So shall I abide in rafd and nasb for the love of those two...

So shall I abide in rafd and nasb for the love of those two, until I am laid to rest in my grave. In some other verses he says: O Progeny of the Messenger of Allah, God has made your love an obligation in the Qur'an that He has revealed. The great honour suffices you that prayers made without invoking blessings on you are invalid. [^34] These verses disclose a kind of "tafdili rafd" in the words of Shafi'i himself.

Yet their import is are not contrary to his Sunnism (tasannun) which is something different from the Uthmani creed. At the same time certain verses have been attributed to him whose authenticity needs to be established. One of them is as follows: Happy am I with Ali and his descendants as my Imams. [^35] In the same diwan there are verses in eulogy of the four caliphs.

[^36] Also eligiac verses about Imam Husayn ('a) have been narrated from him, among which are the following: The earth quaked for the sake of the Progeny of Muhammad, And the mountains almost melted in grief for them. If the love of the Progeny of Muhammad is my sin, It is a sin for which I am never going to repent.

They are my intercessors on my resurrection and in the halts of the Hereafter, When my sins overwhelm me by their great number [^37] Badi Hamadani had a similar tendency and as cited by Abd al-Jalil Razi he recited the following verse at the tomb of Ali ibn Musa al-Rida ('a): Despite my belief in tasannun, I am a rafidi in my attachment (wila) to you, And my devotion to these does not make me neglect those.

[^38] This inclination continued to grow during the 5th/11th century and afterwards, and even among the Hanbalis, who had a strong 'Uthmani bias during the 3rd/9th and 4th/10th centuries, one finds those who were strongly attached to the . That which is important is that this attachment opened the door to Shi'ism and it could pave the way for the spread of Shiism in the long run. Elsewhere we have discussed this issue. Previous…