THE CONCEPT OF IMAMAT

IN QURAN

A Knowledgeable
Dialogue
SHIA ARTICLES OF BELIEF & PILLARS OF ISLAM

• The Shia’s five articles of belief which are the fundamentals of religion are:

Tawheed (Oneness of God)

Nabuwwat (Prophet hood)
Ma'ad (Day of Judgment)
Adl (Justice of God) and
Imamat.

• Their five pillars of Islam are:

Prayer
Zakat
Fasting
Hajj (the Pilgrimage) and
Imamat.

• And according to them, Imamat is the most important one.

THE CONCEPT OF IMAMAT

The Concept of Imamat says:

• Apart from Prophets, there are another group of God appointed people
called Imams.

• These are the people who are infallible and have access to a knowledge
that is not accessible by ordinary people.

• The world cannot be empty of an Imam otherwise it will be destroyed.

• In the Islamic context, these individuals are those among the descendants
of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who are appointed by no one but God to
lead Muslims. Any one who chooses any leader other than them is
misguided and not a complete believer.
THE VIRTUE OF THE GLORIOUS QURAN

• Quran is the Book of Guidance as stated by Allah in Quranic Verses 7:52,

12:111, 10:57, 16:89, 6:88, 41:44 and others.

• Everything (that would be necessary for guidance) has been explained in

detail in Quran as stated in 11:1, 41:3, 17:52, 20:113, 6:114, 10:37 and
others.

• Quran is not only for a certain group of people to study and take guidance,
but it is for An-Naas, the people/mankind, as stated in the verses
18:54, 17:89, 14:52 and others.

• It is called as Furqan i.e. the Criteria to judge between right and

wrong or good and bad, in the verses 2:185, 3:4 and 25:1.

• There is no book, that is better than the Quran, in guidance, not even
Toraat and Injeel, as stated in the verse 28:49 of Quran.
THE NEED FOR THIS DISCUSSION

• The topic under discussion is not a minor issue, it is very important. It's
importance is to the extent that Shia brothers and sisters hold that
because of not believing in this concept (i.e. the imamat), almost 89% of
the Muslims are misguided and in fact not true believers.

• In the previous slides we have seen the importance of the Concept of

Imamat in Shia belief and we have also seen the main virtue of the Holy
Quran as a guide and that, it explains everything in detail, what is
necessary for guidance.

• The question naturally arises, that;

Where is the Concept of Imamat in Quran?

• Keeping in mind the utmost importance of the Concept of Imamat in Shia
belief and the main virtue of the Holy Quran, it would surely not be unfair
to demand the verses with no additions to the translation, no Hadeeth to
support a certain interpretation of the verse and no personal
commentaries.

• The possible answers that we may get from our Shia brothers and sisters
are;
POSSIBLE ANSWERS

• There are also no verses in Quran to tell us how to pray. We learn some
of our duties from Hadeeth also.

• There are certain verses but we need to look at Hadeeth to understand

their true meaning because we are advised to understand Quran from
the Prophet and his teachings.

• Long and complicated analysis of certain verses of Quran to prove that

even without the help of Hadeeth, they are proving Imamat.

• There is no mention of our Prophet in Bible but still Christians need to

believe in the Prophet.

• The verses of Quran are usually general and it is not the style of
Quran to name people (i.e. Imams).

• Quran says "follow the Prophet". There are Hadeeth from the Prophet
that prove the concept of Imamat and this should be enough for a
Muslim if he wants to follow the Prophet.
7. There are not explicit verses because if they were, Quran was in danger
of fabrication.

8. Where in Quran it is said that Muslims should choose a khalifah by

themselves?

9. Show us the names of the prophets between so-and-so in Quran if you

think that every thing should be in Quran.

