1st — Confusion
Belief of authenticity of the Prophet, the Quran and traditions is indisputably considerable by Muslims with their various sects. In an equal degree, all of Muslims are belonging to the religion and bearing its eternal identity. The religion, however, consists of two major sections; the Prophet as a person, his sayings, deeds and signature, and the revealed Book of God. This is an unanimity among Muslims. Their discrepancy, in fact, is in their understanding of legal intendment of this religion. It is unacceptable to confuse the religion and our understanding of it. Religion is the constant center, and our understandings are variables. Our understandings are practically differing among individuals and groups. This depends upon degree of knowledgeability, capability of grasping, activity and deserting one's fancies.
Had it been effectual to impose a single understanding to a text, God would have imposed it and there have been unnecessary to pursue the unanimous agreement or, even, the understanding itself. With existence of more than a conception of a definite text, this will definitely incite individuals opting for various
understandings of the same text to prove their claim of grasping the legal intendment, to re study severally for attaining a united conception since each text does have one meaning only. Any other theory will grant
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27 bn-Hajar Al-Asqalani's Al-Issabeh Fi Tamyizis-Sahaba, page 17-9. 28 Ad-Dehbi's Al-Keba'ir, page 238.
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discrepancies and differences the mark of legality. Likewise, every sect will appoint a different path as its goal while the good of this nation is achieved only by their unification. As an addition it is to say that achievement of any understanding, other than the very one intended by God, does not flow in the good of any. The good of this nation is acquired only by gaining the very understanding meant by God and putting it into action.
good or bad. It is also inappropriate to dedicate the religion to our inferable understandings so firmly that we sentence those who disagree with us to punition. By opting for such actions we should be exceeding the area of following into that of legislation which is God's concern exclusively. The judgment of regarding individuals embracing contrary opinions as miscreant, and the decision of forbidding sharing them in food and drink, and performing the funeral prayers for their bodies, are not admitted by religion. Such judgments are ruled as groundless punition and an aggression against others' properties. Furthermore, they are basically void and valueless.
2nd — Suggestive Words
Islam is a distinct term of a definite meaning. It is:
1. Mohammed, the Prophet, as a person, his words, deeds and signature. Likewise, it is the Holy Quran with its two aspects; theory and practice. These aspects are forming the total exemplary juristic structures that God revealed to His Prophet who, in turns, explained to people. It is the divine creed intended, by Allah, to be religion of the obedient creatures. It is an idiosyncratic denotation.
2. The virtuous Sahaba who pursued the religion and acceded to the Prophet in his divine missive and establishment of the Islamic government. Neither being the religion itself nor a pillar part of it, they are mere followers.
3. The Muslims who followed and aspired to Islam. Considering them as more than followers, Muslims are not Islam itself. There is a great distance between belief and individuals embracing. The same is said about law and people and, in the same way, judges and the judged.
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3rd — Protection and Covering Up
Benefits of Islam and Muslims is achieved by understanding the genuine intendment of the Islamic
doctrine, that is exactly intended by Allah, the Elevated. Conceiving such an intendment, which is the demand of every person, requires specialization and individual talents. Unfortunately, there are some individuals who occupied others' fields and attempted, peacefully or coercively, at imposing their false conclusions on people. Furthermore, they locked the way to inspecting and searching for the true intendment, and they ruled of atheism of those who contradict them as they judged that their elicitation is the religion itself.
They, however, are not rightful to declare so since there is a great difference between religion, as a belief, and them, as individuals. It is to add that contradicting such individuals has no relation to contradiction of the religion. Opting for such a false perception is regarded as deciding the proofless choice and as an impressive custody. This will definitely make the whole process a form of utilizing the religion for covering up and protecting a certain belief or conception.
Precisely, contrariety about the understanding of a text does not lead to apostasy of somebody or godliness of another. Such a conception is judged as a proofless preponderance and a baseless outrage. It flows only in the arteries of those who dominated the Islamic nation by discriminating them into various groups and sects using means of dishonest political trickeries. This was done by aid of the ill scholars of this nation who used to stand against consensus and unification of Muslims. It is they who used various names and attributes to the Muslims; such as unbelievers, Sunnis, Shias and the like. Even the unbelievers of the Scriptuaries disdained the naughty matters of discrimination that is detested by sound sense and pure nature. At any rate, it does show the narrow-mindedness of those opting for, and does contravene principals of Islamic fraternity and its general spirit.
The literal degree of oddity and detestability of excessive enthusiasm is recognized by God alone. In his thesis about the most authentic narrators of hadiths, At-Thehbi says:
Yahya-bn-Mu'in's opinion about Ashafi'i.-Yahya-bn-Mu'in is one of the most considerable scholars of evaluating narrators of hadiths and traditions whose opinion is highly taken
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into account and ruled as a decisive evidence. He answered that Ashafi'i is distrustful! Regarding Ja'far-bn-Mohammed As-Sadiq, except for Al-Bukhari who excluded him from the group of acceptable narrators, Abu-Hatem and An-Nisa'i ruled of his authenticity.”
See how Yahya-bn-Muin, the well known scholar, denied honesty of Ashafi'i, and how Al-Bukhari denied Imam Ja'far As-Sadiq's being among the admissible narrators, while others of less standing, were considered. Imam Ja'far As-Sadiq, however, is the chief of Ahlul-Beit Sect. He is the tutor of founders of the four schools of jurisprudence. He is the unprecedented and the most celebrated savant, from whose school four thousand students of jurisprudence and hadith were graduated. Moreover, he is the sixth Imam of the Prophet's progeny whose fathers are Mohammed, Ali Zainul-Aabidin, Al-Hussein and Ali-bn-Abi-Talib.
Despite all these specifications, Al-Bukhari did neither regard Imam Ja'far as one of the reliable relators nor did he rule of his authenticity! Even though they are Sahaba according to the conception of Sunnis, the Imams' narratives were ignored by Al-Bukhari.