ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Then I was Guided Skepticism and Questioning I stayed in my friend's house for three days, during which I had a rest and thought carefully about what I had heard from these people whom I had encountered and who appeared to me as if they were living on the moon. Why had people always told us nasty things about them, and why should I hate them and despise them without knowing them?

Perhaps all this had come from the rumors we hear about them that they worship ‘Ali, and that they view their Imams as gods and believe in reincarnation, and worship stones rather than Allah, and they - as my father had told me after he came back from pilgrimage - came to the Prophet's grave to throw dirt on it, and were caught by the Saudis who sentenced them to death etc. After hearing all that, it is not surprising that other Muslims hate and despise, even fight the Shi’a.

But how could I believe these rumors after all I had seen with my eyes and heard with my ears. I spent over a week amongst these people and I did not see or hear from them anything that is not compatible with logic. In fact I liked the way they worshipped, I liked their prayers, their manners, and the respect they gave to their learned people, and wished that I could be one of them.

I kept asking myself, "Is it true they hate the Messenger of Allah, and every time I mentioned his name, and often I did that just to test them, they shouted from the heart "May Allah bless Muhammad and his household"? At the beginning I thought they were hypocrites, but later I changed my mind, especially after I read some of their books in which I found a great deal of respect and veneration for the Messenger which I have never found in our books.

For example, they believe in the absolute infallibility of the (saw), before and after his mission. Whereas we, the Sunnis, believe in his infallibility in delivering the Qur'an only, and apart from that he was just another human being, subject to committing mistakes. We have many examples to show that the Prophet was wrong and that he was corrected by his . The Shi’a refuse to accept the fallibility of the Prophet while others were correct.

So after that, how could I believe that they hate the Messenger of Allah? How could I?