Shia Reasoning [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

.

From all the aforementioned
narrations that happen to be extracted from the authentic Sunni sources of
traditions, the correctness of the Shia theory is proved based regarding the
permissibility of joining the prayers of Zohr and Asr or Maghriband
Isha and reciting them together, and the fact that this practice can be
carried out at all times and not restricted to only certain circumstances.

1.
Depicted from Al-Fiqh Ala Al-Mazaheb Al-arba-ah
Kitab Al-salat, AL-Jama bain AL-Salatain Taqdeeman wa
Takheeran.

2.
Masnad Ahmad bin hanbal vol.1 p. 221.

3.
Masnad Ahmad vol. 1 p.251.

4.
Muwata Malik, Kitab Al-Salat, 3rd print
(Beirut) p. 125 narration 178; Sahih Muslim, vol.2 p. 151 printed in Beirut,
Bab Al-Jam-a bain AL-Salatain fi Al-hazar.

5.
Muwata Malik, Kitab Al-Salat, p. 134, narration 176
(Beirut), 1403 Hijra; Sahih Muslim, printed in Egypt, vol. 2 p. 152

6.
Muwata Malik, Kitab Al-Salat, 3rd print (Beirut), p. 125, narration 177.

7.
Muwata Malik, Kitab Al-Salat, p. 124, narration 175.

8.
Previous reference, p. 125, narration 179.

9.
Previous reference, p. 125, narration 181.

10. Sharh
Al-zarqani of Muwata Malik, printed in Egypt, vol.1 Bab Al-Jama-a bain
Al-Salatain fi Al-Azhar wal Safar, p. 294.

11. Previous
reference p. 294.

12. Sahih Muslim,
vol. 2 printed in Egypt, p. 151, Bab Al-Jam-a bain
Al-Salatain fi AL-hazar.

13. Previous
reference, following the mentioned tradition.

14. Same as the
above, p. 152.

15. Same as the
above, p. 152 following the mentioned narration.

16. Sahih
Al-Bukhari, vol. 1 p. 110, Kitab Al-Salat, Bab Takheer Al-zohr ela Al-Asr,
printed in Egypt, the Ameereyah version, 1314
Hijra.

17. Previous
reference.

18. Kanz Al-Amal,
Kitab Al-Salat, Al-bab Al-rabia fi Salat Al-mozafar, Bab Al-jam-a, vol. 8, p.
246, 1st print (halab) 1391 Hijra.

19. Kanz Al-Amal,
Kitab AL-Salat, Al-bab AL-Rabia fi Salat
Al-mozafar, Bab Al-jam-a, vol. 8, p. 247, 1st print (Halab)

20. Previous
reference.

21. Sarf a
territory nine miles from Mecca, (Kanz Al-Amal,

22. Sahih
Al-Bukhari, vol. 1 kitab Al-Salat, Bab Dhikr AL-Isha, p. 113, printed in Egypt, 1314 Hijra.

23. Sahih Muslim,
vol. 2, p. 153, Bab Al-Jam-a bain Al-Salatain fi Al-hazar.

24. Sahih Muslim,
vol. 2, p. 151, printed in Egypt.

25. Previous
reference, p. 152.

26. Muwata Malik, 3rd
print (Beirut) p. 125, narration
180.following the narrated tradition.)

27. Kanz Al-Amal,
Kitab Al-salat, Al-Bab Al-Rabia, Bab Al-Jam-a, vol. 8.

28. Al-Fiqh Ala
Al-Mazahib Al-Arabah, Kitab AL-Salat, Al-jama-a Al-Salatain Taqdeeman wa
Takheeran.

Question 28:

What do the Shia Jurisprudents use as their sources?

ANSWER:

The Shia, for the purpose of deducing the legal rules, abide
by the divine book of Allah and the tradition of the Holy prophet (p) and
basically benefit from the following four basic resources:

1. Gods book

2. Prophets tradition.

3. Consensus.

4. Reasoning.

Among the above-mentioned sources, The Quran and the tradition of the Holy prophet are the most fundamental
sources for the Shia jurisprudents that we will briefly recount:

Quran,
the divine book of Allah.

