page 1 Shiaism and Sabai A number of evils had crept into - TopicsExpress

page 1 Shiaism and Sabai A number of evils had crept into the lives of the early Shias. Their capacity for truth had considerably dwindled; their enthusiasm for defending the right had deplorably diminished ; their love and support of Hadhrat Ali had diluted even though he was their Imam and leader. They had turned into charlatans, reeking with the stench of chicken-heartedness, insincerity, greed, cowardice and equivocation. They now put greater premium on the luxuries of the world than on the acquisition of divine pleasure. They had become greedy -guts and lazy-bones. Hadhrat Ali had himself once addressed them in these words: By God ! believe these people will have an edge over you, because they are united over falsehood while you are disunited over truth: you disobey your leader even though he is in the right ; they obey their leader even though he is in the wrong. They render their trusts (back to people) while you embezzle them. They live in peace in their areas while you squabble with one another. If I trust one of you with the lid, I am afraid he will carry away the pot as well. In spite of these evils, they did not differ from other Muslims in their beliefs and convictions. They neither denied the sanctity of the Quran nor believe in its textual change and mutilation. They did not disacknowledge the superiority of the Prophet (peace be upon him) nor did they discredit the companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his three pious Caliphs. They acknowledged their superior status on account of their close association with the prophet (peace be upon him). They had not invented a separate religion for themselves but shared the same Islamic faith with other Muslims. They did not adopt specific modes of prayer either. They prayed behind their Imams like other Muslims, and like them they performed the obligatory Hajj and discharged other duties: They intermarried with the Muslims - both before and after the wars, as has already been stated and will be discussed at greater length in the pages that follow. However, there was a percentage of people who had been influenced by un - Islamic modes of thought, Jewish soi-distant and the hypocritical Sabais. They outwardly professed Islam but inwardly condemned it. They had in fact suppressed their identity and sailed under false colors. These people had drifted away from the straight path as well as from the party of Hadhrat Ali. for example, Sabais and Kharijis, who had completely deviated from the straight path and had snapped all links with the Islamic faith and with whom Hadhrat Ali and his family had broken all ties, fabricated the most fantastic tales in the name of religion which had neither been revealed in the Quran nor mentioned by the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him). The paten of life of the early people was identical with that of the Muslims and it remained unchanged till the martyrdom of Hadhrat Hussain. But after the martyrdom of Hadhrat Imam Hussain, other modes of thought and beliefs had encroached into their lives. Those were, in fact, the fundamentals of Sabaism whose poisonous effects were being spread by Jewish, Zoroastrian and other defocused sects of Islam. The Shias of Ali also followed these false and disreputable beliefs, and the degree of their humiliation and stupidity varied in proportion to the strength of the grip with which they had the anti-Islamic convictions. Similarly they disbanded into many splinter groups. Those who exceeded all limits and flouted all restraints were known as extremists, and those who charted a middle course for themselves in their pursuit of the evil, were known as middle-of-the-road or semi-extremist Shias, and those who had only a brush with the devil and were not dyed deeply in the devils ideology, were known as moderates. But one common bond linked them together : they were tied to the apron-strings of the demoniacal Abdullah bin Saba and the notorious Judaism. Each one of these sects had assimilated the hoax in proportion to its capacity. But there were others who had completely dissociated themselves, both outwardly and inwardly, from the reprehensible Jews and Sabais and thus wriggled out of the clutches of their tainted philosophy. However the Shias of Ali took umbrage at their act of disaffiliation and discarded them on account of their claim of exemption.