Gardens of Wisdom

[irfansaeed]

Salam O aliakum
At what points do you think Al-Islam is different than the traditional understanding including Shia and Sunni. Can you also provide references from Quran to backup your claims.



Irfan

[Idris]

Salam O aliakum
At what points do you think Al-Islam is different than the traditional understanding including Shia and Sunni. Can you also provide references from Quran to backup your claims.
Irfan

Al-Islam is based on LA ILAHA ILLA ALLAH but Shiism and Sunnism are not.
The references from the Qur’an:
وَ لَقَدْ بَعَثْنا في كُلِّ أُمّةٍ رَسُولاً أَنِ اعْبُدُوا اللّهَ وَ اجْتَنِبُوا الطّاغُوتَ فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ هَدَى اللّهُ وَ مِنْهُمْ مَنْ حَقّتْ عَلَيْهِ الضّلالَةُ فَسيرُوا فِي اْلأَرْضِ فَانْظُرُوا كَيْفَ كانَ عاقِبَةُ الْمُكَذِّبينَ

And verily We have raised in every nation a messenger, (proclaiming): SERVE ALLAH AND SHUN FALSE GODS. Then some of them (there were) whom Allah guided, and some of them (there were) upon whom error had just hold. Do but travel in the land and see the nature of the consequence for the deniers! (Q16:36)

Al-Qur’an chapter 112 buttresses the point the more.
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;
Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;
And there is none like unto Him.

لَمْ يَلِدْ وَ لَمْ يُولَدْ
Allah has no relatives to suggest that He is closer to anyone. We are all at the same distance from Allah. Nearness to Allah is only by at-Taqwa. This is one of the strongest proofs that every individual is just as important.

The Sunnis and Shias believe that by virtue of creation, some people are special and therefore closer to Allah – those people become intermediaries or partners to Allah.

The only point of difference:

“Say: "O people of the book! Come to a common term between us and you: that we worship none but God; that we associate no partners with him; that we erect not from among ourselves lords and patrons other than God." If then they turn back say: "bear witness that we are Muslims"

The Sunnis and the Shias are among the people that are given book.
They have taken their doctors of law and their monks for lords besides Allah, and (also) the Messiah son of Marium and they were enjoined that they should serve one Allah only, there is no god but He; far from His glory be what they set up (with Him).

[irfansaeed]

Al-Islam is based on LA ILAHA ILLA ALLAH but Shiism and Sunnism are not.

I think this is a very general statement, you have to be more specific. This is very well-known that the shia's and sunni's has deviated in their understanding of religion and has gone against the command and/or spirit of Quran. i am interested in your version of this deviation.

The Sunnis and Shias believe that by virtue of creation, some people are special and therefore closer to Allah – those people become intermediaries or partners to Allah.

I don't think all the sunni's i have met with and studied claims the same. However there are Hadith roaming around that the Muslims (sunnis, shias) would enter paradise after some punishment.



[quote]

[Idris]

To be frank with you Irfan, any deviation from LA ILAHA ILLA ALLAH renders all other activities of no avail.

I do not condemn the Sunnis and Shias as individuals but the systems. I am aware that most of them are ignorant of Sunnism and Shiism – many of them do not even know that Sunnism, Shiism, are religions different from al-Islam.

Anyone who believes in sovereignty of every individual adult (male or female) and surrenders to the lordship of only Allah is a Muslim regardless of what he might be called by other people. This is the point! Soon a person is not like this then anything is possible.

Honestly I do not see any difference between Christianity, Sunnism, Shiism, and other religions or secularism. Meanwhile a person will only go to hell if he intentionally chose to fight against the truth after he is convinced of it.

If a Sunni or a Shia does not believe in any authority but Allah then he is a Muslim. Sunnism or Shiism is based on the authority of al-Hadith instead of al-Qur’an or in addition to al-Qur’an. They believe that the message of Allah is not complete without al-Hadith!

A person is a sovereign on his or her own and it is only him/her that can negotiate that sovereignty – to negotiate the sovereignty is to accept an authority over oneself. Allah is the only authority/lord and He alone delegates authority to the servants.

Every sane adult is given al-Aql as his/her only guide and given the brain as the only sight. No one is allowed to accept anything which he/she does not see by his/her brain or comprehend by his/her Aql.

A person lives for his or her heart and must therefore not accept anything which he/she can not clearly trace (the benefit) to his or her heart. A person must always know why he or she has to do anything.

Allah is rich and we are poor – we are the one in need of Allah – whatever has been prescribed for us is for our benefit and this we can understand pretty well when we use our brain.

It is an inbuilt nature in human being to always seek for the reason/benefit of a thing/deed. Where the reason is not forthcoming, one takes to superstition – not even rituals are without presumed reasons/benefits. No human being can act otherwise.

When Allah talks to us, He wants us to understand Him – understanding Allah is uncovering the wisdom of His communication – Allah urges us to think. Our ability to uncover the wisdom of Allah’s speech is the context of the speech – Allah does not talk to those that do not have Aql.

We are not perfect and therefore we are not free of mistakes – we could misunderstand Allah despite our effort to understand Him. Allah does not punish us for our mistakes but He urges us to leave our hearts open to make corrections as soon as we realize them.

We can only act according to our understanding and Allah has warned us to leave alone things that we can not understand for they are not meant for us.

We therefore allow what we uncover of the wisdom to be our guide until we can understand something better. We must be sincere at all time if not we would only be cheating ourselves.

We are individuals that live in a common but competitive house. A person must be strong to survive in such a situation. The least strength (as a prerequisite for survival) is to decide/intend and remain determined never to become a slave to any creature. A slave is not living.

A stronger person takes control of the earth and the game is to turn the wheel as desired. Only Those with Taqwa can do justice and allow everyone (regardless of belief) to live on earth.

A person has a Heart and the Body. The heart is the focus of creation. The heart is molded by Intentions.

Intention is completely a private affair between a person and the Lord – not even the angels are aware of what transpires in the heart. There is no intermediary between any heart and Allah and there is no leadership in matter of heart. Leadership and Law are purely bodily based – concern bodily activities only.

We maintain and upgrade the heart by the process of our interaction with the Lord known collectively as al-Ibaadah (expression of love and show of submissiveness).

The Heart is the motivating factor of all our physical activities – the activities (in turn and based on our intentions) strengthen or modify the heart.

Al-Ibaadah, therefore, is any activity that is meant to upgrade or maintain the heart towards Allah.

In al-Ibaadah, the focus is on the heart while in other activities the focus is on the body.

Every human being has a self that is confined to the heart within him/her – the training of self is an internal affair that does not involve any other human being. No two people share a heart and no individual has more than a heart. No one can love and hate a thing at the same time.

The universe is the common house we all share together hence the need for interaction and (of consequence) the cooperation/competition. It is in our interactions that we discuss Justice, Law and Leadership.

All human beings are selfish except those who have control over themselves.