10. It is a test that's why it is not mentioned in Quran.

11. Sunnis believe in Imam Mahdi while he is not mentioned in Quran.

11. Imamat is not the fundamental belief of Shia, the appointment of Ali is
the fundamental of belief.

13. Arguments that use few verses of Quran out of the context.

14. There were and still are, so many Shia scholars and aalims, highly
educated and intelligent, and have written a number of books on this
belief. How come all were wrong?

15. Quran is changed by Sahabah and certain verses were removed from it.
REPLY 1

1. There are also no verses in Quran to tell us how to pray. We learn

some of our duties from Hadeeth also.

• Prayer has been referred to EXPLICITLY and STRONGLY more than eighty
(80) times in Quran. In each of these verses one of the aspects of prayer
is covered. Apart from telling about the importance of prayer, many of
these verses also talk about the details of prayer, like the times of prayers
(20:130, 30:17-18, 17:78-79, 11:114), prayer in travel (4:101, 73:20,
4:43), prayer in war/fear (4:101, 73:20, 4:43), prayer in sickness (73:20,
4:43), praying in mosques (9:18, 9:108, 72:18, 7:204), the Juma prayer
(62:9), the importance of Asr prayer over others (2:238) etc.

• Moreover some talk even about the pre-requisites of the prayer like how to
perform ablution (5:6), tayammum (4:43, 5:6), ghusl (5:6, 4:43), about
performing azaan (5:58) etc.
• Certainly with such vast and strong references from Quran, Muslims will
refer to the Prophet to know more details. In comparison, the total number
of the verses that Shia refers to, for Imamat is no more than 5 or 6 and
yet none of them can be interpreted by a non-biased mind in the way that
Shia brothers and sisters interpret! In fact none of them are explicit and
strong enough to prove Imamat concept!

• And this is while Prayer is not at all comparable with Imamat!

• Imamat is the fundamental of belief. Shia calls it one of the Asool-

e-Deen (Fundamental of religion). Prayer however according to
Shia is one of the Furu-e-Deen (Subsidiary)!

• Imamat is important enough to convince Shia to separate themselves from

the mainstream Islam. If the only difference between Shia and the
Mainstream Islam was the difference in performing the prayer, they would
never had become a sect out of the mainstream Islam.
REPLY 2

1. There are certain verses but we need to look at Hadeeth to

understand their true meaning because we are advised to learn
Quran from the Prophet and is his teachings.

• Why only when it comes to Imamat, we need Hadeeth to help us? We

don't need a Hadeeth to understand from Quran that offering prayer,
performing Hajj, fasting, Jihad etc. are obligatory upon Muslims (even they
are less important than imamat, as they say). We don't need Hadeeth to
understand from Quran that a Muslim needs to believe in Oneness of God
and his Prophets and the Hereafter. We don't need Hadeeth to understand
from Quran that God has angels, there were Prophets in the history of
mankind and some of them had books, and that the destiny of man is in
the hands of God. All of a sudden when it comes to Imamat, Hadeeth
becomes a vital tool to understand Quran.
• Quran how ever does not need a tool to be understandable. It is written in
Quran that this book has been made easy to get guidance from
(54:17’22’32’40, 18:54, 17:89, 20:113, 12:111).

• It is true that the Prophet explains certain verses of Quran but explaining
is different from interpreting. Explaining means giving the details.
Interpreting means giving the meaning. Quran needs no tool to be
meaningful otherwise it wasn't the book of guidance!

• Also there are many contradictory Hadeeth in explaining verses of Quran

and at the end of the day it is impossible to verify exactly which ones are
authentic. How could God expect people of our time to use Hadeeth to
understand the MEANING of Quran? If this would be the case, than God
would not have said in Quran that Truth and False are separated and clear
evidences have been shown.
REPLY 3
• Long and complicated analysis of certain verses of Quran to
prove that even without the help of Hadeeth, they are proving
Imamat.

• Same argument goes here. Quran is not a book of riddles and puzzles.
Allah does not expect an ordinary Muslim to have a search in Quran and
have a professional analysis of the verses of Quran to understand what
should be his belief and what are his duties as a Muslim! Allah has laid
down the beliefs and duties of a Muslim clearly, explicitly and in detail.

