Sayyid Murtadha (may Allah have mercy on him) has mentioned...

Sayyid Murtadha (may Allah have mercy on him) has mentioned in his book al-Muhkam wel-Mutashabih that Imam Ali (AS) said: “When man has the option, he has been forbidden to take an unbeliever as his leader of Imam. Nevertheless, God has obliged man by giving him permission (dissimulation) to fast as the opponents fast, break his fasting like them, and perform prayer as they do out of Taqiyyah. Otherwise, it is incumbent upon him to follow his own beliefs.

God Almighty has said: “Let not the believers take the unbelievers for friends rather than the believers; and whoever does this shall have nothing of (the guardianship of) Allah, but you should guard yourselves against them, guarding carefully; and Allah makes you cautious of Himself.” [^7] Therefore, dissimulation is a blessing that God has given to the believers so as to save themselves and others.

The Messenger of Allah (SAW) has said: “Allah likes His servants to observe what He has permitted and what he has forbidden.” [^8] Ablution (Wudu’) Dawood ar-Raqqi has been reported as saying: “One day, I went to Imam Sadiq (AS) to ask him how to perform ablution correctly. The Imam (AS) said: ‘What God has made obligatory is to wash the face once. The Messenger of Allah (SAW) has added one more to it to mind for the weak people.

Whoever washes his face three times, his prayer will become invalid.’ At this time, Dawood ibn Zurbi arrived and asked the same question. The Imam (AS) said: ‘Three times, three times and whoever does less than that, his prayer is not valid.’ My (Dawood ar-Raqqi) body started shivering. I was being almost tempted by Satan. Seeing a change of color in me, Imam Sadiq (AS) said: O Dawood, calm down!

Which one is of unbelief, this order or the act of beheading?’ When we went out, we found that people had spoken ill of Ibn Zurbi before al-Mansoor ad-Dawaneeqi (the Abbasid caliph), accusing him of being heretic and associating with Imam Sadiq (AS). Ibn Zurbi was in an orchard near the orchard of al-Mansoor. Al-Mansoor said to himself: “I will try him to see how he performs his ablution.

If he does it like Ja'far ibn Mohammad (AS) which I do not approve, it will become evident that what they say about him is true. In that case, I will kill him.” Therefore, he waited for Ibn Zurbi to perform ablution. Ibn Zurbi did as Imam Sadiq (AS) had told him. Al-Mansoor sent someone to call him. Dawood says: ‘When I went to al-Mansoor, he greeted me, saying: ‘O Dawood!