The first of such a cry...

The first of such a cry, motivated with the vicious object mentioned above, was raised by some opportunists aspiring for power and authority, immediately as the Holy Prophet departed from this world, saying:- "Man kana Ya'budu Muhammadun faqad maat." 'Let every one who was worshipping Muhammad now know that he is dead (and gone).' This satiric cry was raised against the devotees of the Holy House, to declare them as 'Kafirs' Infidels i.e., those who worship- ped the Holy Prophet instead of God, terming their 'Mawaddat' to the holy ones, which means only love and devotion, as 'Oboodiat' i.e., worship, and thus to declare the attachment to the Ahlul-Bait as 'Shirk' or 'Kufr', whereas only the devotees to the Ahlul-Bait are muslims in the true and the strict sense of the term, as they wor- ship none but the One and the Only True God, and love the Holy Prophet and his Ahlul-Bait and remain devoted to them under the divine ordinance:- "Say unto the people o' Apostle Muhammad!

'I seek not of you any 'Ajr' (compensation)for it (the service of the apostleship) save love of my relatives." 42:23 Under the above ordinance from the Lord, none who does not pay the Holy Prophet the 'Ajr' (i.e., recompense) in the love and devotion to the Ahlul-Bait, demanded him, can never be a muslim at all.

In short, 'Mowaddat' i.e., the love towards the Holy Ahlul Bait, is purposefully termed as 'Oboodiat' , i.e., worship, to blackmail their devotees, the Shias as 'Musrikeen' (i.e., the Polytheists) and 'Kuffar' (the infidels), and to dissuade people from attachment to the Holy Ones.

lt must first be remembered that 'Shirk' means associating any thing with God, and these things which are held sacred by the Shias are never at all held as God, or gods, or in place of God, or that of holy ones to whose memory they are thededicated. They are mere Emblems and Memorials, dedicated to their memory. This fact has already been made clear and it is once again re- peated here for the information of the new uninformed or misin- formed critics.

The move against respecting these sacred memorials of the dedicated tokens, is only to dissuade the public from their devotion to the Ahlul-Bait, in the guise of preaching 'Tauheed', i.e., the Unity of God, and warning against 'Shirk' which is the most abhorred thing in Islam, particularly in Shia ism which is the Islam-Original.