• Of course it is very beneficial to analyse the verses of Quran to understand

more from it. Quran is like an ocean. However to say that our fundamental
belief can only derived from Quran after such an analysis, is in
contradiction with the virtue of Quran as a book of guidance!

• And after going through such long and complicated analysis of the verses
to extract a new concept, simply shows that Quran is not clear about that
concept. Otherwise such sophisticated analysis would not be required! And
after giving a closer look at them, one can easily say that it is not be
possible to know about the concept of imamat with the help of those
verses, if someone does not already know that concept!
REPLY 4

• There is no mention of the name of our Prophet in Bible but still

Christians need to believe in the Prophet.

• First of all, this argument is not correct at the first place, because
Prophet Muhummed (PBUH) is mentioned by name in the Song of
Solomon 5:16. The Hebrew word used there is Muhammuddim. The
end letters IM is plural of respect, majesty and grand. Minus "im" the
name would be Muhammud translated as "altogether lovely" in the
Authorised Version of the Bible or 'The Praised One' i.e. 'the one
worthy of Praise' i.e. MUHAMMUD (PBUH).

• But even if Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was not mentioned anywhere in

the Bible, the most important thing is that Christians are not expected to
accept Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) only based on their Bible. Christians
along with other human beings are given a brand new guidance that is
Quran. So they can read it and judge by themselves whether it can be a
Word of someone other than God?
• Another misunderstanding here is that the name of a particular Imam is
not asked at all. The Concept of Imamat is asked. The concept of prophet-
hood is well established in Bible (both Old [Deutronomy 18:15-190] and
New [John 14:16 & 16:13] testaments). It is only after the establishment
of this concept in the Christian holy book, that they are expected to
believe in ANOTHER prophet that is Muhammad (PBUH). The CONCEPT of
Imam (in the way that Shias put it) however has not even referred to (in a
convincing way) in Quran, like prophethood in Bible, so how come we are
expected to believe in it. Therefore from this respect, the comparison
made is totally illogical.

• Moreover, there are many beliefs that Christians have today, but they are
not in their Bible. We however as Muslims have to disregard any belief that
is not supported by Quran.
REPLY 5

• The verses of Quran are usually general and it is not the style of
Quran to name people (i.e. Imams).

• Same thing. The fact is that name is not asked at all. Only some general
verses that may give us that concept. Or even a single verse, something
as simple as: "Oh Muslims, be aware that there will be certain Imams
for you after the Prophet, from his generation, who will be appointed by
Allah and you need to follow them". It is as if (God Forbidden) God was
worried about talking about Imamat explicitly.

• And moreover, we have the name of Hazrat Zaid (RA) in Quran (Verse
33:37) who was a Sahabi and his name is there to refer to a very minor
issue (i.e. marrying the wives of adopted sons). Even it is not unfair to
ask for a single verse with the name of Ali in it if (according to Shia) he
had such an important role, as the head of the Imams.
REPLY 6

1. Quran says "follow the Prophet". There are Hadeeth from the
Prophet that prove the concept of Imamat and this should be
enough for a Muslim if he wants to follow the Prophet.

• Again why is that only for this article of faith we need to consult
Hadeeth? Let's test something. If we take Quran and open it by chance.
Anyone can guarantee that no matter where it is opened, few verses
before or after are about one of the Oneness of God, Prophet hood, Day
of Judgement, Destiny of Human Being, or Duties of Muslims. Now how
far you need to go in order to find a verse that (also with the help of
certain Hadeeth) could be interpreted as Imamat in the Shia belief?

• How come for our other fundamental believes Quran is quite direct, but
when it comes to Imamat, we need to refer to Hadeeth? This is an
inconsistency and Allah is far greater than having inconsistency in his
perfect book.