* These views and beliefs had percolated to the supporters of Hadhrat Ali* as a result of some calculated conspiracy which had been hatched by the Jews of Yemen in collusion with Abdullah bin Saba and other Jews. Its object was to knock the unity of the Muslims into a cocked hat, sap the foundations of their faith, create dissension among the Muslims, stoke up the fires of loot and murder, disembowel their faith, preach atheism and to introduce changes into the inviolate pattern of divine revelation. Therefore Isfraini * sums up an account or survey of the Shia sects with a highly pertinent comment : All these sects of the Imamiyah were based on the negation of the Prophetic companions. They claim that Quran no longer exists in its original shape. The companions of the Prophet introduced changes in it. Therefore the Quran and the traditions attributed to the Prophet are not reliable. They also claim that there is a special clause in the Quran about the Imamat of Hadhrat Ali which had been deleted by companions of the Prophet. They also have no faith in the Shariah as it is being administered by the Muslims. They are anxiously awaiting the arrival of an Imam called Mehdi who will teach them the Shariah. At present they have no links whatsoever with the divine faith. Their main object is to cut up the shackles of Shariah root and branch. They like to confer lawful status on all the prohibited acts, citing earlier changes as precedents for their radical transformation. They claim that there is o such thing as pristine faith, as Shariah had been tinkered with and the Quranic text had been meddled with by the companions of the Prophet.* The purpose of what I have stated and what I propose to state i the subsequent pages is to establish the fact that changes were introduced in early Shiaism because Abdullah bin Saba succeeded through his iniquitous efforts to intromit Jewish, Zoroastrian and Sabai belief into the framework of early Shiaism. The main purpose of the unconscionable efforts of the Sabais was to generate discord and to inject un- Islamic beliefs into the minds of ignorant and half - witted people. Therefore it seems quite in order to give an objective account of the flagitious efforts of the Sabais and the discussion that follows shall be basically related to Abdullah bin Saba, Sabaism and their beliefs and convictions. Abdullah bin Saba and Sabaism: Abdullah bin Saba was a Jew of San a (Yemen). His mother called Sauda. Abul Hassan Ashari observes: This Abdullah bin Saba was a Jew. He nurtured an intense rage in his heart against the new faith which had squelched the Jewish domination and over - lordship of the Arabs of Madina and Hijaz. He embraced Islam during the reign of Hadhrat Uthman. he traveled through the cities of Hijaz. He also visited Basra, Kufa, and Syria. Wherever he went, he tried his best to bring round the half - witted people of that area to his point of view. But he could not realize his impeachable intentions. he left for Egypt and became a permanent resident there. He launched his campaign to disenchant people with their faith by cosmeticizing his vicious designs as elegant and palatable realities. He found the climate of Egyptian opinion highly congenial for the realization of his scurvy intentions. his pet line of reasoning ran into the following grooves: I am really surprised by your attitude. You attest to the return of Christ, son of Maryam, to the world, but you deny the return of Muhammad to this world ! He kept on hammering his point of view into the minds of people until some weak - willed persons fell into his trap and started believing in the notion of the Prophets return. He was the first man who sowed the seed of return on the tabla rasa of the Muslim mind. The second canard he spread among the people was that each Prophet has an executor or a preceptor who executes or administers his will. The most cruel person is he who tries to decelerate or prevent the implementation of his will. The chief target of his oppressive measures is the executor as he deprives him of his right to execute the will of the Prophet. O people ! Uthman usurped the right of Hadhrat Ali and victimized and persecuted him. Therefore rise against (the verdict of the oppressors) and return the right to those who are its lawful claimants. Criticize your rulers and deny what they profess and stand for. In this way you will win over the hearts of people. Ibn Saba had also organized a brigade of his friends and companions to propagate his heretic views and asked them to fan out in different cities. They also corresponded with one another to keep themselves abreast of the latest mercurial rise on the thermometer of public opinion and their vicious campaigning finally claimed the life of the Caliph before whom the pages of the Book of Allah lay open at the time of his martyrdom. The rebels and insurgents had attacked his residence and terminated his life. Perhaps, this was the divine verdict !