ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Torch of Perpetual Guidance, an Exposé on Ziyarat Ashura of al-Imam al-Husayn b.

Ali Section Six وَلَعَنَ اللّهُ أُمَّةً دَفَعَتْكُمْ عَنْ مَقامِكُمْ وَأَزالَتْكُمْ عَنْ مَراتِبِكُمُ الَّتِي رَتَّبَكُمُ اللّهُ فِيها “May Allah curse those people who denied you your position (O’ Ahlul Bayt) and removed you from your rank which Allah himself had granted you.” The Shi’a have a firm belief in the Imamate of the chosen members of the family of the Prophet as they form the completion of the faith of Islam and ‘perfect’ the message of the Prophet by protecting it until the end of time.

In the opinion of the Shi’a, the role of the Imam is two: 1. Islamic Religious Leadership All Muslims agree that in the 23 year span of the Prophet of Islam, even though the entire Qur’an was revealed, however not all of the Islamic laws were implemented and explained to the community in detail. It is for this reason that some Muslims believe that if there is no ruling in the Qur’an or Sunnah that they can apply Qiyas (analogy) to the laws – in essence, making up their own rulings.

However the Shi’a believe that since there are 12 Imams after the Prophet, that they had the responsibility to explain and elucidate upon the rulings of the Prophet and to further develop these – based on their infallibility and Divinely granted knowledge. Thus, there is no room in the Shi’a teachings for making up rulings based on one’s own ‘opinion’. 2.

Political Leadership of the Ummah The majority of Muslims believe that after the Prophet, we are free to choose our own political leadership and even if an unjust and tyrannical ruler is placed as the head by the “majority”, then he must be followed without question! However, the Shi’a believe that Allah would never leave the community without a political leader and thus, the Prophet definitely appointed and made known his successors.

In our present day and age, it is interesting that when Yasir Arafat was on his death bed, his followers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were talking about his successor to carry the cause of the Palestinians forward!

Just imagine, these people have the foresight to ensure a successor is groomed and appointed for the role of guiding a few million people from Palestine, however our Prophet would leave this world without doing the same for the entire Muslim nation of close to 2,000,000,000,000 people!

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