• Hadeeth is not the second volume of Quran. Authentic Hadeeth is the

explanation of Quran, not a second volume to see what is our religion?
• This is even more complicated when we realize that for every Hadeeth that
Shia use to prove Imamat, there are other Hadeeth by other Muslims that
are in contradiction with it. In fact even Hadeeth (as a whole) are not
structured in a way that could prove Imamat, without any contradictions!

• And lastly, such a justification is in fact the main reason for having
different sects in Islam. Zaidis too have their own Hadeeth, same for
Ismailis and same for Bahayees. All have the same problem. They try to
understand their religion from the sources other than Quran. Please note
that we are not denying the importance of Hadeeth (we are not Quranist).
However believing that certain parts of our fundamental belief has to be
derived from Hadeeth rather than Quran is far different from using
Hadeeth as a source to Prophet's Sunnah!

• There is no use of discussing the ahaadeeth of the prophet when it comes

to prove the validity of the fundamental issues. To all Muslims except
those who have made sects, the fundamentals of belief need to be derived
from Quran. If the beliefs are not, then either they are wrong or they are
not fundamental; And thus no acceptable reasons for forming a specific
sect to be separated from the rest of the Muslims.
REPLY 7

1. There are not explicit verses because if there were, Quran was in
danger of fabrication.

• This is actually guessing God's intentions. Which is not a suitable thing for
us humans.

• And from where one could come to this conclusion? Is there any verse in
Quran that says Allah has not revealed certain things because if He does,
you will change Quran? In fact the verses of Quran are supportive to the
opinion that nothing has been left out for us from Quran and that God
keeps Quran safe and that the Prophet should not be worried about
delivering the verses. This is in fact attributing Taqiyah to God himself
(God forbid).

• Moreover, Shia’s own source is in opposition to this argument.

“…..He (Allah) has not concealed anything of His religion from you, nor
has He left out anything which He likes or which He dislikes, but He made
for it (the Quran) a clear emblem (of guidance)…. “
(Nahj-ul-balagha SERMON 183)
REPLY 8

• Where in Quran it is said that Muslims should choose a khalifah

by themselves?

• This question only shows the misunderstanding of some brothers and

sisters about the belief of the mainstream Muslims. Believing in
Khulafaaye Raashedin is not a fundamental element of Islam.
According to the main stream Muslims, there are only 6 Articles of Faith
and 5 pillars of Islam and believing in khilaafath of Abubakr is not part
of either of them!

• Any group of people tend to elect some one as their leader, the rational
and most reasonable way to do so is by election. This is a routine
social/political practice. Certainly no system of public election was
established at that time and the election of Abubakr was done through
negotiation of present people. It's just a routine social practice that was
and is and will be done in any society and no logical mind would expect
a divine evidence for that.
• Having said that, once the Sahaba of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) agree on
a Sahabi like Abu Bakr to become the Khalifah, then it was the duty of all
Muslims to obey him for the sake of Islam and unity. The proof is in the
words of Hazrat Ali.

• Nahjolbalaqah, letter No. 6 of Hazrat Ali to Mo'aviah (note that in some

versions of Nahjul balagha, this letter is few numbers before or after):

"People who did Bayat to Abubakr and Omar, did bayat with me in
the same way. So the one who is present cannot select any one
else for Khalifah and the one who is absent cannot disobey people
in their selection. Shurah belongs to Mohajer and Ansar, so if they
gather around a person and appoint him as their Imam this is to
the satisfaction of Allah. If any one disapprove them on this or
innovate something about it he should be taken back to the people
who he has left (by accepting the appointed Khalifah), and if he
refused to do so people has to fight with him, as he is going to a
path other than of Muslims."

(Note that in the Shia websites like al-islam.org, certain words have been
inserted in the translation -like the word "suppose" - without putting them
in the brackets, in an attempt to change the meaning of the text.)
• We also find in Najhul Balagha that Imam Ali did not wish to lift the
responsibility of leading the Ummah:

" I praise God for what He has ordained ...By Allah, I had no liking
for the caliphate nor any interest in government, but you
yourselves invited me to it and prepared me for it.“
[Najhul Balagha ,sermon 204]

• Why would Hazrat Ali dislike a position Allah appointed him to?

