Do Shias believe in Finality of Prophethood? In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful. We have divided this article for the benefit of our esteemed readers in following parts: (I) Introduction. (II) Testimonies of Esteemed Shia scholars regarding Imams having same qualities and Job of Prophets. (III)The similarities between Nabi(prophet) and shia Imams according to Shias beliefs and in the light of Shia sources. (IV) View of Sunni Scholars regarding this deceptive Belief of Shias. (V) Message to Shia brothers and sisters. (I) Introduction The one who closely follows the differences between the Islamic groups certainly knows that the fundamental point that sets the Imami Shia sect apart from all others, is their belief in the need of the existence of Imams possessing ALL qualities and SAME job of Prophet, after the final Prophet (SAWS) until the coming of the hour. The Shia scholar counted the matter of Imamah as being from the foundations of faith like Tawheedoneness of God) and Nubuwwah(Prophet-hood) and Mi`ad(The day of resurrection). They even consider it to be higher than some of those great foundations such as the prophet-hood. With this dangerous turn, the Shia scholars made the Imamah a cross roads between them and other Muslims, putting an obstacle to realizing Islamic unity between the great majority of Muslims and the individuals belonging to the Imami Shia sect. It even made the Shia live in sadness and complete isolation from the rest of the Islamic world, with a huge gap that cannot be filled because of the current nature of their belief in Imamah. We will see clearly that the intellectual bases for this theory, carry in their midst much evil and are a great danger to one of the main foundations of the religion of Islam “The finality of Prophet-hood”. If the Muslims adopt these same intellectual introductions to prove Imamah, then they will demolish the base foundation of the finality of prophet-hood, and the one believing in Imamah must also believe in the continuation of prophet-hood which is the obviously corrupt belief of the heretic Qadiyani sect. In this article, we are going to present testimonies of Esteemed Shia scholars regarding their belief and the belief of Shias, regarding the Non-existing difference between Prophet(Nabi) and Imam, after reading their beliefs we will find that according to Shiism, there is NO DIFFERENCE between the Qualities/Characteristics of Prophet(Nabi) and their Imams, but they just don’t call their Imams as Prophets because the Shariah prohibits them from doing so. But the Shias have failed to understand that, title or Label of Prophet is not the issue, but rather the main issue is the Characteristics/Qualities. Infact, things are categorized based upon their characteristics, “for example, if we ask even an elementary school kid; What is that which we see in the sky, which gives us light and heat and which rises from east and sets in the west; but natural the answer from that kid would be; Sun”. How did the kid come to know about it, obviously from the qualities which we gave, since things are recognized from their qualities/characteristics. Thus, respected readers! Keep in mind that, its the Qualities/Characteristics which Shia attributed to their Imams the issue not their title, because when Allah(swt) said in Quran that Prophet Muhammad(Saw) is the Final Prophet, it didn’t mean that after him there could be people who possess ALL THE QUALITIES OF PROPHETS with some other title except title of Prophet, but what it meant was that, there would be NO person after Prophet Muhammad(Saw), who would possess ALL QUALITIES OF A PROPHET, regardless of their title because as we explained using example, Qualities/Characteristics determine things not their titles. We would like to notify to our esteemed readers, that the first two scholars we quoted are not ordinary Shia scholars rather they are considered to be the pillars of Shiism, specially Shiekh Al Mufeed, the first Shia scholar we quoted. Shia Shiekh Al-Mufid is