By Shaykh Dr Ridhwan ibn Saleem
Bismillah al Rahman al Raheem
People may have heard about this film that some idiots have released which supposedly depict a Shia view of some of the Sahaba. Understandably, there is a lot of anger from many Sunni scholars and laypeople.
I would like to request my fellow Sunni brothers and sisters to hold back their anger and hatred, because these events we are witnessing may not be what they seem. There are hidden agendas at play, which we can only understand if we look at the wider geopolitical context.
Stoking up hatred, enmity and fighting between Sunnis and Shias is in the interest of the enemies of Islam, the age old tactic of divide and conquer. We Sunnis need to wake up, and stop reacting to events that are designed to provoke us, and serve the interests of our enemies. How long are we going to fall into the same traps? Act predictably like mindless hotheads? Let our enemies press our buttons each time?
We need to understand that the USA and Israel have been set against the Islamic Republic of Iran ever since the Revolution. They got their stooge, Saddam Hussein, to go to war against Iran straight after the Revolution, which went on for 8 bloody years, all in an attempt to cripple the Islamic regime.
In 2006, Israel was humiliated in front of the world as it was forced to withdraw from Lebanon by the iranian backed Hizbullah. The whole Muslim world, Sunnis and Shias, were jubliant at the success of the Shia Hizbullah in repelling the Israeli army.
Since that time, we have seen the US Israeli alliance using various Wahhabi-inspired Khawarij groups to wage war against the Shias. Led by the long-time US stooges in the region, the Saudis, who have a regional rivalry with the Iranians, but also a Wahhabi-inspired hatred of all Shias.
Most recently, the Saudis have been at the forefront of proxy wars against Iran, especially in Yemen, which the Saudis have completely destroyed, causing misery to millions of Muslims, with the help of American and Bristish weapons. It was no coincidence that Donald Trump’s first visit upon taking up office was to Saudi Arabia, where he signed the biggest single deal in history, worth $200 billion, promising to continue the flow of weapons, so that the Saudis have plenty of bombs to continue the massacre of Muslims.
My fellow Sunni brothers and sisters, keep an eye on what is going on in the world, and think about who is benefiting from these events. Refrain from directing anger towards our Shia brothers and sisters. Yes, I say Shia ‘brothers and sisters’, because the Sunni ulema never said that the Shia are disbelievers. Most of the various Shia groups, including the majority Twelver Shias of modern day Iran, despite holding some beliefs regarding the Companions that are repugnant to Sunnis, nevertheless remain within the fold of Islam.
For decades now, the Saudis and other groups inspired by Wahhabi teachings, have been aggressively spreading the propaganda that Shias are outside the fold of Islam. This is not correct, and it is not the position of the majority of Sunni scholars. By way of example, if we look at the work of the famous 11th century Shafai scholar, Abu Mansur al Baghdadi, al Farq bayn al Firaq, ‘the Differences Between Sects’, he clearly places most of the various Shia groups under the umbrella of Islam.
Therefore, if Shias are Muslims, they fall under the general ruling of all Muslims, as the Noble Prophet ﷺ stated, “al muslim akh al muslim, la yadhlimuhu wa la yakhdhuluhu wa la yakdhibihu wa la yahqiruh, kull al muslim ala al muslim haram, damuhu wa maluhu wa irduhu”. “The Muslim is the brother of a Muslim, he does not wrong him or betray him, or lie to him, or look down on him. The whole of a Muslim is sacred to another Muslim, his blood, his property and his honour.” Narrated in Saheeh Muslim.
This is how we have been commanded to deal with other Muslims. Of course, we Sunnis hate the things that some Shias say and believe about some Sahaba, namely Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Aisha (may Allah be pleased with all of them) and others. But this does not mean that they are not Muslim, and that they do not have the full rights that are due to Muslims.
If we look back at the roots of the Shia movement, it begins when some individuals who were fanatic about Ali and his descendents started to criticise the first 3 khalifas and talk bad about them, as they felt that Ali was the rightful successor to the Prophet ﷺ. According to our Sunni sources, Ali never spoke badly of Abu Bakr or Umar. Even the famous Imam of the ahl al bayt, Imam Jafar as-Sadiq, the great grandson of Husayn, who is accepted by both Sunnis and Shias alike, according to Sunni sources, when some individuals in his company said things rejecting Abu Bakr and Umar, he stopped them and disagreed with them. That is why the early Shia were known as rafida, i.e. rejectors, because they rejected the first two caliphs.
Now, to fully understand what is going on today, it is necessary to be aware of the fact that there is a sect in Islam that is far more dangerous than the Shia. And this sect is present among the ummah today, but not many Muslims are aware of it, and many sincere Sunni Muslims fall into its teachings without even realising. This particular sect is known as the Khawarij, and it is so dangerous in its deviant beliefs that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ warned against it in the most severe terms. To understand today’s Saudi and salafi-jihadi war against the Shias, we need to know about the origins of Wahhabism and Kharijism. I have previously written an article on this subject relating to ISIS, the link is below. I am in the process of finishing a further piece of research and will be publishing it soon insha Allah, which goes into more depth and exposes the Khariji-Wahhabi movement and its relationship to various contemporary groups and movements.
This is important because, as I said, the Prophet ﷺ issued severe warnings regarding this sect, and obviously for good reason.