• Why is he ignoring the fact that Imamah was his duty, not a choice, but
instead he is saying that the People forced him into this?
• Moreover, as Shia try to quote many indirect references from Quran to
prove imamat (as there are no direct verses about it), similarly, a Quranic
verse can also be quoted here, regarding no need of divine indulgance in
the matter of choosing a khalifa;

Quran 42:38
"They (believers) respond to their Lord by observing the Prayers (Salat).
Their matters are decided after due CONSULTATION among
themselves, and from our provisions to them they give (Zakat).“

• Surely the question of leadership is one of the affairs of Muslims.

• But still the question of Khilafat is incomparable with Imamat, as one has
no part in either the articles of faith or in the pillars of Islam, while the
other is held as a part of both and even the most important one.

• So let us not compare apple with orange. Imamat doctrine is a

fundamental belief of Shia, while the election or selection of Khalifa is just
a routine and common socio-political practice.
• On the other hand, let's look at the present situation is Iran. Is there any
divine command about how to establish a leadership in the occultation of
Mahdi?

• Let's remember that there were no religious system of governing after the
occultation of Mahdi for about 1000 years. Those who know about Shia
and Iran, appreciate that the Welayate Faqih of Khomeini was only a
theory that he derived from some ahaadeeth. Not all Shia scholars agree
with that (like Khoiee and his followers). Among the classic Shia scholars
only few had referred to this theory and most like Sheikh Ansari had the
opinion that it is difficult to derive such a theory from ahaadeeth (refer to
Makaseb of Sheikh Ansari). Also among those recent scholars who accept
the theory there are disagreements about the extend of the theory and
that how it could be put in practice (Like Montazeri, late Shirazi, etc.).

• So again, Shia too ended up with the same situation as the mainstream
Muslims, that is to elect a leader by themselves in the absence of any
direct divine command! Then what is this argument all about?
REPLY 9

1. Show us the names of the prophets between so-and-so in Quran

if you think that every thing should be in Quran.

• The Shia brothers and sisters who ask this question do not realize what is
the main issue. The issue is not about NAMES. It is about the CONCEPT.

• The concept of prophethood has been addressed in Quran in many verses

and there are also the verses that tell Muslims that they need to believe in
all the prophets (2:136, 2:285, 4:136, 2:177). Allah has given us the
story of the many prophets and have left the story of others. There is no
need to know the NAME of the (as some say) 124,000 prophets in order to
obey Allah!

• The question is about the concept of Imamat not about the names of
Imams. Quran has established the concept of prophethood and its function
for us through many verses (2:213 and others). There is however not a
single verse in Quran that explicitly tells us that there is another position
called Imamat which refers to infallible God appointed individuals who are
not prophets and that their existence are necessary and there will be
Imams after the prophet!
REPLY 10

1. It is a test that's why it is not mentioned in Quran.

• This claim puts the function of Quran as a guide under a serious doubt.
By this claim there is no use to read Quran to get any guidance because
who knows may be there is a fundamental part of our belief that is not
mentioned in Quran because God wants to test us!

• And by the same token Bahayees claim that Quran talks about their
prophet Baha'Ollah. When we ask them but where in Quran? They will
show some verses that have nothing to do with their claim. And when we
say, but these verses are not clear about your claim; They say, Oh
because God is testing you. Nice!

• And This is again playing with divinity. Who are we to decide for God
that what is a test and what is not?

• Moreover, the prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH) was also a test but

there are many verses in Quran that directly tells people that
Muhammad (PBUH) is a prophet. Than why such argument about
Imamat?
• A test is different from a puzzle. God says in Quran that he makes things
clear for people. Even a teacher first makes it clear for his students that
what is the material of exam and then designs a test based on that
material. We need to read Quran to see what are the materials that God is
going to ask us about on the Day of Judgement. Allah makes things clear
for us and sends us enough evidences and then tests us to see if we can
be humble enough to obey His guidance or not.