considered to be a renowned great pillar of the Shiism , Some shia scholars claim that he received seven signatures from the Mahdi of Shias. In some of them he was addressed(by the Mahdi of Shias) as “My brother may Allah grant you success”, “My brother may Allah bless you” and the Shia scholars even wrote that Al-Mahdi of Shias even mourned him after his death. From the students of Al-Mufeed are renowned Shia Ulama like Seyyid Murtadha (Alamul Huda), Syed al-Radhi (the compiler of(Nahjul Balaghah), Sheikh Tusi (who laid the foundation of Hawza of Najaf), al-Najashi and others. The Second scholar “Baqir Majlis” is also one of the most prolific scholars in the history of Shi’ism, He wrote several noteworthy Shia books such as Bihar al-Anwar, Miratul Uqool, Malazul Akhyar, Hayatul Qulub and Ainul Hayat. Thus, it should be clear to our readers that, we are not bringing the testimonies of Shia belief from some local Shia scholars, rather these are the Pillars of Shiism, whose scholarship is acknowledged by all Shias. (II) Testimonies of Esteemed Shia scholars regarding Imams having same qualities and Job of Prophets. Prophets are of two kinds, Tashri`i prophets and Tablighi prophets. A prophet who is classed as being Tashri`i, is the one whom Allah sends with a new Shari`ah or new divine laws to abrogate the divine laws which came before them, as for the Tablighi prophet, his mission is only to revive the past Shari`ah and preserve it from loss or tampering, then to promote it and spread it and guide people towards it. Shia grand Ayatullah Ja`far al-Subhani says in “Mafaheem al-Qur’an” 3/217-218: [The prophet, if he was sent with a new Shari`ah, or came with a new holy book, then his prophet-hood is Tashri`iyyah. On the other hand, if the prophet was sent for Dawah and guidance to the rulings previously established by Allah through past prophets, then his prophet-hood is Tablighiyyah. The first kind are messengers, and is restricted to five individuals mentioned in Quran and Hadith, as for the majority, they are from the second kind, they were sent to promote the religion that was revealed upon the messengers so their prophet-hood is Tablighiyyah.] Interesting questions by Shia Scholars, casting doubts on Islam to misguide their followers: Esteemed Shia Grand Ayatullah Ja`far al-Subhani continues on the same exact page in “Mafaheem al-Qur’an” 3/217-218: [Then a questioner might ask: Lets accept that the Prophet of Islam came with the perfect and most beautiful Shari`ah and everything else which humanity needs in its life and after-life until the day of judgment, and there is nothing left for anyone to add to it because our prophet (SAWS) came with the best laws and most correct opinions in all matters of life. Because of this perfection the door of the Tablighi prophet-hood that Allah bestowed upon previous nations is closed, (but) no matter how perfect the Shari`ah is yet it still needs one who guides towards it, who explains it and who renews it, so that it may not be lost and it may be transmitted from generation to generation in the correct way, so why then did Allah close the door after it was open for previous nations? and why did Allah bestow this blessing upon the previous nations and sent prophets among them to deliver the message and warn yet he deprived the righteous followers of this nation from it?] Esteemed Shia`Allamah Ibrahim al-Ameeni says in “al-Nubuwwah wal-Nabi” pg137-138: [If we say that the need to send prophets from ulil-`Azm is no longer present, because the rulings and laws are completed, and religious knowledge is perfected, but why would there not be a need for Tablighi prophets who promote these laws? just as Allah would send after each prophet of Shari`ah many other prophets, so they can promote the Shari`ah and deliver it to later generations, so why would Allah not send after the prophet of Islam other prophets to deliver the muhammadi message and promote it, while acknowledging that the presence of such prophets is something necessary and beneficial for societies.] Here are answers for the above doubt casting questions of Shia scholars: 1. Esteemed Shia Shiekh Al Mufeed states: - أوائل المقالات – الشيخ المفيد ص 45: 8 – القول في الفرق بين الرسل والأنبياء عليهم السلام واتفقت الإمامية على أن كل رسول فهو نبي وليس كل نبي فهو رسول، وقد كان من أنبياء الله عز وجل حفظة لشرائع الرسل وخلفائهم في المقام، وإنما منع الشرع من تسمية أئمتنا بالنبوة دون أن يكون العقل مانعا من ذلك لحصولهم على المعنى الذي حصل لمن ذكرناه من الأنبياء عليهم السلام. 