhammad, reports the following: “A Sunni youth, overwhelmed by doubt and uncertainty, came to see me. He was bewildered by the Shi‘ah ideas that had been passed on to him…”[^6]

And there are hundreds of other similar cases. So, it is our responsibility to introduce the school properly and logically, to penetrate the Wahhabis and explain the realities and peculiarities of the Shi‘ism. The important point to bear in mind is that rather than answering the doubt they raise, the discussion ought to center on the thaqalayn hadith. Just remember that it is awfully hard to convince a Wahhabi before you ever try to answer his question.

“He it is who sent His Apostle with guidance and the true religion, that He may make it overcome the religions, all of them, though the polytheists may be averse.” (61:9)

[^1]: Al-Shī‘ah al-Ithnā ‘Ashariyyah fī al-Usūl wa al-Furū‘, vol. 1, p. 21.

[^2]: Prologue to the book Al-Shī‘ah al-Imāmiyyah fī Mīzān al-Islām.

[^3]: Prologue to the book ‘Usūl al-Madhhab al-Shī‘ah al-Imāmiyyah al-Ithnā ‘Ashariyyah.

[^4]: Mukhtasar al-Sunnah.

[^5]: Min Sabb al-Sahābah wa Mu‘āwiyah fa Ummuhū Hāwiyah, p. 4.

[^6]: Intisār al-Haqq, pp. 11-14.