• Such a claim also indicates as if we expect Quran to be empty of any

verses about the Day of Judgement and then say that God wants to test
people to see if they can GUESS or DEDUCT that there is a Day of
Judgment! No way! God makes it clear in Quran that we need to believe in
it and in His prophet and to do good things and to pray etc. and the test is
whether we obey these commands or not. It is not whether we can Guess
what the test itself is!

• I wonder why Shia brothers and sisters cannot see this in another way
around. Imamat is not explicitly referred to in Quran but still Shia insists
to be separate from the mainstream Muslims because of this doctrine.
Aren't they under a test by Allah?

Allah knows best.

REPLY 11

1. Sunnies believe in Mahdi while he is not mentioned in Quran.

• Firstly the concept of Mahdi for the mainstream Muslims is totally different
from the concept that Shia holds for Mahdi. This is another issue
discussing of which will extend the length of this discussion. The Shia
brothers and sisters who bring this justification has confused their own
understanding of the concept of Mahdi with the mainstream's
understanding of the concept.

• However the more important thing is that we cannot compare the belief of
the mainstream Muslims about Mahdi with the belief of Imamat in Shia.
Imamat is one of the main articles of faith for Shia but belief in Mahdi is
not one of the articles of belief of the mainstream Muslims.
• The articles of belief of the mainstream Muslims have been listed and
Alhamdulillah all of them are based on explicit verses of Quran.

These are 6 articles of belief:

Belief in Allah and his Oneness

Belief in His Angels
Belief in His Books
Belief in His Messengers
Belief in the Day of Resurrection
Belief in Qadr (i.e. every thing has been written).

The very reason that we cannot see THE BELIEF IN MAHDI being listed
among the articles of belief of the mainstream Muslims is that this has not
been commanded and explained and established in Quran, in the same
way that other articles of belief are established in Quran.
REPLY 12

1. Imamat is not the fundamental belief of Shias, the appointment of

Ali is the fundamental of belief.

• This is like running away from the fact now. But even if someone do not
agree (which all the scholars of Shia do) that Hazrat Ali being appointed
by the prophet is the direct consequence of the concept of Imamat and
that Imamat is the core belief of Shia, that's fine. The question is the
same about Hazrat Ali also. The question is a generic one that can be
applied to any fundamental of belief:

Where are the explicit verses of Quran without any Tafsir or Hadeeth that
clearly command us about what ever is the fundamental of Shia belief that
distinguishes them from the mainstream Muslims, being Imamat or the
Khilafat of Ali after the Holy Prophet (PBUH)?

There is no escape from this question as long as one believes that Quran
is the ultimate guidance. And if a Muslim is not able to find this in Quran
then by Allah he/she needs to answer Allah in the Day of Judgement that
why he/she has separated him/herself from the mainstream Muslims.
REPLY 13

13. Arguments that use few verses of Quran out of the context.

• Shia brothers and sisters try to refer to a few verses in which the words
Imam or Khalifa are used. Again, the word does not do much, the whole
concept is required. And even these are the verses where these words
are used in the meaning other than what they interpret. They simply
think that any reference to Imam or khalifa means what they think, and
hence pick out the words out-of-context. Allah gives us warning in Quran
about taking the verses out of their context.

Quran 5:13
".....Consequently, they (the Jews) took the words out of context, and
dis-regarded some of the commandments given to them.......“

Quran 5:41
"O Messenger! Let not those grieve you who strive together in hastening
to unbelief; From among those who say with their mouths: We believe,
and their hearts do not believe, and from among those who are Jews;
They listen for the sake of a lie, and are listeners for another people who
have not come to you; They alter the words from their places……”
REPLY 14
14. There are so many Shia scholars and aalims, highly educated
and intelligent, and have written a number of books on this
belief. How come all were wrong?

