Contents
Foreword.........................................................................................1
The Shia in Brief ...........................................................................3
The Creed of Shia and Sunna....................................................6
Introducing the Shia ......................................................................8
Islam in the View of the Shia ......................................................11
1. Shia Doctrine ......................................................................11
2. Shia View of Islamic Law...................................................13
The Five Laws .....................................................................14
Sources of Islamic Law........................................................14
Governance in Islam............................................................15
Power in Islam.....................................................................16
Sources of Public Wealth.....................................................16
Islamic Freedom ..................................................................17
3. The Islamic System in the View of the Shia.......................19
Shiite Doctrine.............................................................................25
Divine Unity (tawhid) ..........................................................26
Prophethood (nubuwwah) ....................................................26
The Prophets ........................................................................26
Islam.....................................................................................27
The Qur’an...........................................................................29
Direction of Prayer...............................................................30
Imamate ...............................................................................31
The Awaited Imam Mahdi ...................................................31
Infallibility ...........................................................................32
The Prophet and Knowledge of the Unseen.........................33
Allegiance and Dissociation ................................................33
Resurrection.........................................................................33
Divine Decree ......................................................................34
Compulsion and Delegation.................................................34
Dissimulation.......................................................................34
Temporary Marriage ............................................................35
Prostrating upon Pure Earth.................................................35
Combining the Prayers.........................................................36
Intercession ..........................................................................37
Beseeching the Prophet and his Pure Family.......................37
Visiting Shrines and Seeking Blessings From Them...........38
The Building of Shrines .......................................................38
The Visiting of Graves.........................................................39
Women and the Visiting of Graves......................................39
Prayer in the cemetery of Baqi ...........................................39
Weeping and Mourning for Imam Husayn ..........................40
No to Slandering and Excommunication .............................40
Mandatory Duties and Islamic Laws ...................................41
Islamic Morals .....................................................................41
The Single Nation ................................................................42
Cleaning up Society .............................................................43
Restoring the Glory of Islam................................................44
Invitation to Islam................................................................44
Awakening the Muslims ......................................................45
Shia Culture.................................................................................46
General Statistics .................................................................46
The Shia and the History of Islam......................................46
The Shia and Islamic Sciences ...........................................48
Successors of the Prophet .............................................................50
A Brief History of the Imams...................................................52
Fatima al-Zahra’ daughter of the Prophet ............................52
The First Imam.....................................................................55
The Second Imam................................................................65
The Third Imam...................................................................69
The Fourth Imam.................................................................72
The Fifth Imam....................................................................75
The Sixth Imam ...................................................................78
The Seventh Imam...............................................................81
The Eighth Imam.................................................................84
The Ninth Imam...................................................................87
The Tenth Imam...................................................................90
The Eleventh Imam..............................................................92
The Twelfth Imam ...............................................................95
The role of the Imams and their followers (Shia)...............98
Evidence for the Shiite Point of View.........................................99
The Evidence for the Successorship of Ali ..............................99
1. The Warning of his close family......................................99
2. The Day of Ghadir .........................................................100
3. The tradition of the ‘station’ ..........................................102
4. Successorship of other Imams from Prophet’s family ...102
5. The tradition of the two weighty things .........................103
6. The tradition of the Ark .................................................104
Shiism in the eyes of Sunni scholars .........................................104
Shams al-Din al-Dhahabi...................................................105
Shaykh Shaltut ...................................................................105
The Edict in Full ................................................................105
Sources for Information on Shiism...................................107
Afterword ...................................................................................107
Transliteration.............................................................................109
The Author..................................................................................114
Notes...........................................................................................128