* The earliest historian Tabri has sketched out the details in these words: Abdullah bin Saba was a Jew and lived in Sana. His mother was called Sauda. He embraced Islam during the period of Hadhrat Uthman. he roamed through the Muslim cities and tried to seduce the Muslims from the straight path. He launched his diabolical campaign from Hijaz and then visited Basra, Kufa and Syria. None of the Syrians cooperated with him. On the contrary, they drove him out of Syria. Thus he moved over to Egypt and settled down there permanently. He started drumming into the minds of the Egyptians that it was strange they believed in the return of Christ and denied the return of Hadhrat Muhammad (peace be upon him). God himself had declared: Therefore he has a better claim to return to the world in comparison with Christ. He fabricated the concept of the return or resurrection and the Egyptians turned in into a hot debating issue. Later on he floated the idea that there had been one thousand prophets and each one of them had an executor who implemented his will on earth. Hadhrat Ali was the executor of Hadhrat Muhammad (peace be upon him). Hadhrat Muhammad was the last of the Prophets and Hadhrat Ali was the last of the executors or preceptors. There is no greater oppressor than a person who interferes with the implementation of the will of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) , persecutes his executor and assumes the role of a self - styled administrator. Then he started bleating out that Uthman had usurped the Khilafat. The executor of the Prophet (peace be upon him) is here: Arise and activate him. Launch your campaign by criticizing the rulers and back out of your religious commitments. In this way, the people will incline towards you from the core of their hearts. Wake up, and invite the people to join your campaign. He spread out his workers in different cities and he kept up his links with them through correspondence. The movement went underground but it was very active. Outwardly they gave the impression of keeping ablaze the twin slogans of Amr bil Maruf and Nahi Anil Munkir. They also dispatched letters to the residents of different cities. These letters picked holes in their rulers. Their companions also corresponded on similar lines. Madina was the focal point of their mischiefs and they stretched the nets of their conspiracies far and wide. They never revealed their true intentions and their appearances were invariably deceptive. They kept abreast of the latest developments in all the cities as news pouted in from their planted sources and the network of their conspirators and the possession of the latest information gave them an edge over others. They sent for Muhammad and Talha and told them to go to Hadhrat Uthman and ask him : O Amir - ul - Momineen ! Have you received the news about people that we have received ? He replied : By God ! I have received the news that all is well. But they said: We have received these news, and then they recounted all the news which had been conveyed to them by the mischievous lot. Hadhrat Uthman said : If you have evidence against my companions and believers, then you should also suggest a way out. They replied : we advise you to send your trusted men to different areas who should examine the situation there. He dispatched Muhammad bin Musalma to Kufa, Usama bin Zayd to Basra, Ammar bin Yasser to Egypt and Abdullah bin Umar to Syria. Besides, he dispatched a number of people to other areas. All of them returned except Hadhrat Ammar. Their verdict was unanimous. They said : O People ! We have witnessed nothing unusual nor have we witnessed any thing which the Muslim masses or the rulers dislike. All of them jointly affirmed that Muslims enjoyed a position of superiority in those areas. The rulers dispensed justice to the people and saw to it that their rights were not violated. People keenly felt Hadhrat Ammars delay. They apprehended that he had been murdered by mistake. After some time they were handed a letter from Abdullah bin Saad bin Abi Sarah in which he informed them that the Egyptians had drawn Ammar towards themselves and Abdullah bin Sauda, Khalid bin Maljim, Saudan bin Hamran And Kinan bin Basher were always with him.