A Summary of Rulings

Preface: Our Religious Ideology

Praise is only for Allah, Lord of the worlds. Prayers and peace be upon Muhammad and his pure family. The curse of Allah be on their enemies, all of them.

We are Muslims and followers of the Ahlul-Bait, upon them be peace, and our ideology is founded on three firm and well established principles, they are:

1. Unity of Allah

We declare the oneness (Tawheed) of Allah and we reject any partners for Him; any personification (of Him) and any son (for Him). Every type of deviation from the principle of Tawheed, we condemn emphatically to destruction, like attributing partners to Allah (Shirk); idolatry and the worship of man by man.

As such, we believe that Allah is Unique. He is the Creator of all existence. Due to this, we believe that only good and righteousness is created in the universe and it is man, who, at times, misuses these means and potential. Therefore, man is the cause of evil and the source of deviation.

We believe that Allah is without a body or matter, rather, He is far elevated above matter and material. According to this, He has no need for a place or locality. Surely, He is in every place and cognizant of everything. He is closer to us than our own jugular vein. He sees everything and hears every sound. In addition to that, there is no place for Him nor any habitat. He sees things and hears sounds not with the extremities of the eye nor the ear as we see and hear.

(We believe) that the past and the future, the near and the remote are the same for Him. That everything is present in his knowledge without exception. The apparent and known are before Him without exception, therefore, He even knows our thoughts and our intentions. He encompasses (the knowledge) of that which troubles our hearts, (that which) passes through our minds and hearts, absolutely.

(We believe) that He is Unique in all of these perspectives. He has no compositional parts, even His attributes, like Capability and Knowledge, are the same as His Essence.

There is no beginning for His existence nor any end. He is eternally existing, therefore, His existence is infinite from all perspectives. His attributes never resemble the attributes of creation because man's attributes, like ability and knowledge, are limited. He is ever far exalted in His unlimited attributes.

In His power, (and in) none-other besides Him, is forgiveness of the sins of His servants. There is no intercession of anyone for anyone, even the Messenger of Allah, the Blessings of Allah be upon him and his family, the Infallibles (The Ma'soomeen), peace be upon them, except by His permission. As for the respect of their graves or the plea through them, then, it is not considered worship of them at all.

2. Raising of Prophets

We believe that Allah, the exalted, raises Prophets and dispatches them as Messengers in order to guide His servants and lead them out of the darkness of ignorance and misery to the light of knowledge, purity and well being, because Allah created man for well being.

According to this, He augments all of the means of well being in man's essence and in the vast universe. (We believe) that the dispatching of prophets is only for the perfection of these aims. That the teachings of Prophets and divine laws are only perfected elements for the character of man and his nature. Every law contradicting the nature of man, its creation is not from Allah's side.

We believe that the aim of Prophets is proper education; proper instruction; to anchor the principles of ethics; to strengthen its support in the scope of human relations; to establish order and to apply justice in human society. The Glorious Qur’an has already clarified each of these matters and rights in numerous verses.

We respect all of the Prophets and Messengers without exception. However, we believe that the previous divine scriptures are tainted with superstitions and the hands of alterations were engaged throughout the long course of time and at the end of its era. The One Most Truthful and Living bears witness that those disgraceful and shameful (acts) were ascribed to Allah, the Creator of the universe and Deity of the worlds. (Also, they attributed disgraceful and shameful acts) to the pure Prophets and Messengers, upon them all be peace. The Qur’an is the only peerless divine scripture which is in our hand without change or alteration.

3. The Day of Judgment

Like all Muslims, we believe that all of mankind will be gathered on a particular day in another world: the eternal, everlasting world, to be given the reward of the virtuous deeds and the wicked deeds. (We believe) that every deed, good or bad, however small, will be accounted for on that day. (We believe) that the (knowledge of mankind's) account is preserved with Allah and (We believe) that He will never wrong anyone.

Regarding the righteous, then, they will enter into the everlasting paradise filled with blessings: ideal, material, spiritual and physical blessings. As for the evil, then, they will be entered into the hellfire.

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The followers of the Ahlul-Bait, upon them be peace, in addition to these principles, believe in two other principles, they are:

The Leadership (Imaamah) of The Twelve Successors of The Messenger of Allah, prayers be upon him and his family. The first of them is Ameerul-Mu’mineen Ali Ibn Abi Taalib and the last of them is Imam Al-Mahdi (may Allah, the Exalted, hasten his noble reappearance) who is now living and thriving. He will appear one day to fill all the world with equity and justice.

Justice of Allah. We believe that Allah never does any injustice to anyone of his servants. (We believe) the injustice of another either stems from ignorance or springs forth from impotence and Allah, Glorified is He, is knowledgeable of all things and capable of all things. We believe, in accordance with that, that all of mankind is free in their will, not compelled to obedience or disobedience. (We believe) that their destinies are in their own hands. They will decide for themselves without compulsion and He does not bear blame for the sin of another nor does anyone bear the sin of the error of another. Nor is man punished for the crimes of another.

We take our religious teachings, which bind all affairs and spheres of our individual and social lives, from the most probable of sources, the Qur’an. We believe that the Noble Qur’an was and continues to be protected in its verses from additions and deductions and is safe from change and alteration.

After the Qur’an, we adhere to the customs (Sunnah) of the Most Noble Messenger, may the Blessings of Allah be upon him, then, (to the customs) of his infallible successors, upon them peace, who received their knowledge from the Messenger of Allah, may the Blessings of Allah be upon him and his family, without any means or with a means.

We attribute this position to the words of the Messenger of Allah, may the Blessings of Allah be upon him and his family, all of the well named authors have mentioned it and his saying is well known: “I feel that I'm being summoned and I must respond. Surely, I am leaving behind for you two weighty things: the Book of Allah and my descendants. Surely, they will not separate until the return to me at the pool (of paradise).”

We, in order to understand these religious, legal duties, in addition to the Noble Qur’an and the sayings of the Messenger of Islam and the twelve A’immah, we follow that which scholars and Jurists have gained a consensus upon and confirmed. Likewise, (we believe) in that which the rationale rules upon with certainty.

These four matters (the Qur’an, the traditions of the Prophet and the descendants, that which the Jurists have gained a consensus upon and the evidence of reasoning) are called the Four Evidences (Al-Adillah Al-Arba').

We see that it is always necessary that a group of scholars of religion establish a study of religious sources and derive from (those sources) the Islamic duties and teachings. This right is not limited to any specific individuals, rather, it is the right of all of the scholars cognizant of religion to teach the sources of Islamic legislation and derive the Islamic duties and teachings from it. In this way, we see that the door of Ijtihaad (juristic reasoning) is open before all of the scholars and jurists in the Ummah in every age and city.

We believe Islamic faith is an eternal, everlasting religion and at same the time it is flexible, facilitating application and implementation in every time and place and for every society among human societies.

Scholars have established collections and clarifications of the individual and social Islamic duties and teachings in a detailed manner in books named as the Books of Fiqh (jurisprudence). As such, numerous writers have delved into different sciences for the purpose of refining these teachings and laws and revising them and rewriting them.

The present book brings together an extract of these laws from those of which are intensely needed and (the laws which man) mostly encounters.

We ask Allah, Glorified be He, for guidance and success in acting in accordance with it.