The followers of the Shia school of thought consider the
Quran to be the most ideal and equitable source for deducing laws in
jurisprudence and for the criterion of identification of the divine
commandments, due the Shia leaders having introduced this heavenly book of
Islam as the most eminent reference for achieving the jurisprudential
judgments; such that if any theory was to be compared to the Holy Quran and it
was in total concurrence with it, then only would it have been accepted, or
else it would be rejected.

The sixth holy Imam
Jaffer Sadiq (p) has stated in the light of this that:

And every speech
that in not in accordance with the Holy Quran is
unfounded.1

Imam Sadiq (p) has also narrated form the honorable Prophet
that:

O people, any
statement that is attributed to me, if it be in accordance with the Holy
Quran, then it is considered mine and if it is in disagreement to it, then it
is far form mine.2

Regarding the
above-mentioned Hadith, it is clearly evident that according to the Shia
leaders, the heavenly book of the Muslims is considered the most credential
source for the deduction of legal judgments.

Prophets judgment:

The tradition of the holy prophet ascribed to his speech,
behavior and his approval of the works, is the second considerable source for
the Shia jurisprudents. The impeccable
household of the Holy Prophet (the Imams) are known as the sole transmitters of
the prophets tradition and are the treasuries of his knowledge. Of course, if
at all the prophets speech was transmitted through other reliable methods of transmission, it can also be accepted by the Shia and can be
counted as a relibale source for them.

Let us discuss the
following dividing it into two fields:

Evidences in support
of the adhearance to the prophets tradition:

The Imams of the Shias, inferred from the divine book of
Quran to their followers and alongside the prophets
tradition extolling both the Quran and the Tradition of the Prophet (p).

Imam Sadiq (p) says in this regard that:

When coming across
a tradition, find the evidence for it referring to the Quran and the sunnah, then accept its authenticity or else the speech is
only more suitable for the narrater himself.3

Imam Muhammed Baqir
(p) considered that a tradition must be traced down from the Holy prophets for
it to be fully qualified and says the following:

The real
jurisprudent is one who is austere in this world, shows eagerness to the
hereafter and the one who strictly adheres to the Prophets tradition.4

Further more, the
beacons of light who are the impeccable household of the Prophet, consider it
disagreeable a matter, that Gods Book and the tradition of the prophet would
ever be a cause of ambiguity.

Imam Sadiq (p) to
this regard says:

Whosoever has any
disagreement with the Quran and the prophets
tradition is a non-believer.5

Thus, it becomes
clear that the Shia, more than any other Islamic group, hold the tradition of
the Holy Prophet in great esteem and so the baselessness of the ones who accuse
the Shias of alienating themselves from the Holy prophets traditions is
already verified.

The
Validation regarding the Adherence to the Holy prophets traditions.

In order to elucidate the perspective of the Shias regarding
the tradition of the Holy prophet, we are obligated to explain the matter into
two ways:

a. Quiddity of the narrations of the infallible leaders.

b. The proofs to the credibility and necessity to the adherence of the
traditions of the prophets household.

Thus let us study and ponder upon
the two mentioned points by using clear evidence to verify their brevitystyle='mso-bidi-font-weight::

Quiddity of the narrations of the prophets household:

According to Shias, it is only
God who revealed the laws and judgments legislating
His sacred religion through the medium of the Prophet to the mankind. Hence it is discernible that only Gods
messenger is the mediator of revelation and religion between God and the
people. Thus, it becomes clear considering the fact that if the Shia enunciate the narration of his household as one of their sources
in the formulation of their laws, then it does not mean that they accept the
households independence and originality before that of the honorable Prophets
tradition. Rather, their credibility
lies only because they happen to be the expounders of the tradition of Allahs
messenger.

Therefore, the infallible leaders of the Shia do not have a voice of
opinion on their own as such, rather, whatever they quote, is in direct
conformity and adherence to the tradition of the Holy prophet (p).

In order to explain the above speech, it is appropriate to refer to some
of the traditions of the household.