• This is a very childish excuse. And if this is the only reason for someone
to think, what he/she thinks is right, than this is nothing but a blind
belief.

• Moreover, there are so many intelligent and highly educated people in

every faith. Like in Christian Missionaries there are people who are
MBBS doctors plus having PhDs in the studies of Quran and Bible. But
they are still christians and do not believe in the prophethood of Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH). They consider him a lier and a cheater of the Bible
(Nauzubillah). Moreover there were great atheist philosophers and
thinkers in the history who denied even the existance of God by their
philosophies. And hundreds of such examples exist.

• So can we believe on such people only because of their high caliber,

intelligence, education and thinking? And what if we were born in one of
them? Had we be able to come to the truth (Islam) if we would have
thought like that?
• And even if we see that there are so many books which have been written
on Shia beliefs, by big scholars, and the libraries are full of them, than why
don’t we think, on similar basis, that this is only 11% of the Muslims. What
about the mainstream Muslims that are about 89%? Wouldn’t they have
great scholars? Wouldn’t they have books written on Muslim Faith, Quran,
Hadeeth, Fiqh etc.?

• This, for sure, is not a right way to think. But even if the argument is
accepted than the comparison must be made between the two, that who
would be having more number of books written on the religion? Who would
be having more number of scholars? Who would be having more number
of libraries? It is for sure that 11% can not stand in front of 89% even if
this argument is to be considered correct.

• Moreover, let’s see what Hazrat Ali says in Nahj-ul-Balagha;

• Nahj-ul-Balagha, Sermon 125
Name: About Kharijiites (who assassinated him later)

"With regard to me, two categories of people will be ruined, namely

He who loves me too much and the love takes him away from rightfulness,
and
He who hates me too much and the hatred takes him away from
rightfulness.

The best man with regard to me is he who is on the middle course. So be

with him and be with the great majority (of Muslims) because Allah's hand
(of protection) is on keeping unity. You should beware of division because
the one isolated from the group is (a prey) to Satan just as the one
isolated from the flock of sheep is (a prey) to the wolf.“

• Nahj-ul-Balagha, Saying 461

"Two types of people would get into ruin about me. The lover who
exaggerates, and the other who lays false and baseless blames."
 In that time , people were in three groups :

• Kharijites: Who used to say that Hazrat Ali (RA) was a disbeliever
(nauzubillah) and they sent Ibn Muljim to kill him and he did that.

• Shi'ias: Who say that he is infallible Imam and he must be the first caliph
and imam and Allah had chosen him to lead the Muslims, and
remembrance of Ali is worship, and he possesses the qualities (sifaat) of
Allah etc.

• Sunnis: ( Majority of Muslims ) Who say that he was the beloved of the
prophet and the Muslims, very brave, very humble, very pious, and was a
great leader of Muslims.

Now it is clear that who are the people of the middle course AND the
great majority (of Muslims)! And what is meant here is not that be with
the majority of Muslims BLINDLY, no matter what their beliefs are; but the
stress is upon the fact to follow the middle course, and that the middle
course will always be followed by the majority.

(NOTE: Muslims comprise of about 89% of Sunnis and 11% of Shias. And
this 11% includes Twelver Imami Rafidi Shia, Isma'ili Shia, Alawi (Nusairi)
Shia, Druze Shia and Zaidi Shia.)
REPLY 15

15. Quran is changed by Sahabah and certain verses were removed

from it.

• If this was the case then how do we know that there were NOT some
verses in Quran in support of (say) Baha'ollah or (say) Qadiyani? By this
assumption no basis will remain to hold ANY opinion as a Muslim!

• And as this matter is a very sensitive and important one, a whole

separate discussion is dedicated to it named as “The Holy Quran –
Original or Corrupted?”. Please have a look at it also.

May Allah guide us all to His Straight Path (Siraat-e-Mustaqeem)

Ameen