ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Shi'ah Are (the Real) Ahl Al-sunnah Chapter 5 : Another Incident Juxtaposed the Shi`as Versus the Sunnis Chapter 6 :"ahl Al-sunnah" Are Not Familiar With the Prophet's Sunnah Do not let this heading intimidate you, dear reader, for you are, by the Grace of Allah, walking on the path of righteousness so that you may in the end reach what pleases Allah, Glory and Exaltation to Him.

Do not, therefore, let Satan's whispering, nor your own conceit, nor any abominable fanaticism control you or divert you from arriving at the anticipated goal, at the lost right, at the Garden of Eternity. As we have already indicated, those who call themselves "Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama`a" are the ones who believe in the legitimacy of the four "righteous caliphs," namely Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali. This is known to everyone in our time.

But the sad fact is that Ali ibn Abu Talib was not originally counted by "Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama`ah" among the "righteous caliphs;" they did not even recognize the legitimacy of his caliphate; rather, his name was added to the list at a very late time in history: in 230 A.H./844 A.D., during the lifetime of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal.

As for the sahaba who were not Shi`as, as well as the caliphs, kings, and princes who ruled the Muslims from the time of Abu Bakr and till the reign of the Abbaside caliph Muhammad ibn al-Rasheed al-Mu`tasim, they never recognized the caliphate of Ali ibn Abu Talib at all. Moreover, some of them used to curse him and regard him non-Muslim; otherwise, how did they justify cursing him from their pulpits?!

We have already come to know how Abu Bakr and Umar treated him with excluding and expelling him from their government, then Uthman came after them to go to extremes in demonstrating his contempt for him, more than both of his friends, underestimating him to the extent that he once threatened to banish him just as he had banished Abu Dharr al-Ghifari. When Mu`awiyah became the ruler, he went to the extreme limits in cursing him and ordering people to do likewise.

Umayyad rulers, therefore, were consistent in every town and village in doing so for as long a period as eighty years.[^20] Actually, the cursing, charging, and dissociation from him and his Shi`as, went on beyond that. The Abbaside caliph al-Mutawakkil, for example, went as far in his hatred for Ali as desecrating his grave and the grave of his son Imam al-Husayn ibn Ali in the year 240 A.H./854 A.D.