The Khawarij are the most dangerous of deviant sects because they make tafeer of other Muslims who do not follow their teachings; by takfeer I mean declare other Muslims to be disbelievers. Then, if they have the military capacity, they go about declaring jihad against those Muslims, and cause civil strife, bloodshed and maassacre of innocent Muslims that they have declared to be kuffar.
This is the repeating pattern of all Khawarij groups. It begins with takfeer, declaring other Muslims to be disbelievers, because of committing major sins or doing things that they label as shirk. The next stage of taking the sword against them only comes about if they have the means to do so.
Many of the Saudi scholars, and many other groups who describe themselves as salafis today, whether they are jihadis or not, trace their intellectual roots to 18th century preacher from the Najd, Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab, and the movement he inspired, the Wahhabi movement. There is no doubt, not even the slightest doubt, that Ibn Abdul Wahhab was a Khariji, in fact he was from the more extreme Khariji preachers that have appeared throughout Islamic history.
From day one, the Wahhabis had a particular hatred towards Shias, whom Ibn Abdul Wahhab accused of being the first to bring ‘shirk’ into the ummah. But they also accused whole masses of the normal Muslims of being mushrikeen, ie polytheists. They declared that any Muslim who visits the grave of a wali is a ‘grave worshipper’, and hence a disbeliever. Not only that, they declared that all those who live in lands where such practices take place, unless they clearly and openly dissociate from them, are also disbelievers. By this extremist logic, they declared the Ottomans and all those who lived in the Ottoman empire to be disbelievers. Soon they took up the sword and began the killing of both Sunni and Shia Muslims in Arabia, in their attempt to spread their Khariji-Wahhabi doctrines and enforce them on other Muslims.
This was the beginnings of Wahhabism. Many groups today, and many Muslims, even without realising it are influenced by the Wahhabi, hence Khariji, teachings and mindset.
The Saudis, in partidular, have also regarded Iran as a regional geopolitical rival, so the Wahhabi fanaticism of their scholars can be utilised to provide religious justification for their proxy wars. As we indicated, the wider context is serving US Israeli interests in the region.
Having understood all of this, we can now understand that when we see events like this film release, which serves nothing but to stoke up Sunni-Shia conflict, and serve the Saudi-Khariji narrative, we must ask ourselves where these film-makers have come from, who is funding them, and so on.
We know that the leaders of the mainstream Shia groups have distanced themselves from this. And, in fact, many of the foremost Shia scholars and leaders of the Islamic revolution have for many years been issuing fatwas and statements forbidding Shias from insulting Sahaba and wives of the Prophet ﷺ, whom the Sunnis hold in great respect.
These Shia scholars have been trying to move towards friendly relations with their Sunni brethren. Say what you like about the Iranians, but they are not stupid. They realise the strategy of the US-Israeli intelligence agencies has been to provoke a general Sunni-Shia conflict across the region, as a way of containing Iran. The Americans have identified the Khariji-Wahhabi elements – the Saudis as well as the so-called salafist-jihadis – as the natural Shia-haters and obvious groups to be covertly supported and funded to carry out this objective. For this strategy to work, it is important for the Khawarij elements to remain disguised within the larger Sunni majority, so that they can spread their toxic doctrines without being suspected.
Following the invasion of Iraq by US and UK in 2003, and the removal of their one-time stooge, Saddam Hussein, the security situation in Iraq deteriorated. It was the Khariji salafist-jihadi groups that began a campaign of bomb attacks against civilian Shia populations. The supreme Shia religious leader in Iraq, Ayatullah Sistani, repeatedly forbade his followers from retaliating against fellow Sunnis (remember the Shias were in the majority in Iraq, so it wasn’t out of fear).
In November 2004, one Shia leader begged Sistani to call on Shia militias to fight back. Sistani replied quietly, “Please don’t do this. Please be civilized. We don’t want to start a civil war. This is the most important point.” The man, by name of Bahrul-Uloum, bowed to Sistani’s wish. During the ensuing months of bombings and bloodshed – and even in the aftermath of the destruction of the Shia Askariyya shrine in Samarra in February 2006 – Sistani repeated his counsel. Shia clerics and preachers in turn repeated his words in their sermons across Iraq, and once again most Shias heeded his call – even after the shock of the Samarra bombing. After every bombing, the Shia mosques associated with Sistani would tell their congregations that it was not their Sunni neighbours who were killing them but foreign ‘Wahhabis.’ ” [1]. Please see my article for full referencing of this and other issues that I have touched upon today, the link is below.
Therefore, I call upon all Sunni Muslim scholars and educated Sunni Muslims to refresh their knowledge of the history of the Khawarij and the Wahhabi movements, and the great harm they can cause by legitimising the bloodshed of Muslims, not just Shias but eventually they turn against all those who disagree with their narrow extremist teachings. I will be publishing an article soon, in sha Allah, which will provide more details into the historic and more recent developments of Khawarij movements, and help to shed more light on this important area.
Remember, the Sunnis vastly outnumber the Shia worldwide. Therefore, it is for us, the Sunnis, who have the power on our side, to extend our hand in peace toward the Shia brethren. And Allah knows best.
Ridhwan ibn Saleem
London College of Islamic Studies
www.LCI.org.uk
[1] Nasr, Vali. 2007: The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future. W. W. Norton & Company.
Link to my article on ISIS: https://lci.org.uk/2021/03/22/un-islamic-states-past-and-present/