1. Imam Sadiq (p) related to a man who had inquired him about a certain
matter, that:

Whatever the response that I gave you is
from the honorable prophet for we dont say anything form
our own assessment.6

At another instance, he had said:

My speech is that from my father (Imam Baqir (p) and that of my grand
fathers (Imam Ali bin Al-Hussein), and the speech of my grandfathers is
directly quoted from Hussein bin Ali, and the speech of Hussein is the speech
of Hassan, and the speech of Hassan is the speech of the Commander of the
faithful, and his is directly quoted from the Messenger of God, and the speech
of the messenger of God is the Speech of the Exalted and Glorious Lord.7

2. Imam Muhammed Al-Baqir (p) related to Jabir the following that:

My Father narrated from my grandfather,
Gods messenger, and my father also, narrated from Gabriel who narrated from
the Glorious God, and whatsoever I narrate to you is with this very chain of
transmission.8

In the light of the mentioned
narrations, the quiddity of the narrations became clear, that all of these are
none other than the honorable prophets traditions.

Proof Of The Credibility And Necessity For the
Adherence To The Prophets household:

Both the Sunni as well as the
Shia narrators agree that the messenger of God, before his death, announced
that he had left behind two valuable things and invited all the Muslims to
follow these two unflinchingly; he had considered the guidance of the people in
adhering to these two valuables i.e., the divine book of God (Quran) and his
household.

To quote a few examples, we refer to some
of the traditions as follows:

1. Tirmidhi in his Sahih narrates the following from Jabir bin Abdullah
Al-Ansari and who from the messenger of God said that:

O people, I leave amongst you
two valuable things that if you strongly adhere to, you will never be deviated;
Gods book and my household.9

2. Tirmidhi in the same book mentioned above, writes also the following:

Gods messenger said:

I am leaving between you two valuable things, which if you adhere to,
you shall never deviate from the right path, one being superior than the other. Gods
book is like a stretched string between the heaven and the earth, and my
household, which is the other. These will never be separated from one another
till they join me at the pool of Kawthar so be careful of how you will handle
these two valuables after I part away from you.10

3. Muslim bin hajjaj in his Sahih narrated a tradition that the
honorable prophet said:

O people, I happen to be human like you
and soon there will come a time when the angel of death will appear to me and I
have to submit myself to his call i.e. the call of death. Thus, I leave behind you two of the most
valuable reminders, one is the divine book of God which is full of light and
guidance, thus strongly adhere to this book.
Then the Prophet encouraged the people to the reminder of the Quran and
added: and my household, I remind you of
God in my household, I remind you of God within my household, I remind you of God through my household!11

4. A group of narrators narrated the following from the honorable
prophet:

I am leaving amongst you two valuable
reminders, one is the book of Allah, Quran and the
other being my household. These two
shall never separate from each other until they search me on the day of
resurrection besides the pool of Kawthar.12

It is necessary to mention that
narrations in this regard are many in number and more than can be mentioned at
this point. The potent scholar, Sayyid
Meer Hamid Hussein has accumulated the chain of transmissions of this
narration in the book, Abaqat Al-anwar which is printed in six volumes.

In the light of the mentioned narrations,
it becomes clear that adherence to the prophets household and following them
alongside the Quran and the tradition of the honorable prophet is one of the
necessities of Islam, and abandoning the speech of the household causes
deviation.

A question arises at this stage,
as to who exactly are the household of the Holy prophet, whose obedience
according to the Holy prophet is a command to us, not to mention it to be
regarded as incumbent upon us by the Holy Prophet!

Thus let us ponder over some of
the narrations in order to benefit from the nature of this sacred household of
the Holy Prophet so that we can clarify to our matter of discussion.

Who are the Prophets Household?

From the mentioned traditions, it
became clear that the honorable Prophet invited all the Muslim toward following
his household, declaring their worth besides Gods divine book, in order for
men to benefit from after himself, and stated with perfect clarification that:
The Quran and the Household will never be separated from one another.

Thus, the prophets household
enjoy the position of infallibility only because the prophets truthful word
introduced them as the companions to the Holy Quran and were it not so, it would
have been separated from Gods book, whereas the Holy Prophet (p) said,

Quran and Etrat (Prophets household)
will never be separated from each other till they meet me at the pool of Kawthar.

Hence, the necessity for precise knowledge
of the household and their prominent characteristics is only suitable for the
Imams of the Shias who happen to be from the household of the Holy Prophet-
that is already proven.