8- The difference between the Prophets and the Messengers (as): The Imami (Shia) have consensus that every messenger is a prophet but not every prophet is a messenger, from the prophets of Allah are those who preserve/protect the religious laws passed down by the messengers, they are their successors in this matter. The religious law has only prohibited us from claiming prophet-hood for our Imams although the intellect does not prohibit this, because they(Imams) have acquired the qualities that we have mentioned for the prophets peace be upon them. (Awail al-Maqaalat,page 45). 2. Esteemed Shia Allamah Baqir Majlisi states: ولا نعرف جهة لعدم اتصافهم بالنبوة إلا رعاية جلالة خاتم الانبياء ، ولا يصل عقولنا إلى فرق بين بين النبوة والامامة ، وما دلت عليه الاخبار فقد عرفته ، والله تعالى يعلم حقائق أحوالهم صلوات الله عليهم أجمعين To our knowledge there is no reason not to describe the Imams as Prophets except consideration to the status of the Final Prophet. Our intellect too, cannot perceive a distinction between Nabuwwah (prophethood) and Imamah. (Source: Bihar Al-Anwar, Volume 26, p.82) 3. Esteemed Shia scholar Muhsin al-Kharazi says in “Bidayat al-Ma`arif al-Ilahiya” 1/11: كما انه (أي الإمام) يتصف بصفات النبي أيضاً لكونه خليفة له، فان كان النبي معصوماً فهو أيضاً معصوم…. وهكذا فالإمام يقوم مقام النبي في جميع صفاته عدا كونه نبياً [Also the Imam has the qualities of the prophet as well because hes his successor, so if the prophet was infallible then he also is infallible (...) and thus the Imam takes the place of the prophet in all of his qualities except he isnt a prophet.] Comment: So except the title of Prophet, the Shia Imam has all the qualities of Prophets, just like Shiekh Mufeed and Baqir Majlisi said above. 4. Esteemed Shia scholar `Abdul-Hussein Dastgheib says in “al-Imamah min Silsilat Usool al-Deen” 2/6: يجب أن يكون الإمام مشابهاً للرسول – صلى الله عليه وسلم – تماماً [The Imam needs to be like the Messenger peace be upon him exactly.] 5. Esteemed Shia scholar, Muhammad Ridah al-Muzaffar says in “`Aqaed al-Imamiyah”(Beliefs of Imamiyah) pg.104: ونعتقد ان الإمام كالنبي يجب ان يكون معصوماً [And we believe that the Imam is like the Prophet, he needs to be infallible.] 6. Shia scholar al-Muzaffar talks about the jobs of the Imams in his book of ‘Aqaed page 89: هداية البشر وإرشادهم إلى ما فيه الصلاح والسعادة في النشأتين، وله ما للنبي من الولاية العامة على الناس لتدبير شئونهم ومصالحهم، وإقامة العدل بينهم، ورفع الظلم والعدوان من بينهم، وعلى هذا فالإمامة استمرار للنبوة From the jobs of the Imams: “Guiding mankind to what brings them happiness in the two worlds, they have to rule over the nation the same way the Prophets ruled over them so that they can take care of their affairs and interests and to carry out the justice between them and remove oppression and settle the differences of the people, in this sense the Imamah is a continuation of the Prophet-hood.” 7. Shia scholar Saleh al-Wardani says in his book “‘Aqaed al-Sunnah wa ‘Aqaed al-Shia” page 145: يعتبر الشيعة أن الإمامة ضرورة كضرورة الرسل . فكما أن مهمة الرسل هي هداية أقوامهم وإرشادهم إلى الصراط المستقيم كذلك مهمة الإمام بالنسبة لقومه . “Shia consider the Imamah to be as necessary as the messengers, just like the job of the messengers is to guide their people to a straight path the job of the Imam is the same.” 8. Esteemed Shia Ayatullah Kamal al-Haydari says in “`Ilm al-Imam” pg.508: فالنبيّ صلّى الله عليه وآله يقوم بوضع بعض التشريعات بإذن منه تعالى في ضوء ما أدّبه سبحانه، وهكذا الأمر بالنسبة إلى أئمّة أهل البيت عليهم السلام، فإنّهم يشرّعون