The Devil's Deception

We are seeing the rise of the propagators of Dhalalah (misguidance) and Bid'ah (innovation) in the United States and particularly upon the Internet. One of the most dangerous groups among these astray people is the Shee'ah. As many Muslims tend to think that the Shee'ah are merely another legitimate sect of Islam, whose 'Aqeedah does not differ from those who adhere to the Sunnah, I have decided to include the following information on this deviant group.

The following information is taken from the classic book, Talbees Iblees, by the famous student of Shaikhul Islam Ibn Taymeeyah, Shaikhul Islam Ath-Thaanee Ibn Al-Jawzeeyah. Specifically, it has been taken from the book, The Devil's Deception, edited and translated by Shaikh Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips; thus, the main body of the text is what is translated from Ibn Al-Jawzeeyah while the footnotes are from Shaikh Philips.

"Then We will certainly drag out from every sect (Shee'ah) those who were most obstinate in their rebellion against (Allah) Most Gracious." (Surah Maryam 19:69)

"As for those who divide their religion and break up into sects (Shiya') you have no part in them in the least. Their affairs are with Allah: He will tell them the truth of what they did in the end." (Surah Al-An'am 6:159)

The term was first used to describe both 'Ali's followers (Shee'ah 'Ali) as well as those of Mu'aawiyah (Shee'ah Mu'aawiyah). However, after 'Ali's death and Mu'aawiyah's nomination, 'Ali's followers retained the name exclusively and Mu'aawiyah, his descendants, and followers were known as the Umayyads, because he was from the Umayyad clan. After the murder of Caliph 'Ali ibn Abi Taalib in January, 661 CE and his secret burial at Najaf, his son Al-Hasan was declared Caliph by the people of Iraq.

Al-Hasan, however, abdicated in favor of Mu'aawiyah for a guaranteed subsidy and pension which he himself fixed and retired to Madeenah. When he died at the age of forty-five (669CE), his brother Al-Husayn became the focal point of 'Ali's followers during the rest of Mu'aawiyah's reign. On Mu'aawiyah's death (650CE), Al-Husayn refused to acknowledge the Caliph's son and successor, Yazeed, and decided to respond to the urgent and reiterated appeals of the Iraqis to rebel. However, before doing anything, he resolved to test how matters stood by using his cousin, Muslim ibn 'Aqeel.

When Muslim arrived, the Shee'ahs rushed to sear fidelity to Al-Husayn, so Muslim wrote to his cousin in Makkah to come and take charge of the movement. Against the advice of his other relatives in Madeenah, Al-Husayn, with his immediate family, set out for Kufah from Makkah were he had sought refuge after refusing to swear fealty to Yazeed.

Meanwhile, 'Ubaidullah ibn Ziyaad, appointed governor of Iraq, entered Kufah with little resistance from the Kufans and executed Muslim. Not far from Kufah, Al-Husayn learned of his cousin's fate but continued toward Kufah until he and his band which had dwindled to about two hundred souls were surrounded by 4,000 troops under the command of 'Umar, the son of Sa'd ibn Abee Waqqaas, the famous Sahaabee and general. At Karbalaa, about twenty-five miles northwest of Kufah, upon their refusal to surrender they were massacred. The Prophet's (SAWS) grandson fell dead on the 10th of Muharram (October 10, 680CE), and his head was severed and sent to Caliph Yazeed in Damascus.

The Caliph deplored this horrible ending which he had neither desired nor ordered. His instructions had been to secure the person of Al-Husayn, to prevent him from prolonging a dangerous agitation. He gave the head back to Al-Husayn's sister, Faatimah and son, 'Ali, Zain Al-'Aabideen, who buried it with the body in Karbalaa. Yazeed treated the 'Alids who survived with honor, providing generously for their needs and gave them an escort back to Madeenah. (Encyclopedia of Islam, p.142, Taareekh, vol.6, pp.262-6).

However, the blood of Al-Husayn, even more than his father, proved to be the seed of the Shee'ah sect. The passion factor of martyrdom took on major proportions among the so-called followers of 'Ali. Their anguish at Al-Husayn's betrayal led them even to claim that Al-Hasan was poisoned on Mu'aawiyah's orders, and vengence for Al-Husayn became their battle-cry. (History of the Arabs, p.190).

A group of the Shee'ah under Sulaymaan ibn Surad armed themselves vowing to fight to death against the Umayyads by doing penance at Al-Husayn's grave four years after the battle of Karbalaa. They hoped to atone for the guilt which they had brought upon themselves for having not fought for or died with the dead Al-Husayn.