* Ibn Kathir and Ibn Athir have commented on it on similar lines and Allama Ibn Khaldun has also written about it : Abdullah bin Saba, who was popularly known as Ibn Sauda, was a Jew. He had left his country during the tenure of Hadhrat Uthman but he had not embraced Islam from the core of his heart. When he was honked out of Basra, he left for Kufa from where he made a bee - line for Syria. The Syrians also whipped him out of their country and he left for Egypt. He made Hadhrat Uthman the special butt of his critical remarks and secretly invited people to institute the Khilafat of the Ahl - i - Bait. He pressed upon people to launch the campaign and he spared no opportunity to criticize the rulers. Some of the people openly sided with him. They had come from different cities and therefore they kept up their links through correspondence. Khalid bin Maljim, Saudan bin Hamran and Kinana bin Basher supported the campaign launched by Abdullah bin saba. They had also persuaded Ammar not to return to Madina. Ammar was one of those people who had openly lambasted Hadhrat Uthman for first turning Hadhrat Abu Zar out of Syria into Madina and then for pushing him out of Madina towards Abzah, though, under the circumstances, the action of Hadhrat Uthman was justified. Hadhrat Abu Zar, out of the intensity of his piety and austerity, used to force people to lead their lives on similar lines and to learn to face the hardships of life. He persuaded people to stock for themselves not more than a days ration. He also illustrate ed with reasoning the undesirability of hoarding gold and silver. Ibn Saba used to instigate Hadhrat Abu Zar against Hadhrat Muawiyah by stressing that he supported the distribution of goods among the people. Hadhrat Abu Zar started condemning Hadhrat Muawiyah. Hadhrat Muawiyah coaxed him a little and told him : Ill also harp on the same turn that all goods belong to Allah. When Ibn Saba repeated the same thing to Hadhrat Abu Aldarda and Hadhrat Ubadah bin Samat, they snubbed him strongly; Hadhrat Ubadah rather caught him by the scruff of his neck and brought him to Hadhrat Muawiyah and told him that he had instigated Hadhrat Abu Zar against him.* Hafiz ibn Hajr has related on the authority of Tarikh Abi Asakar : He belonged to Yemen. He was a Jew, but he had donned the guise of Islam and roamed through the Muslim cities to lead the Muslims astray and dissuade them from the obedience of their Imams and to sow dissension among them. He also visited Damascus with this end in view.* Allama Isfraini has also commented on it in a similar vein : Ibn Sauda was a Jew who had donned the gown of Islam to addle the faith of the Muslims.* Tabri has given a detailed account in his history to let the readers in on the true facts of the case. He refers to him by saying that one day he spent in Basra and the next day he spent in Kufa, some day he was in Egypt and the other day he was seen mooching around at another place. Tabri has also referred to Hakim bin Jiblah on similar lines: When three years of Ibn Amers rule had elapsed, he received the news that a person called Hakim bin Jiblah was staying with he family of Abdul Qais. This Hakim bin Jiblah was thief. When the armed forces returned, he hid himself in a corner. He continued his reproachable practices even on the soil of Iran. He threw a spanner among the Zimmis, created discord among the people and always achieved his target. Both the Zimmis and Muslims complained against him to Hadhrat Uthman. He dispatched a letter to Abdullah bin Amir to arrest him and blocked all channels of his bonafides. Ibn Amir arrested him and blocked all channels of his escape. When Ibn Sauda came, he stayed with him. Besides, another party also came to stay with them. Ibn Sauda placed before them a problem in hints but did not explain it. These people accepted his proposal and welcomed him with open arms. He replied: I am from the Ahl-i-Bait. I love Islam and I like to live near about you. Ibn Amir replied : I have received bad reports about you. Therefore you better leave here. He left for Kufa. When he was driven out from there, he settled down in Egypt and kept in touch with his companions through correspondence and they also paid frequent visits to one another.* He stayed in Egypt until he left it in the company of people who had killed Hadhrat Uthman. The natives of Egypt had come out in four caravans, led by four of their chiefs. Some estimate their number at six hundred, others at one thousand. The leaders of these caravans were Abdul Rehman bin Adis Bal-wi, Kinanah bin Basher Laythi, Sakuni. Ghafiqi bin Harb Aski was leading the entire nation. They did not dare to unfold to the people that they were marching to fight. They pretended to be pilgrims. Ibn Sauda also accompanied these reprobates.