بعض التشريعات التي لم يشرّعها الله تعالى ولا نبيّه صلّى الله عليه وآله، على أساس ما أدّبهم الله تعالى، بحيث لا يشرّعون شيئاً ولا يقولون إلاّ كان مطابقاً لما أراده الله سبحانه [The Prophet (SAWS) places some religious laws with permission from Allah (swt), according to how Allah disciplined him. This is how it is for the Imams of Ahlul-Bayt as well, they also legislate some Islamic laws that have not been previously legislated by Allah or his messenger (SAWS) according to how Allah disciplined them. This happens in a way, that every law they set and every saying they utter is always in accordance to the will of Allah (swt).] 9. Shia Dr. `Abdul-Hadi al-Husseini says in his book “al-`Ismah” pg.71: [Meaning, that the Imams get revelation otherwise how can we consider this infallibility!? Didnt Allah (swt)almighty say (In Surat An-Najm) when talking about the infallibility of His Prophet (SAWS) that it was by revelation {By the Star when it setteth - Your comrade erreth not, nor is deceived} and this is infallibility, then after it He(swt) explains the reason behind the infallibility and its cause {It is not but a revelation revealed} through Jibril (as) and He(swt) clarifies this in His saying {Taught to him by one intense in strength}] 10. Shia scholar al-Mirza Habibullah al-Hashimi al-Khu’i says in “Minhaj al-Bara`ah fi Sharh Nahj al-Balagha” 12/42-43: [What he pointed to in his saying You hear what I hear and see what I see is that apparently the Imam hears the voice of the angel and observes him like the messenger.] Conclusion:Praise be to Allah! What we have presented in our article, are the testimonies of universally accepted, recognized and esteemed Shia Scholars and from their testimonies it is clear that according to Shiism, there is NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IMAM AND PROPHET, THEY HAVE SAME QUALITIES/CHARACTERISTICS. This proves that the Shia belief of Imamate is a direct attack on Finality of Prophet-hood, and it violates the finality of Prophet-hood. Let us present before our readers a simple example for a better understanding: Example: A person drinks wine in a bottle of Mineral water, saying that I’m drinking mineral water BECAUSE the label on the bottle says so. Now if someone tells him that, brother wine is Haram in Islam, don’t drink it, So he responds that, can’t you see that I’m drinking mineral water, can’t you see the label. He argues saying, “Show me where is it written that drinking mineral water is Haram”, not realizing that its the content which is being questioned not its title. Similar is the case of Shias, because according to Shia belief: Prophet: Have a title of Prophet, and have some characteristics/qualities. Shia Imams: Have a different title, BUT they have the Same characteristics/qualities which Prophets have. So what is the Difference? Nothing. Thus our humble request to unbiased and truth-seeking shia brothers and sisters is that, they need to open their eyes before it’s too late. They need to realize the dangerous beliefs of Shiism. They need to analyze these facts which we provided in this article, in an open minded manner, they should give preference to truth than the beliefs of their ancestors. Then Inshallah they will realize that Shia belief of Imamate is infact denial of the finality of Prophethood, similar to Qadiyanism. Thus, they should reject the heretic beliefs of Shiism and should join the true lovers and followers of “complete” Ahlelbayt- Ahlesunnah wal Jama’ah. May Allah guide all the Shias to the straight path. Iranian Shia researcher Admits this fact, as He understood from the testimonies of Shia Scholars, what we tried to explain: Dr. Abdol Karim Soroush, an Iranian scholar, was a government official directly appointed by Khomeini. Click this link to see his biography. This Iranian thinker and scholar, acknowledges that the Shias are the Deniers of the finality of Prophethood.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 23:54:39 +0000
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