In Commemoration of Al-Husayn's martrydom, the Shee'ah have established the practice of annually observing the first ten days of Muharram as days of lamenatation, and have developed a passion play called Ta'ziyah about his struggle and suffering. This annual passion play is enacted in Iraq in two parts, one called 'Aashoora (the tenth day) in Al-Kaathimayn (close to Baghdad) in memory of the battle and the other forty days after the tenth in Karbalaa entitled "Return of the Head."

In popular language, Ta'ziyah refers to a copy of Al-Husayn's tomb at Karbalaa often elaborately carved and exhibited in the ceremonies of mourning for Al-Husayn. The plays in Iraq and elsewhere include street processions such as a cavalcade with Al-Husayn's house, the marriage procession of Al-Hasan's son, Al-Qaasim, and Al-Husayn's daughter, Faatimah, by his Persian wife, Shahrabaanoo (daughter of Yezdegird III), the procession to the cemetery with the coffin, and self-flagellation by both participants and spectators. (Encyclopedia of Islam, pp.590-1).

From the death of Al-Husayn onwards, the Imaamate of 'Ali's progeny became as much of a dogma in the Shiite creed as that of the Prophethood of Muhammad (SAWS) in Islam. The Imam became the sole legitimate head of the Muslim community divinely designated for the supreme office; a spiritual and religious leader as well as a secular one, endowed with a mysterious power transmitted to him from his predecessor. As such he stands far superior to any other human being and enjoyed infallibility ('Ismah). The Imaamate, thus, became and has since continued to be the main differentiating element between Sunnites (orthodox) and Shiites.

The Shee'ah took its final shape under the 'Abbaasids but they fared no better under this regime than under the Umayyad, in spite of the fact that they had been an important factor in establishing the former at the expense of the latter. During the reign of Abu Ja'far Al-Mansoor (754-75) the revolt of the disgruntled Shee'ah, headed by Ibrahim and Muhammad An-Nafs Az-Zakeeyah, great grandsons of Al-Hasan, was ruthlessly crushed. Muhammad was killed and gibbeted (December 6, 762CE) in Madeenah; Ibrahim was decapitated (Febuary 14, 763CE) near the unruly Kufah and his head dispatched to the Caliph. (Taareekh, Tabaree, vol.iii,pp. 254-65, 315-16).

Things improved under Al-Ma'moon (813-833), who even went so far as to don their color, green, and proclaim as their apparent Ali Ar-Ridaa, one of their Imaams. Yet this was of no permanent avail for soon came Al-Mutawakkil (847-861) who in 850CE resumed the early practice of persecuting the Shee'ah; he destroyed the tombs of 'Ali at Najaf, and the more venerated one of Al-Husayn at Karbalaa, (Murooj, Al-Mas'oodee, vol. vii, pp.302-3); thereby earning the everlasting hatred of all Shiites. This general hostility led to the Shiites to adopt the principle of dissimulation (Taqeeyah - literally "caution or fear"), i.e. dispensation from the requirement of religion under compulsion or threat of injury. The legitimacy of Taqeeyah as an ethical principle had already been recognized by some Khaarijites (Al-Milal wan-Nihal, Shahrastaanee; Beirut: 1975, pp.92-3), but the Shiites made it a fundamental tenet.

In Persia, the Twelver Shee'ah was established in 1502CE by the Safawids, who claimed descent from the seventh Imaam, Musa Al-Kaathim (History of the Arabs, p.441). On his ascension, the founder of the Safawid state, Shaah Ismaa'eel, declared Shiism the state religion of Persia. He gave formal orders to the Imaams of Adharbaijaan to preach the sermon (Khutbah) in the name of the twelve Imams, and then to the Mu'adhins to add the Shee'ah formula: I testify that 'Ali is the Walee (friend) of Allah. The troops were also ordered to put to death any objectors. (Encyclopedia of Islam, p.188). (End Footnote #1)

Just as Iblees succeeded in deceiving the Khaarijites into fighting 'Ali ibn Abi Taalib, he also succeeded in making others go to extreme in their love for 'Ali. Among the extremists were some who claimed that 'Ali was God, while others claimed that he was better than the Prophets. Some of the extremists considered it a religious duty to curse Abu Bakr and 'Umar, while others declared that Abu Bakr and 'Umar were Kuffaar. There were so many other ridiculous and absurd sects which arose from among those who went to extremes in their love for 'Ali that much time would be exhausted in trying to mention all of them. Consequently, I will only refer to a few of them.