In the light of traditions by some of the
great Muslim narrators, let us present some of our proofs in this regard:

1. Muslim bin hajjaj after mentioning the narration of Thaqalain, said
the following:

Yazid bin hayyan asked Zaid bin
Arkam,

Who are
the Prophets household? Are they the
Prophets wives?

Zaid bin Arkam replied:

No, it is not so, swearing to
God,

he
continued,

a woman accompanys a man for
only a period of time and is allowed to divorce her, during which she can
return back to her father. What is meant
by the household of the Prophet are those who are the origin of the house and
brought up in that house having deep roots of relationship with each other, and
those relatives of the Holy prophet who are strictly prevented from receiving
charity after the Honorable Prophet.13

This particular narration clearly
testifies the reality of the meaning of the Prophets household to whom it is
incumbent for us to adhere to, just as it is so with the adherence towards the
Holy Quran.

Moreover, the household of the
Prophet not only had a physical connection with him, but also a spiritual one,
and they possess all the befitting characters worthy to be considered alongside
the Holy Quran, for the Muslims to adhere all over the world.

2. The Prophet of Islam did not only suffice to mention the sacred
characteristics of his household, but also went on to state their number, which
is twelve.

Muslim narrates from Jabir bin
Samarah:

I heard the messenger of God
saying:

Islam shall continue to thrive
and be powerful, having the great esteem among all the powerful caliphs.

Then continued on to saying something that I
didnt seem to understand, I later asked my father what the prophet had said
after the statement, to which he replied,

All are from the tribe of Quraish.14

Muslim bin hajjaj has also
narrated the following from the holy prophet,

The peoples
affairs will be led by properly, as long as the twelve noble men are ruling
over them.15

These two evidences are the most clear
manifestations of the Shias about their twelve Imams, who are the actual and
true leaders after the Honorable prophet (p) because there happened to be no
twelve caliphs after the Holy prophet under whose management did the Muslim
ummah gain dignity or power, except that of the twelve Imams of the Household
of the prophet. If it were meant by the four caliphs who were known as the four
righteous caliphs, then the rest of the eight caliphs were from the tribes of
bani-Umayyad and bani-Abbasi who caused nothing but disgrace and shame to the
Muslim ummah with their atrocious behavior according to what History attests
to.

Thus, the prophets household are the
companions of the holy Quran and are introduced as beacons of lights to guide
the Muslims all over the world and these are none other than the twelve holy
Imams of the prophets household who are the firm protectors of the tradition
of the Gods messenger from any fabrication, and are reagrded the bearers of
true knowledge.

3. The commander of the faithful, Ali bin Abi talib is also mentioned to
have been from the tribe of Bani-Hashim, pointing to another clear witness for
the correctness of the Shias speech, regarding the recognition of this sacred
household; where he said:

The leaders (imams) from the tribe of Quraish are from the family of
Bani-hashim, others do not have the guardianship over the people and the ruler
ship of the other rulers is but unfounded!16

Result:

Of the sum of the mentioned
narrations, the visages of both the realities become crystal clear:

c.
Adherence to the prophets household and
to follow them alongside to the obedience to the book of Allah which is
incumbent upon us,

d.
The household of the messenger of Allah
who are introduced as being the companions of the Holy Quran, in addition to
the reference for All the Muslim regarding to the narration that the household
have the following characteristics i.e.,

1.
All of them are from the tribe of
Quraish.

2.
All have a blood- relationship with the
Holy prophet such that giving charity to them is forbidden.

3.
All enjoy the position of infallibility,
or else would never have been comparable to the Holy Quran and would be
completely separate from it whilst the holy prophet clearly states to this
regard that:

These
two (Quran and Etrat) will never be separated from one another until they join
me besides the pool of Kawthar.

4.
All of them amount to twelve individuals
who happen to be in succession, and are the guardians and leaders for the
Muslims after the messenger of Allah.

5.
These twelve caliphs of the Holy Prophet
are the cause of increased dignity and honor to the Religion of Islam.

Considering
these characteristics, it is inimitable that what the Holy prophet meant by the household and advised the
Muslims to follow, are the very twelve personalities of His household whom the Shia