* Ahmad Amin Misri observes: This Ibn Sauda also came to see Hadhrat Abu Ad-Darda and Hadhrat Ubadah bin Samat but they sent him away with a flea in his ear. On the contrary Hadhrat Ubadah caught hold of him and took him to Hadhrat Muawiyah. He said : By God ! He has stirred up Hadhrat Abu Zar against you. We know that Ibn Sauda was the by -name of Abdullah bin Saba. he was a Jew from Sana who had only put on the mask of Islam during the reign of Hadhrat Uthman. He tried to tamper with the faith of the Muslims. He disseminated a number of his beliefs in Hijaz, Basra, Kufa, Syria and Egypt. It is possible he imbibed his beliefs from the Mazdakis of Iraq or Yemen.* Ahmad Amin adds: He is the person who had provoked Hadhrat Abu Zar to invite people towards communism. He played the most heinous role in muddying the climate of opinion against Hadhrat Uthman. A study of his life reveals that he formulated a compendium of his own teachings to raze the house of Islam to the ground, he established a secret organization to propagate his teachings. He used the name of Islam to cover up his own flaws. After professing himself (to be a champion of Islam) he came to Basra and launched a propaganda campaign to popularize his views. The ruler of Basra extradited him. He came to Egypt where some people rallied round him.* Before I enumerate the factors which he exploited to create rift in the Muslims, smash their unity and stir up repellion against Hadhrat Uthman, the Amir-ul-Momineen, companion and son-in-law of the Prophet (peace be upon him), I would like to refer to those Jewish beliefs whose poison this maligned and cursed man tried to inject into the people by using the name of Hadhrat Ali. The Shias further strengthened and consolidated these beliefs. They derived many subsidiary beliefs from these basic principles which led to the formation of different Shia sects. Each sect adopted the beliefs that suited it and shaped its code of action in the light of these derivative beliefs. Hidden Jewish beliefs: I have already stated that Ibn Sauda had taken over his beliefs from the Jews who had hated the guts of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and held in spite his community and loathed the Shariah they practiced. They were the staunch enemies of the Prophet of Islam and of the Muslims. And they had launched their campaign of hatred and jealousy against the Prophet (peace be upon him) the day he substituted the name of Yathrib for Madina and put a full stop to the lordship of Jews of Qinqa, Banu Nadhir, Banu Mustalaq and Khyber. Abu Muhammad Hassan bin Musa has unraveled these secrets. He is the earliest Shia historian who has given an account of the Shia sects. He is one of the most famous Shias of the third century A.H. He writes: Saba-is are the companions of Abdullah bin Saba. Abdullah bin Saba made faces at Hadhrat Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and other companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and disaffiliated himself from them and he imputed his acts to the command of Hadhrat Ali. When Hadhrat Ali caught hold of him and asked him about it, he confessed to it. After his confession, he ordered him to be executed. On hearing the order, (quite a few people) made a humble submission to Hadhrat Ali: O Amir-ul-Momineen ! You have ordered the execution of a person who professes your friendship and the love of your Ahl-i-Bait. Hadhrat Ali complied with the submission and exiled him to Madain. A group of scholars among the companions of Hadhrat Ali has stated that Abdullah bin Saba was a Jew. He outwardly professed Islam and was on friendly terms with Hadhrat Ali. During the period of Judaism he used to claim that Yosha bin Nun was the Caliph after Moses, and after embracing Islam he insisted that Hadhrat Ali was the Caliph after the Prophet (peace be upon him). Ibn Saba is the first person who popularized the concept of Hadhrat Alis Imamat, disaffiliated himself from his enemies and publicly proclaimed his hostility towards his opponents. This is the point that has forced the opponents of Shiaism to state that the real source of Rafidhism is Judaism. When the news of Hadhrat Alis death was conveyed to Abdullah bin Saba in Madain, he told the messenger: you are lying. If you wrap u Hadhrat Alis brain in seventy sacks and offer seventy veracious witnesses as evidence of his martyrdom, I will not believe you. he can neither die simply nor as a martyr unless he is the monarch of the entire earth.