'Abdul Waahid ibn Burhaan Al-Asadee reported that Ishaaq ibn Muhammad An-Nakha'ee Al-Ahmar used to say that 'Ali was Allah. Also, he said that in Madaa'in there was a group of extremists (Ghulaah) known as Ishaaqites, who linked themselves to him. (Footnote #2: Al-Milal Wan-Nihal, page 188-9)

In a book by Abu Muhammad Al-Hasan ibn Yahyaa An-Nawbakhtee (Footnote #3). A major Shiite theologian and his book was: Firaq Ash-Shee'ah written in refutation of their extremist views, Al-Khateeb reported that after the author mentioned their various claims, he wrote: Among those who became purely insane in extremism in our times was Ishaaq ibn Muhammad known as Al-Ahmar. He used to claim that 'Ali was Allah, Most Great and Glorious, and that he appears all the time.

(Footnote #4) The first record of deification of 'Ali came from the enigmatic 'Abdullah ibn Saba, a Yamanite Jew, who coverted to Islam during the Caliphate of 'Uthmaan and entrenched himself among the followers of 'Ali ibn Abi Taalib. Ibn Saba played a significant role in the uprising which started in Kufah amongts 'Ali's supporters and flared up in Egypt.

From this rebellion rebels were sent to Madeenah in April 656CE. They surrounded Caliph 'Uthmaan's house and stormed it killing the Caliph. 'Ali and Talhah, Az-Zubayr and 'Aaishah to avoid any bloodshed were being concluded in December 656CE, Ibn Saba and his cohorts instigated a clash between their forces by simultaneously attacking both sides at night which led to the Battle of the Camel outside Basrah, in which the great companions of the Prophet (SAW), Talhah and Az-Zubayr, were killed along with many Muslims.

Also, it was'Abdullah ibn Saba and his band who first attributed divinity to 'Ali ibn Abi Taalib. 'Ali had most of them executed by burning them alive; however, Ibn Saba escaped adn was banished from Iraq, where Caliph 'Ali and his followers were based. (Al-Ash'aree, Maqaalaat Al-Islaameeyeen, vol. 1, pp.50-1, 58-9).

One time (according to Shee’ah) Allah appeared as Al-Hasan and at another time as Al-Husayn, and it was he in the form of Gabriel, who delegated Muhammad (SAW).

A group of Shee'ah believed that Abu Bakr and 'Umar were disbelievers, and some claimed that they apostated after the Prophet's (SAW) death. Others insisted on a declaration of one's innocence from all the Caliphs except 'Ali from whoever diagreed with 'Ali's right to be Imaam. When Zayd refused, they rejected him, and became known as the Rejectors (Raafidah).

(Footnote #5) Zayd ibn 'Ali was the first to try to wrest the Caliphate from the Umayyads by armed rebellion after the catastrophe at Karbalaa, when he placed himself at the disposal of the Kufans as their Imaam. After spending a year making secret preparations, he came forward openly, but was killed in street-fighting in the year 740CE. After Imaam Zayd's death, the Zaydeeyah took part in several 'Alid uprisings but were not a divided body. They only became a united community when 'Alid, claimants to the Imaamate themselves, took over the spiritual leadership. This was the work of essentially two men:

1. Al-Hasan ibn Zayd, founder of a Zaydee state in the south of the Caspian Sea around the year 864, and

2. Al-Qaasim Ar-Rassee ibn Ibrahim Tabaatabaa (d.860).

On the Caspian Sea about twenty Imaams appeared from Al-Hasan ibn Zayd's group at irregular intervals down to about 1126CE after which the Zaydees became merged in the little sect of Nuktawees. The founder of the Zaydees state in Yaman was Yahyaa ibn Al-Husayn, grandson of Al-Qaasim Ar-Rassee. It has survived all the kingdoms of Yaman and remains the major Madh-hab of the people of Yaman.

The sect is Mu'tazilee in theology and rejects mysticism. In worship it has certain sectarian features in common with other Shee'ah: the addition of Hayya ilaa Khair Al-'Aa'maal (Come to the best of works) to the Adhaan, the prohibition of meat killed by non-Muslims. In family law, they prohibit marriage with Christians and Jews. However, they do not allow Mut'ah (temporary marriage) alike other Shee'ah sects. In fact their Fiqh is very similar to the Sunni Hanafee school of law. They also recognize the three righteous Caliphs before 'Ali and do not consider the majority of the Sahaabah apostates. (Abu Zahrah, Taareekh Al-Mathaahib, vol.2, pp.479-516; Encyclopedia of Islam, pp.631-2)

Among them were those who conferred the Imaamate on Musa ibn Ja'far, then his son 'Ali, then Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Muhammad, then to Al-Hasan ibn Muhammad Al-'Askaree, and finally to his son, Muhammad the twelth Imaam; the awaited Imaam, whom they claim did not die, but will return in the last days to fill the earth with justice.