They have had many scholars and thinkers who contributed to...

They have had many scholars and thinkers who contributed to the enhancement of the Islamic heritage by compiling hundreds of thousands of writings and books, small and big, in various fields including exegesis of the Holy Qur'an (tafsir), traditions of the Holy Prophet (hadith), doctrines, jurisprudence, principles of Islamic jurisprudence (`ilm al-uSul), ethics, investigation of reported traditions (`ilm al-dirayah), biography of narrators (`ilm al-rijal), philosophy, sermons, politics, sociology, linguistics, and arts.

They also wrote books on medicine, physics, chemistry, mathematics, astrology, and other physical sciences.

Furthermore, they played a major role in founding many sciences.[^8] (5) The Shi`ah believe in Allah: the One, the Single, the Unique, ‘the eternally Besought of all; Who begets not, nor is He begotten.’ They thus deem Him too Exalted to be corporeal or have direction, space, time, alteration, movement, ascension, descent, or any other quality that does not befit His matchless majesty, holiness, perfection, and excellence.

They believe that there is no object of worship save Almighty Allah, and that all decisions and legislation belong to Him, and all kinds of polytheism, overt and covert, are considered grave injustices and unforgivable sins. They draw these beliefs from judicious reasoning supported by the Holy Qur'an and authentic Sunnah, regardless of the source. With respect to beliefs, the Shi`ah rest neither on Israelite traditions (i.e.

those quoted from the Torah and the Gospel) nor on Magian traditions that anthropomorphize Almighty Allah, ascribe to Him unfairness, injustice, nonsense, and vainness—Exalted and Great be He—or indict the Divinely purified Prophets, who are completely protected against sinning, of dreadful sins and unbecoming evil deeds.

(6) The Shi`ah believe that Almighty Allah is Just and Wise; He has created all things through justice and wisdom; therefore, there is no futility in the creation, including inanimate, plant, animal, humankind, sky, or land, because absurdism is in violation of justice and wisdom; and the absence of justice and wisdom negates the existence of Godhead because the idea of the divinity of Almighty Allah necessitates that He is the source of all perfect excellencies and ideal attributes and that He, the Glorified, is free from any defect.