Your Questions Answered (volume 5)

Q. 10: Who Can Become a Shia Ithna-'ashariya?

Who can become a Shi'a Ithna'ashariya?

A. Any person, irrespective of his race, origin, colour or language, can become a Shi'a Ithna-'ashari, if he sincerely believes in our tenets and faithfully acts upon them.

Q. 11: MAIN FEATURES OF ISLAM

Will you explain to me the main features of Islam in short?

A. Islam consists of three parts.

  1. Matters concerning belief which are called Roots of Religion.

  2. Rules of Shari'ah which govern every aspect of our lives; they are called Branches of religion.

  3. Islamic Ethics and Morality.

Q. 12: ROOTS OF RELIGION?

What are the roots of Religion?

A. There are five Roots of Religion: They are called:

  1. Tawheed : Oneness of God
  2. Adl : Justice of God
  3. Nubuwwat: Prophethood
  4. Imamat : Vicegerency of the Prophet
  5. Qiyamat: Day of Judgement.

Q. 13: ONENESS OF GOD

What does Tawheed mean?

A. It means that there is only one God - Eternal, Self-sufficient; He has no beginning or end; He is Omnipotent, has power ever everything and every affair. He is Omniscient, knows everything, nothing is ever a secret from Him. He has His own discretion in all affairs, does not do anything under compulsion. He is All-perceiving, All-hearing, All-seeing and Omnipresent. He sees and hears everything though He has neither eye nor ear.

He has no partner or colleague, nor has He any son, daughter or wife. He is neither made nor composed of any material substance. He has no body nor is He confined to a place. He is not afflicted by anything related to body; He is not governed by time, space, change or things like that. He is not visible.

He has not been seen, and will never be seen either in this world or the hereafter. His attributes are not separate from His person.

Q. 14: MORE ABOUT ONENESS OF GOD

Will you throw some more light on the belief in oneness of God? A. The belief in the Unity of God is the foundation stone of Islam. This belief governs the religious faith, designs the social patterns and gives life to the moral codes. The first sentence of the Islamic Kalimah, i.e., "There is no god except Allah", leads a Muslim throughout his life not only in religious matters but in social behaviour also. "There is no god" shows a Muslim that nothing in the universe is superior to him.

It is observed in the Qur'an that "He it is Who has created for you all that is in the earth." So a Muslim knows that nothing in this world is to be worshipped. Neither stone nor trees; neither animals nor human-beings; neither the Sun nor the Moon nor the Stars can be worshipped; because everything is created, and created for his benefit.

When a Muslim, thus, has rejected every falsehood and every idea of nature-worship, idol-worship or human-worship, he is ready to believe in the positive truth of the Unity of God. Believing in a Supreme being gives an aim to our life and provides a purpose for our actions.

Had a man been left with the wrong impression that there was no God at all, his life would have been aimless, and an aimless life is dangerous. So it is added that there is no god "except Allah". This sentence has a negative as well as a positive aspect. Both are instrumental in creating the belief that every man is equal to every other person. When nobody is superior, nobody is inferior.

Thus, the belief in the Unity of God promotes the sense of brotherhood, equality and equity which is another feature of Islam.

Q15: RESPECT FOR THE NAME OF ALLAH

If I have written the Arabic name of God on a piece of paper, can I throw it away? Suppose this is in English, does the same rule apply? What about the names of the Ahlul-Bait? A.

It is haram to throw away the names of Allah or Ma'sumeen. Such writings should either be buried, put in river or ocean or re-cycled. It makes no difference whether it is written in Arabic or in any other script. (Be careful about the stamps of Iran. Some stamps have Qur'anic verses written on them).

Q. 16: SIGNIFICANCE OF 'ADI

What is the significance of 'Adi? A. 'Adi means that Allah is just; He does not do injustice to any one. He has ordered us to do justice to our fellow creatures - but He Himself treats us not only with justice but with grace. He created us for His worship, in order that we may attain spiritual perfection through it. That spiritual perfection enables us to reach nearer to Allah.

For this purpose, He has given us freedom of will and choice. When we choose, by our own free will, the Straight Path (prescribed by Allah) we are assured in the next world of everlasting happiness and glory by Grace of Allah.

Q. 17: MAN'S FREE WILL

In the above reply, you say that we, by our own free will, choose the path we proceed upon. But I have been told that the Muslims believe in predestination - that our all good and bad actions are predestined by Allah. Please explain the reality to me.

A. We know by our instinct that there are some matters over which we have no authority, concerning which we have no choice, like birth, death, happiness, unhappiness, affluence, poverty; etc. Such matters (which we may call our conditions) are totally in God's hands, although man has to fulfil his duties in that area too, at least in preliminary stages. Also there are our "actions" which we instinctively know are done with our own will and choice, like speaking truth or lie, helping someone or refusing him help, etc.

Some Muslims think that man has no authority on this matter too. Others believe that man is totally independent in his actions and Allah has nothing to do with it.

But we, the Shi'a Ithna-'ashariyah, believe that man, in his actions, is neither compelled by Allah nor independent of Allah's control; the reality lies in between these two extremes. To explain it fully, I would like to give you an example written by our present Mujtahid, Ayatullah as-Sayyid Abul Qasim al-Khoui. Suppose there is a man whose hand is totally paralyzed; he by himself cannot move even a finger.

A doctor has fitted a device on his hand which, when activated by a remote-control, restores the hand to normal condition and allowing the man the use of hand in whatever way he likes. The doctor has kept the remote-control in his custody.

He has switched that control on, and it is the man who decides whether to use his newly-found power and strength for good cause or evil; the doctor does not Interfere, although if he wanted he coufd switch it off. Now, the good or bad actions done by that person are not done by the doctor's will and choice; but at the same time they are not totally independent of the doctor In the same way, we do whatever we do by our own free will and choice but the power to do so Is given us by Allah who may "switch it off" any time he pleases.

Q. 18: MEANING OF NUBUWWAT

What is the meaning of Nubuwwat And what is Nubuwwat?

A. To show us the Straight Path, Allah has been sending His representatives to the mankind. They are called nabii (Prophet) and rasul (Messenger). The rank of the Messengers was higher than the Prophets. Every Messenger was also a Prophet but not vice versa.

Q. 19: NUMBER OF PROPHETS:

How many Prophets came into the world?

A. There came in all 124,000 Prophets, 313 of which were Messengers. The Prophethood started with the first man, Adam, and ended with Muhammad, the Holy Prophet of Islam.

All the Prophets and Messengers brought the same religion which nowadays is called Islam. It was but natural. As all of them were sent by the same God, naturally the message could not be more than one. The beliefs and morals taught by them were always the same, although the rules of shari'ah were changed from time to time according to the condition of the society.

Some messengers had a still higher position and are called Ulul-'azm.