Muhammad Bisar to Washington, D.

Muhammad Bisar to Washington, D.C., as director of the Islamic Center there. I went to visit him and he received me kindly and informed me of the knowledge he had acquired concerning American Muslims. He initiated a dialogue between us, saying: "Some of the Muslims in this country asked me about the various Islamic sects. I declared to them that all Muslim sects are good except the Shi'ite Ithna 'ashari." I immediately realized that Dr. Bisar did not know the meaning of the Shi'ite Ithna 'ashari.

Otherwise, he would not have been rude enough to say that to me while I am a Shi'ite Ithna 'ashari. Thus, we had the following dialogue: Chirri: What is wrong with the Ithna 'ashari? Bisar: They believe in things opposed to Islam. Chirri: Give us an example of their wrong belief. Bisar: They say the revelation came to Muhammad by mistake, and that Ali Ibn Abi Talib was supposed to receive the revelation. Chirri: How did you learn that?

Bisar: I read it in the book of Al-milal wa al-nihal by al-Shahrastani. Chirri: Have you asked any Shi'ite scholar about this subject? Bisar: No, I have not. Chirri: Then you have convicted millions of Muslims and considered them "kafir" without asking any of them about this serious accusation. Did the Almighty command you to do that? And did Egypt send you to propagate such a vicious message? A year after our meeting in Washington, I met Dr. Bisar in Philadelphia at an Islamic conference.

He informed me that he re-examined the book of AI-milal wa al-nihal by al-Shahrastani and found that what was attributed to the Shi'ites, that the revelation came to Muhammad by mistake, was not the belief of the Ithna 'ashari Shi'ite school of thought. It was, rather, a sect which existed and disappeared hundreds of years ago. Hearing that from him, I accepted his apology. Yet, I was amazed that it took him a whole year to re-read the book and discover the truth.

I spent years studying hadith and Islamic history books which were written by Sunni and Ithna 'ashari scholars. I never found in any Shi'ite book a hadith or historical report indicating that Ali Ibn Abi Talib was higher than or equal to Muhammad. As a matter of fact, I found only the opposite. The Shi'ites consider Ali to be the best man after the Messenger because he was the most obedient to him.

One of the hadith which the Shi'ites pride themselves upon is a hadith attributed to the Messenger of God.