* Abu Umro bin Abdul Aziz Kashi, who was one of the scholars of the fourth century, has given an account of the life of Abdullah bin Saba, some of his traditions and his beliefs and ideas in his book that is supposed to be the earliest on the subject. A few of these beliefs are given below: (Muhammad bin Qaulwiyyah, Saad bin Abdullah, Yaqoob bin Yazeed and Muhammad bin Isa through Ali bin Mahzyar, Fadhalah bin Ayyab Azdi) report it from Abban bin Uthman. I have heard from Abu Abdullah: May God curse Abdullah bin Saba ! He had staked out the claim of God-head for the Amir-ul-Momineen, though, by God, Amir-ul-Momineen was a humble creature of God. There is nothing but ruin and ravage for a person who blurts out lies on our behalf. Some people attribute to us words we have never uttered about ourselves. We express our disaffiliation with these people before God and, by the grace of God, we are exempt (from the false allegations of) these people. Through Yaqoob bin Yazeed, through Ibn Abi Umair and Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Isa through his father and Hussain bin Said, through Ibn Abi Umair Hasham bin Salim and Abu Hamza Thamali, Hadhrat Ali bin Hussain is reported to have said: May God curse him who tells lies about us. When I recalled the words of Abdullah bin Saba, the hair all over my body stood on end. He staked out a bi claim. My God malign him ! By God, Hadhrat Ali was a pious creature of God and the brother of the Messenger of Allah ; whatever honor and prestige he gained, he gained out of his submission to the will of the Lord and His Messenger (peace be upon him); and whatever honor and prestige the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his family gained, they gained out of their submission to the will of the Lord. Through Muhammad bin Khalid Tiyalsi, through Ilen Abi Najran, Abdullah bin Sanam is reported to have said : Abu Abdullah stated : We Ahl-i-Bait are on the right but we are not immune to fabrication : any liar can impute lies to us, and damage our veracity by telling lies to people against us. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was the greatest truth-teller among the people and the most righteous person on earth. But Musalma, the liar, used to impute lies to him. Similarly, Hadhrat Ali ranked next to him in the uninhibited articulation of truth but Abdullah bin Saba spread lies about him. He tried to replace his true words by false assertions and relied on hyperbole in his praise. Some scholars have mentioned that Abdullah bin Saba was a Jew. After donning the robes of Islam, he started cultivating friendship with Hadhrat Ali. During the Jewish period he praised Hadhrat Yosha bin Nun out of all proportion and openly declared that he was the exactor of the will of Moses. After draping himself in Islamic robes he insisted that after the Prophet (peace be upon him) Hadhrat Ali was the executor of his will: First of all he spread the self-fabricated concept of Hadhrat Alis Imamat, disaffiliated himself from his enemies; He told his enemies without mincing matters that he opposed them and considered them infidels. That is why some of the Shias in the opposite camp believe that Rafidhism and Shiaism are derived from Judaism.* Similarly Hassan bin Ali writes in his famous book on the study of men : Abdullah bin Saba was inclined towards the denial of belief. His views were extremist. He claimed himself to be a prophet and regarded Hadhrat Ali as Allah. For three days Hadhrat Ali insisted that he should recant. But he did not recant. Hadhrat Ali thus burned him alive along with the other seventy persons who had made similar claims on his behalf.* One of the later scholars Ma-Maqani in his book Tanqih-ul-Maqal has plunked out the same issue* and another Shia historian of Iran observes in his book in Persian language : When Abdullah bin Saba came to know that there was a burgeoning opposition to Hadhrat Uthman bin Affan, he went to Egypt to capitalize on it. He started preaching piety and the pursuit of knowledge. When he secured for himself an intimate niche in the hearts of people, he switched back to the propagation of his ideology and faith that each Prophet has an executor and a preceptor. No one except Hadhrat Ali can be the executor and preceptor of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) because he possesses knowledge and wisdom, magnanimity and bravery, integrity and piety. The Muslim community committed excesses against him and usurped his right to rule. Therefore it is obligatory for them that they should get ready to help and support him and back out of the obedience and pledge of Hadhrat Uthman. A large number of Egyptians were impressed by his views and beliefs and they revolted against Hadhrat Uthman.*