Islamic Question & Answer

Question 30 : Do the Shia Believe That Gabriel Was Not Faithful in Communicating the Message and That He Revealed the Quran To Allah's Messenger Instead of Revealing It To Ali Ibn Abi Talib?

From the above-mentioned collection of narrations, one can benefit that Abdul Malik bin Omair had the following characteristics: Had a weak memory and was very forgetful.

Was regarded weak himself, (According to the terminology of Ilm Al Rijal) i.e., someone whose narrations cannot be trusted. Makes critical mistakes.

One who mixes and confuses one tradition with the other. It is this clear that each of the mentioned characteristics by itself is proof enough to clarify the baselessness of Abdul malik bin Omairs traditions, considering to all the weak points that he possessed.

ANSWER:

Before we go on to prove the baselessness of this false accusation that some unaware individuals seem to attribute to the Shia, it is suitable to find the root for these accusations.

Roots For The Accusation:

According to the Holy verses of the Quran and the related narrations from the prophet, it is quite evident about the belief of the jews, that Gabriel committed treason in communicating the message, because God had ordered him for the prophecy to be in the house of Israel, however, he, against the command of God, placed it in the lineage of Ismail.

Thus, the Jews considered Gabriel as an enemy and the phrase, 'khan Al-Ameen' i.e., Gabriel committed treason' became their slogan. The Holy Quran criticizing them and proving the falsehood of their speech, identified Gabriel as the trusted angel in the following verse:

"The faithful spirit has descended with it, upon your heart that you may be of the warners." And in another verse said:

"Say: Whoever is the enemy of Gabriel- for surely he revealed it to your heart by Allah's command."

From the verses mentioned, considering their commentaries, it becomes clear that the Jews, for some reasons, had enemity against Gabriel, calling him the angle of torture and accusing him of committing treason in communicating the message.

Thus, the root of the slogan of 'khan Al-ameen' originated from the Jewish people's superstitions and some of the ignorant propagators who had an old enmity with the Shia, ruminating the speech of the Jews and dastardly accusing the Shia of this accusation.

Prophecy according to the Shia:

The Shia following the divine book, traditions and in the light of clear narrations of the Prophet's household not only consider 'Muhammad bin Abdullah' as the true prophet who was appointed by God for a universal message, but also declare his holiness as the seal to the prophets and one who attained the highest position among all the divine messengers.

The great Shia leader, Ali Ibn Abi talib (p) in one of his eloquent speeches, testified to this reality:

"And I bear witness that there is no God but Allah alone, no partner is associated with him and witness that Muhammed is his slave and messenger, the seal of the prophets and God's authority over the world." Imam Sadiq (p) also said:

"The Exalted and Glorious Lord only appointed five prophets among the Arabs; Hud, Saleh, Ismail, Shuaib (Jethro) and Muhammed (p) the seal of the prophets."

This blessed narration clearly proves the baselessness of the false accusation to the Shias and identifies the Holy prophet Muhammed (p) to being the last messenger of Allah.

Thus, Shias all over the world believe in the honesty of Gabriel in communicating the message, and declare that Muhammed bin Abdullah is the true prophet and the last messenger of God, and Ali Ibn Abi Talib (p) is his successor.

It is worth mentioning that both the Shia and the Sunni have agreement upon the following narration and have stated it in their authentic books. This narration which is known as the 'Rank narration' where the honorable prophet after declaring his message as being the seal of messages, introduced Ali as his successor.

God's messenger (p) said to Ali bin Abi Talib (p)

"Aren't you satisfied to be infront of me as Haroon to Moses (i.e., as haroon was the successor to Moses, you be my caliph and successor) except that after me there is no prophet (p). This narration, which in authenticity, is accepted by the great Islamic narrators, both Shia and Sunni, is a clear evidence of the correctness of the Shia speech based on two grounds.

Muhammed bin Abdullah is the most honorable of God's messengers and the seal of the divine messengers who was appointed by the command of the Exalted God for the eternal and universal message; and after him there will be no prophets.

Ali bin Abi talib (p) is the successor and the caliph of the Muslims after him.

Tafseer Fakhr Al-Razi, vol. 1 p. 436, 437, printed in Egypt, 1308 Hijra. (Shura: 194)

(Baqara:97)

Nahj Al-Sa-adah, vol. 1 p. 188, printed in Beirut; Usool Al-Kaafi, vol. 8, p. 67, 2nd print, 1389 Hijra, Tehran. Bihar Al-Anwar, vol. 11 p. 42, 2nd print, Beirut, 1403 Hijra.

For further information of numerous narrations from the Shia point of view, stating the honorable prophets seal of prophecy, refer to'Mafaheem al-Quran' by Jaffar Subhani.

The mentioned narrations has countless references of which we shall point to a few: