Allah, the Exalted, guided me and destined me to adopt the school of truth: the school of Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them—the school of the grandson of His Messenger, Imam Ja‘far ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq, peace be upon him. All four schools of jurisprudence branched out from him and drew upon his knowledge; he is therefore the origin from which those schools emerged.
My journey towards Shi‘ism began when I was a second-year student in the Faculty of Islamic Law. I would constantly ask myself: Why is there so much disagreement among the schools of jurisprudence?
Whenever our Islamic education class ended, I would speak with my teachers and engage them in lengthy discussions about several issues.
Prayer, for example. I could see clear differences among the schools concerning it. Indeed, disagreements existed even among the jurists belonging to the same school.
Al-Shafi‘i maintained that touching an unrelated woman invalidates one’s ritual ablution. Abu Hanifah held the opposite view. Malik differed from both, maintaining that touching a woman invalidates ablution only when it is done deliberately or with desire; otherwise, it does not.
Al-Shafi‘i also permits a man to marry a daughter born to him through an illicit sexual relationship, whereas the other three jurists disagree with him.
The Hanafi school maintains that the discharge of blood from the body invalidates ablution, even when the quantity is small, whereas the other three schools disagree.
The Hanafi school also permits ablution with date-wine and with milk diluted with water, whereas the other three schools disagree.
Malik is said to permit the consumption of dog meat, whereas the other three schools disagree.
Al-Shafi‘i permits the eating of hyena, eel-like fish, and fox meat, while Abu Hanifah prohibits them.
Al-Shafi‘i permits the eating of hedgehogs, whereas the others prohibit it.
There are many other disagreements of this kind among them, extending from the beginning of jurisprudence to its end.
Glory be to Allah! Was the Islamic law incomplete and unfinished until they introduced all these conflicting opinions—one declaring something lawful, another declaring it unlawful, one permitting it and another maintaining precisely the opposite?
It has been authentically reported that the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and his family, said:
ARABIC NARRATION
حَلَالُ مُحَمَّدٍ حَلَالٌ أَبَدًا إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ، وَحَرَامُهُ حَرَامٌ أَبَدًا إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ، لَا يَكُونُ غَيْرُهُ وَلَا يَجِيءُ غَيْرُهُ.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
“What Muhammad declared lawful shall remain lawful forever, until the Day of Resurrection, and what he declared unlawful shall remain unlawful forever, until the Day of Resurrection. Nothing else shall replace it, nor shall anything different come after it.”
REFERENCE
Al-Kulayni, al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 58, Book of the Merit of Knowledge, Chapter on Innovations, Personal Opinion, and Analogical Reasoning, hadith 19; narrated by Zurarah from Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq.
STATUS
This wording is transmitted in the Imami Shia hadith corpus from Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq. It is not, in this exact chain and wording, a narration directly transmitted from the Prophet in the major Sunni hadith collections.
We also studied that al-Shafi‘i himself formulated what came to be known as his “old school” and disseminated it among Muslims in Iraq, the Hijaz, Yemen, and Syria.
He subsequently travelled to Egypt for some reason, mixed with the people of the western Islamic lands, and learned from them. He then abandoned his old school and formulated another, which he called the “new school,” until only a small number of issues remained from his first school.
I say: If his first school was correct, why did he introduce the second? And if the second was correct, what does that say about the first?
We also see Abu Hanifah issuing a particular ruling on an issue, only for Abu Yusuf, Muhammad al-Shaybani, or Zufar—men who had studied under him and received knowledge from him—to disagree. Sometimes one of them agrees with him while the other two oppose him. At other times, all three either oppose him or agree with him.
The same is true of Malik and Ahmad. Disagreement circulates among them in virtually every issue. Naturally, all this caused me to doubt and question which of these schools truly deserved to be followed.
Then, by what appeared to be a coincidence—but was in fact an extraordinary piece of good fortune—a new student joined us while I was studying at the university. She was Iraqi and had been displaced from her homeland along with her family, seeking safety in our country.
She enrolled at the university and chose our faculty because its students were religiously observant. She could have selected a more prestigious faculty, since she had previously been among the outstanding students in the Faculty of Medicine in her own country.
This young woman, whose name was Batoul, sat on the last bench in the lecture hall. She always wore a black cloak, and her head covering extended down to her chin. What a form of hijab it was! It reflected her religious commitment and her triumph over the fluctuations of the age and the slips caused by so-called progress and fashion.
When we—the students of the Faculty of Islamic Law—learned that she was Iraqi, we immediately concluded that she was Shia. We would often provoke her deliberately, intending to ridicule and mock her.
According to our beliefs and the false information we had received, she and the followers of her school were not Muslims. We imagined that they worshipped Ali ibn Abi Talib. We believed that only the comparatively moderate among them worshipped Allah, but that even they did not believe in the prophethood of Muhammad, peace be upon him and his family.
We believed that they insulted Gabriel and accused him of betraying the divine trust by delivering the message to Muhammad instead of Ali; that they elevated their Imams to the rank of gods; that they believed in divine incarnation; that they prostrated before a small disc of clay instead of Allah; that they went to the grave of the Messenger, peace be upon him and his family, to throw filth and impurities into it; that they had tails; that they were unbelievers; and that they were more hostile to Islam than the Jews and Christians.
We thought that Jews and Christians at least worshipped Allah and believed in the prophethood of Moses, peace be upon him, whereas we had heard that the Shia worshipped Ali and regarded him as sacred.
Despite all our rebukes and ridicule, Sister Batoul would not answer us harshly. Every time, she would merely say:
“May Allah forgive you. May Allah guide you. If only you knew the truth. I seek Allah’s forgiveness for myself and for you.”
This continued until the arrival of a particular day—a day that became, for me, the beginning of a great transformation.
I arrived late for the lecture that day and found no vacant seat except the one beside Batoul. Until then, I had never sat next to her, partly because I regarded her as an unbeliever and partly because I suspected that she might be a spy seeking to learn the details of our schools in order to convey them to her own sect.
I sat down feeling somewhat uncomfortable. Then I said to myself: What concern is she of mine, and what concern am I of hers? Each of us can mind her own affairs.
By coincidence, that day’s lecture was about the Shia school. The lecture began, and all of us listened attentively to what was being said about it. Batoul grew increasingly astonished at everything being attributed to the Shia.
During the lecture, she murmured:
“May Allah’s curse be upon the oppressors. May Allah forgive you. Remnants of the Umayyads! Followers of Mu‘awiyah!”
This continued until the lecture ended, by which time Batoul seemed ready to explode with anger.
I asked her, “Why are you so angry and distressed? Was what the lecturer said about you not true?”
Batoul smiled and replied, “When a professor thinks in this manner, one cannot blame the students. And when the students think like this, one cannot blame the ordinary, uneducated people.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
She replied, “Forgive me, but where did you obtain all these false accusations?”
“From the books of history and from what is universally known among people,” I answered.
“Do you have time for a discussion?” she asked.
I hesitated for a moment, then replied, “Perhaps I have some time.”
We walked towards the cafeteria. I ordered coffee, and we sat down to talk.
She said, “Let us set aside what is supposedly known among all people, who primarily rely upon the canonical hadith collections. Have you personally read anything about us?”
“Yes,” I replied. “I have read works such as The Emergence of Islam, The Dawn of Islam, and The Forenoon of Islam by Ahmad Amin, as well as many other books.”
She said, “Since when has Ahmad Amin been an authority over the Shia? Should you not investigate a matter through its recognised, original sources?”
“How are we supposed to investigate something like this?” I asked.
She replied:
“Ahmad Amin himself visited Iraq and met several scholars in Najaf. They reproached him for what he had written about the Shia. He apologised, saying, ‘I know nothing about you. I had never previously had contact with the Shia, and this is the first time I have met them.’
“They asked him, ‘Then why did you write such ugly things about us?’
“He replied, ‘This is simply the view of you that we inherited from other people.’
“Do you see the magnitude of this falsehood? You should regard the other things said about us in the same way: they are malicious lies produced by hatred.”
I said, “Let us leave Ahmad Amin aside. Tell me about the many other things said about you.”
She interrupted me:
“If you merely wish to pass the time and talk for the sake of talking, I am sorry, but it would be better for me to leave. However, if you genuinely wish to benefit and determine whether we have been wronged, then ask whatever you wish. All my time is yours.”
I replied, “No, by Allah! Allah forbid that I should speak to you merely for the sake of passing time. I have genuinely grown fond of you, and I feel that you have been wronged. During the lecture, you appeared to possess many arguments that you wanted to present, but you did not dare to speak. Why was that?”
She replied:
“Speaking to people like these is no different from remaining silent. A discussion with such ignorant people might even compel me to lower the dignity of my school and religion.”
She then attributed the following saying to Imam Ali, peace be upon him:
ARABIC ATTRIBUTION
نَاقَشْتُ جَاهِلَهُمْ فَغَلَبَنِي، وَنَاقَشْتُ عَالِمَهُمْ فَغَلَبْتُهُ.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
“I debated their ignorant man, and he defeated me; but I debated their learned man, and I defeated him.”
VERIFICATION NOTE
I could not locate a dependable early hadith or literary source establishing this wording from Imam Ali. A similar popular maxim is circulated in several forms and is sometimes attributed to al-Shafi‘i or to other figures. The attribution in the book should therefore be treated as unverified.
“Then let us begin,” I said.
She interrupted me and said, “In that case, invoke blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad.”
I was astonished. I thought to myself: These people whom we accuse of having departed from religion preserve its observances more carefully than we do.
I said, “O Allah, bless Muhammad, his family, and all his Companions.”
She smiled slightly and said, “Continue.”
I asked, “To which school does your school belong?”
“The Ja‘fari school,” she answered.
I exclaimed, “How strange! What is this new name? We recognise only the four schools. Anything outside them has nothing to do with Islam.”
She smiled and replied, “Forgive me, but the Ja‘fari school is Islam in its purest form. Do you not know that Imam Abu Hanifah studied under Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq, peace be upon him?”
She added that Abu Hanifah had said:
ARABIC ATTRIBUTION
لَوْلَا السَّنَتَانِ لَهَلَكَ النُّعْمَانُ.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
“Were it not for those two years, al-Nu‘man would have perished.”
VERIFICATION NOTE
This statement is widely circulated as an admission by Abu Hanifah that he studied for two years under Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq. However, no early connected chain of transmission for the statement has been established. It appears in comparatively late writings and should not be presented as an authenticated historical quotation.
I fell silent and offered no reply.
She continued:
“The four schools received knowledge from one another. Ahmad ibn Hanbal learned from al-Shafi‘i, al-Shafi‘i learned from Malik, Malik learned from Abu Hanifah, and Abu Hanifah learned from Ja‘far al-Sadiq. In that sense, all of them were students of Ja‘far ibn Muhammad.
“He was the first to establish an Islamic university in the mosque of his grandfather, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and his family. More than four thousand hadith scholars and jurists studied under him.”
She then interrupted herself and asked me, “Which Imam do you follow?”
“Imam Abu Hanifah,” I replied.
She asked, “How can you follow a man who died approximately fourteen centuries ago? Suppose you wanted to ask him today about a newly arising issue. Would he be able to answer you?”
I immediately responded, “Your Imam is also dead. How, then, do you follow him?”
She replied, “My Imam is alive but in occultation. During his occultation, we follow one of the pious jurists qualified to exercise independent legal reasoning. According to our school, it is not permissible to begin following a deceased jurist.”
She then explained that every person must know the Imam of his own age, for the Prophet, peace be upon him and his family, said:
ARABIC NARRATION AS CITED IN THE BOOK
مَنْ مَاتَ وَلَمْ يَعْرِفْ إِمَامَ زَمَانِهِ مَاتَ مِيتَةً جَاهِلِيَّةً.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
“Whoever dies without knowing the Imam of his age dies the death of the Age of Ignorance.”
RELATED VERIFIED WORDINGS
مَنْ مَاتَ وَلَيْسَ عَلَيْهِ إِمَامٌ مَاتَ مِيتَةً جَاهِلِيَّةً.
“Whoever dies without having an Imam over him dies a death of ignorance.”
Reference: Ibn Hibban, al-Sahih, hadith 4573; Abu Ya‘la, al-Musnad, hadith 7375. The chain has been judged good by some later Sunni hadith scholars.
A further wording appears in Sahih Muslim:
مَنْ مَاتَ وَلَيْسَ فِي عُنُقِهِ بَيْعَةٌ مَاتَ مِيتَةً جَاهِلِيَّةً.
“Whoever dies without a pledge of allegiance upon his neck dies a death of ignorance.”
Reference: Sahih Muslim, Book of Leadership, hadith 1851.
VERIFICATION NOTE
The exact wording “without knowing the Imam of his age” is famous in Imami theological literature. The closest firmly established Sunni versions speak of dying without an Imam or without a pledge of allegiance.
“My Imam of this age,” Batoul continued, “is the Master of the Age, Imam al-Mahdi. This is a lengthy subject and requires a detailed explanation.”
“Very well,” I said. “I am convinced by that answer. Let us move to the second matter. You worship Ali and regard him as sacred, do you not?”
She replied, “Have you not read the words of Allah, Glorified and Exalted?”
QUR’ANIC VERSE
وَمَا مُحَمَّدٌ إِلَّا رَسُولٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُلُ ۚ أَفَإِنْ مَاتَ أَوْ قُتِلَ انْقَلَبْتُمْ عَلَىٰ أَعْقَابِكُمْ ۚ وَمَنْ يَنْقَلِبْ عَلَىٰ عَقِبَيْهِ فَلَنْ يَضُرَّ اللَّهَ شَيْئًا ۗ وَسَيَجْزِي اللَّهُ الشَّاكِرِينَ.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
“Muhammad is only a messenger. Other messengers have passed away before him. If he dies or is killed, will you then turn back upon your heels? Whoever turns back upon his heels will never harm Allah in the least, and Allah will reward the grateful.”
Reference: Qur’an 3:144.
She also recited:
QUR’ANIC VERSE
مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ۚ وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُ أَشِدَّاءُ عَلَى الْكُفَّارِ رُحَمَاءُ بَيْنَهُمْ...
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
“Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and those who are with him are firm against the unbelievers and compassionate among themselves…”
Reference: Qur’an 48:29.
She then recited:
QUR’ANIC VERSE
مَا كَانَ مُحَمَّدٌ أَبَا أَحَدٍ مِنْ رِجَالِكُمْ وَلَٰكِنْ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَخَاتَمَ النَّبِيِّينَ ۗ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمًا.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
“Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets. Allah has full knowledge of all things.”
Reference: Qur’an 33:40.
“Yes,” I said. “I know these verses.”
She replied, “Then where is Ali in this accusation? The Qur’an we possess is the same Qur’an you possess, and it explicitly states that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. From where, then, did this false accusation arise?”
“You have convinced me regarding this matter,” I said. “But what about your accusation that Gabriel betrayed the divine trust?”
“Far be it from him!” she replied. “That accusation is even uglier than the first. Muhammad was forty years old when Allah sent Gabriel to him, whereas Ali was only a young boy of six or seven. How could Gabriel make such a mistake and fail to distinguish between Muhammad, a grown man, and Ali, a child?”
“That is extremely logical,” I said. “How did we never analyse the matter in this way?”
She continued:
“The Shia are the only group among the various Islamic schools who affirm the infallibility of the prophets and the Imams. If our Imams, who were human beings like us, were protected from error, then what should be said about Gabriel, a favoured angel whom the Lord called the Trustworthy Spirit?”
I became confused and hesitant. I said to myself: Before asking them why their beliefs differ from ours, we Sunnis should first ask ourselves why our own schools are so numerous and why they disagree with one another.
“So everything said about you is a fabrication?” I asked.
“May Allah forgive you,” she replied.
Because time was limited, I apologised and bade her farewell. I asked her to visit me soon, for I had developed an intense desire to hear more Shia responses to the accusations brought against them.
She thanked me and, in turn, wished goodness and guidance for me.
After walking several steps, I asked myself: Will a day ever come when I become Shia?
I immediately dismissed the thought.
“No,” I told myself. “This is the path followed by our fathers and forefathers. Is it reasonable to believe that all of them were misguided? Am I to be the only person in my family upon light and clear evidence? No, no! That is impossible. I seek Allah’s forgiveness and repent to Him.”
Several days later, Batoul came to visit me because I had been slightly unwell and had not attended the faculty for several days. She brought me a bouquet of flowers and a copy of the Qur’an.
I opened it and found that it was exactly the same as our Qur’an.
“They say that you have a special Qur’an of your own,” I said.
She replied:
“I testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and his good and pure family.
“These fabricators are enemies of Islam. They seek to divide the Muslims, tear them apart, and set them against one another. We worship Allah alone, without any partner. Our Qur’an is one, our Prophet is one, and our direction of prayer is one. We share all these things with you. We may differ from you Sunnis only in certain jurisprudential and doctrinal matters.”
“Tell me more,” I said. “May Allah increase you in knowledge.”
“What would you like to ask about?” she replied.
“Tell me about Ali’s right to the caliphate, as you claim. Tell me about the Husayni turbah—the disc of earth upon which you prostrate. Tell me about Husayn and why the Shia weep and strike their chests.
“Tell me about your practice of seeking intercession and blessings at the shrines of your Imams. Tell me why you treat Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman—may Allah be pleased with them and cause them to be pleased—as ordinary people, and why you sometimes insult them and revile certain wives of the Prophet, from whom Allah removed impurity and whom He thoroughly purified.
“Tell me why your ablution differs from ours and why your prayer differs from ours. What about temporary marriage, dissimulation, the return to life, the religious one-fifth tax, and your interpretations of Qur’anic verses as referring to Ali and his descendants—interpretations that we have never known? And what is the Book of Fatimah?”
QUR’ANIC PASSAGE ALLUDED TO IN THE AUTHOR’S QUESTION
إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيُذْهِبَ عَنْكُمُ الرِّجْسَ أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ وَيُطَهِّرَكُمْ تَطْهِيرًا.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
“Allah only desires to remove impurity from you, O People of the Household, and to purify you with a thorough purification.”
Reference: Qur’an 33:33.
I listed all my questions while she continued to smile. She appeared ready for every question that might be put to her and seemed entirely confident.
She said:
“Do you truly desire the truth? I have grown fond of you, my sister Lamia, and I hope that you will accept my next gift: several books. Read them, and you will find in them a refuge and an answer for every question you have asked me.
“If I were to answer each question personally, all the days of the year would not be enough, for we would continue debating whether my answers were correct.
“But if you read the works of several people who attained insight and discovered the path of truth—people who were once Sunni and subsequently became Shia—you will find clear and decisive evidence drawn from your own books.
“I will not give you our own books until, after reading the works of those converts, you request the Shia books yourself.”
I thanked her and asked her to visit again and send me the books as quickly as possible. I was passionate and eager to read them, hoping that I might find in them a cure for the doubts and hidden anxieties I had long harboured concerning the disagreements among the four recognised schools.
She did exactly as she had promised. Three days later, she came to me carrying many books.
“I will come next week,” she said, “and take you with me to attend the commemoration of Ashura.”
I hesitated before accepting the invitation. Then, still confused, I agreed.
“Very well,” I said. “As you wish.”
I then devoted myself to the books day and night, reading them from cover to cover, as people say. I was captivated by the way each author analysed the unresolved issues between Sunnis and Shias.
Every one of them surprised me with an account I had never heard before: the Calamity of Thursday.
It was a terrible and almost unbelievable scandal. Yet the author concluded the page by stating that the event was recorded in Sunni books: Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, the History of al-Tabari, and the History of Ibn al-Athir.
After reading this, how could I deny what my own eyes had seen and dismiss it merely as the allegation of people who disliked and hated the first three caliphs? Was it not recorded in the canonical Sunni collections?
I decided to search those collections and verify the cited pages. I wished that I would not find the report there.
But al-Bukhari had recorded it. Muslim had recorded it. They had all recorded it—yet we had been ordered to follow Abu Bakr and Umar and had been told that they were upright and did not commit sins.
THE VERIFIED REPORT OF THE CALAMITY OF THURSDAY
ARABIC TEXT
لَمَّا حُضِرَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، قَالَ، وَفِي الْبَيْتِ رِجَالٌ فِيهِمْ عُمَرُ بْنُ الْخَطَّابِ: هَلُمَّ أَكْتُبْ لَكُمْ كِتَابًا لَنْ تَضِلُّوا بَعْدَهُ.
قَالَ عُمَرُ: إِنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ غَلَبَهُ الْوَجَعُ، وَعِنْدَكُمُ الْقُرْآنُ، فَحَسْبُنَا كِتَابُ اللَّهِ.
وَاخْتَلَفَ أَهْلُ الْبَيْتِ وَاخْتَصَمُوا، فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَقُولُ: قَرِّبُوا يَكْتُبْ لَكُمْ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ كِتَابًا لَنْ تَضِلُّوا بَعْدَهُ، وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَقُولُ مَا قَالَ عُمَرُ.
فَلَمَّا أَكْثَرُوا اللَّغَطَ وَالِاخْتِلَافَ عِنْدَ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ: قُومُوا عَنِّي.
قَالَ عُبَيْدُ اللَّهِ: فَكَانَ ابْنُ عَبَّاسٍ يَقُولُ: إِنَّ الرَّزِيَّةَ كُلَّ الرَّزِيَّةِ مَا حَالَ بَيْنَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَبَيْنَ أَنْ يَكْتُبَ لَهُمْ ذَلِكَ الْكِتَابَ، مِنِ اخْتِلَافِهِمْ وَلَغَطِهِمْ.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
“When the Prophet’s final illness became severe, while there were men in the house—including Umar ibn al-Khattab—the Prophet said:
‘Come, let me write for you a document after which you will never go astray.’
Umar said:
‘The Prophet has been overcome by pain. You possess the Qur’an; the Book of Allah is sufficient for us.’
Those present in the house disagreed and disputed. Some said:
‘Bring the materials so that the Messenger of Allah may write for you a document after which you will never go astray.’
Others supported what Umar had said.
When their argument and noise increased in the Prophet’s presence, he said:
‘Leave me.’
Ubayd Allah said that Ibn Abbas would afterwards say:
‘The calamity—every calamity—was what prevented the Messenger of Allah from writing that document for them: their disagreement and noise.’”
REFERENCES
Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith 7366. Related versions appear in hadiths 114, 3053, 3168, 4431 and 5669, depending upon the edition and numbering system.
Sahih Muslim, Book of Wills, hadith 1637.
Musnad Ahmad, hadith 3336, includes the wording that they said the Messenger of Allah was delirious.
STATUS
Authentic according to both Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.
From that point onward, I inclined increasingly towards the Shia, because their analysis of every issue appeared logical to me.
I completed all the books of al-Tijani, Shaykh Muhammad Mar‘i Amin al-Antaki, and others. All these authors had once been Sunni and had subsequently become Shia. Throughout my life, I had never heard of a Shia who had become Sunni.
The Calamity of Thursday alone was sufficient to make me Shia.
Dear reader, I wish that you would learn about it, so that you might understand why I believe that I am upon the truth. It is an account that causes the forehead to perspire with shame. It is a disgrace preserved in Sunni books.
We therefore cannot blame Orientalists for what they write about our Messenger, because they have based their claims upon our own books, which are filled with reports of this kind concerning him.
I read the books and became convinced by them. At times, I was astonished by what I read. At other times, I was distressed by the years I had spent in spiritual blindness.
The Shia were upon the truth, and we were upon falsehood. They held firmly to the essence, while we clung to the outer husks.
They were the ones who truly deserved to be called “the People of the Sunnah,” because they had not changed what Muhammad, peace be upon him and his family, had brought. We, on the other hand, had followed the sunnah of Abu Bakr, Umar, and Mu‘awiyah.
I say it with complete frankness: the truth lies in following Ahl al-Bayt, concerning whom the Prophet, peace be upon him and his family, commanded us to remain steadfast.
He said:
ARABIC NARRATION: HADITH AL-THAQALAYN
إِنِّي تَارِكٌ فِيكُمْ مَا إِنْ تَمَسَّكْتُمْ بِهِ لَنْ تَضِلُّوا بَعْدِي، أَحَدُهُمَا أَعْظَمُ مِنَ الْآخَرِ: كِتَابُ اللَّهِ حَبْلٌ مَمْدُودٌ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ إِلَى الْأَرْضِ، وَعِتْرَتِي أَهْلُ بَيْتِي، وَلَنْ يَتَفَرَّقَا حَتَّى يَرِدَا عَلَيَّ الْحَوْضَ، فَانْظُرُوا كَيْفَ تَخْلُفُونِي فِيهِمَا.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
“I am leaving among you that which, if you hold firmly to it, will ensure that you never go astray after me. One of the two is greater than the other: the Book of Allah, a rope extending from heaven to earth, and my progeny, the people of my household. They shall never separate until they return to me at the Pool. Therefore, consider carefully how you treat them after me.”
REFERENCE
Jami‘ al-Tirmidhi, Book of Virtues, hadith 3788.
Al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak ‘ala al-Sahihayn, vol. 3, with related versions.
Musnad Ahmad, with several related transmissions.
Sahih Muslim, Book of the Virtues of the Companions, hadith 2408, records the related authentic sermon of Zayd ibn Arqam in which the Prophet left the Qur’an and repeatedly reminded the community of its duty towards his Ahl al-Bayt. Muslim’s version does not contain the complete “hold firmly to both and never go astray” wording quoted above.
STATUS
Al-Tirmidhi called his version “hasan gharib.” The hadith of the Qur’an and Ahl al-Bayt is transmitted through several routes, although scholars differ over the strength of particular chains and individual wordings.
The Prophet, peace be upon him and his family, also said:
ARABIC NARRATION: HADITH OF THE ARK
أَلَا إِنَّ مَثَلَ أَهْلِ بَيْتِي فِيكُمْ مَثَلُ سَفِينَةِ نُوحٍ مِنْ قَوْمِهِ، مَنْ رَكِبَهَا نَجَا، وَمَنْ تَخَلَّفَ عَنْهَا غَرِقَ.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
“Indeed, the likeness of my Ahl al-Bayt among you is like the Ark of Noah among his people: whoever boarded it was saved, and whoever remained behind was drowned.”
REFERENCES
Al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak ‘ala al-Sahihayn, vol. 3, p. 163 in some editions, hadith 4720.
Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Fada’il al-Sahabah, vol. 2, p. 785, hadith 1402.
Al-Tabarani, al-Mu‘jam al-Kabir, vol. 3, p. 45, hadith 2636, with additional wording.
STATUS
Al-Hakim declared a version authentic according to the conditions of Muslim. However, the individual chains contain narrators criticised by a number of Sunni hadith scholars. Al-Suyuti nevertheless classified the report as authentic on the basis of its combined routes. Its grading is therefore disputed.
Alas! How deeply I regret my past, when my eyes were closed and I walked with my peers and my people upon the path of misguidance.
Yet all praise belongs to Allah, who guided me through the efforts of this sincere and believing young woman.
Every Shia should rejoice and take pride, for the Shia are those who hold firmly to the strongest handhold, and they are the saved group about whom the Messenger of Allah spoke.
THE REPORT OF THE DIVISION OF THE COMMUNITY ALLUDED TO BY THE AUTHOR
ARABIC TEXT
افْتَرَقَتِ الْيَهُودُ عَلَى إِحْدَى وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً، وَافْتَرَقَتِ النَّصَارَى عَلَى اثْنَتَيْنِ وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً، وَسَتَفْتَرِقُ هَذِهِ الْأُمَّةُ عَلَى ثَلَاثٍ وَسَبْعِينَ فِرْقَةً.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
“The Jews divided into seventy-one sects, the Christians divided into seventy-two sects, and this community will divide into seventy-three sects.”
REFERENCES
Sunan Abi Dawud, hadith 4596.
Jami‘ al-Tirmidhi, hadith 2640–2641, depending upon the edition.
Sunan Ibn Majah, hadith 3991–3993, with varying wordings.
STATUS
The basic report concerning the division of the community has multiple routes and has been accepted by a number of Sunni hadith scholars. The additions defining the single saved group occur in variant forms and have been subject to greater debate.
After completing the books, I had fully embraced Shi‘ism. I closed the page upon my former days and decided that, from that very day, I would begin a new life.
On the day my friend Batoul—may Allah reward her with every goodness on my behalf—had promised to visit me, she arrived looking somewhat sorrowful.
“Why are you sad, my friend?” I asked.
“It is the Day of Ashura,” she replied. “Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, taught that we should not smile on this day. Husayn, peace be upon him, was killed on this day, and his martyrdom was a tragedy for the entire Muslim community.”
REPORT RELATED TO IMAM AL-SADIQ’S CONDITION ON ASHURA
ARABIC TEXT
رَوَى عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ سِنَانٍ قَالَ: دَخَلْتُ عَلَى سَيِّدِي أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ جَعْفَرِ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ عَلَيْهِمَا السَّلَامُ فِي يَوْمِ عَاشُورَاءَ، فَأَلْفَيْتُهُ كَاسِفَ اللَّوْنِ، ظَاهِرَ الْحُزْنِ، وَدُمُوعُهُ تَنْحَدِرُ مِنْ عَيْنَيْهِ كَاللُّؤْلُؤِ الْمُتَسَاقِطِ.
فَقُلْتُ: يَا ابْنَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ، مِمَّ بُكَاؤُكَ؟ لَا أَبْكَى اللَّهُ عَيْنَيْكَ.
فَقَالَ لِي: أَوَفِي غَفْلَةٍ أَنْتَ؟ أَمَا عَلِمْتَ أَنَّ الْحُسَيْنَ بْنَ عَلِيٍّ أُصِيبَ فِي مِثْلِ هَذَا الْيَوْمِ؟
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Abd Allah ibn Sinan reported:
“I entered the presence of my master, Abu Abd Allah Ja‘far ibn Muhammad, peace be upon them both, on the Day of Ashura. I found that his complexion had changed, his sorrow was plainly visible, and tears were descending from his eyes like falling pearls.
“I said, ‘O son of the Messenger of Allah, why are you weeping? May Allah never cause your eyes to weep.’
“He replied, ‘Are you unaware? Do you not know that Husayn ibn Ali was struck down on a day like this?’”
REFERENCE
Al-Shaykh al-Tusi, Misbah al-Mutahajjid, vol. 1, p. 782 in the cited digital edition; also transmitted in later collections, including Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 45.
VERIFICATION NOTE
The source establishes Imam al-Sadiq’s visible sorrow and weeping on Ashura. I did not locate the exact sentence, “We must not smile on this day,” in this wording within the report cited above. The book appears to paraphrase the broader tradition of mourning during Muharram.
I said:
“May Allah curse the enemies of Islam. O Awaited Imam, may Allah hasten your relief so that you may fill this world with equity and justice after it has been filled with oppression and tyranny.”
My friend looked surprised.
“Are you mocking me?” she asked.
“Far from it!” I replied.
I kissed her between the eyes and said:
“Thank you—thank you, Batoul, for this gift. You have rescued me from the darkness and ignorance in which I had been living. You have transported me into light, knowledge, prophethood, and correct beliefs, and into the embrace of the Imams of guidance, the descendants of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and his family.
“Do you have more books like these?”
She replied:
“If what you have read is sufficient and you have attained complete certainty, I will now give you some of our own books written by Shia authors.”
“That is what I desire,” I said. “Now let us go and attend the commemoration of Ashura.”
I went with her and saw the people weeping and lamenting as though Husayn, peace be upon him, had only just been martyred.
I wept with them and lived through those blessed yet sorrowful moments. I felt the burdens within me being lifted and was finally able to breathe freely.
I regarded that day as the first day of my journey in Shi‘ism. I considered my tears to be tears of grief over the days that had passed, grief for Islam, and grief over the accusations that my friends and I had once directed at my Shia friend and at all the followers of her school—people who, after my conversion, became my beloved companions and my brothers and sisters in religion. May Allah bless them.
At first, I faced some opposition from my family—may Allah forgive them.
Yet through patience, by surpassing them in argument, and by memorising the answers to every issue that might arise whenever I debated anyone who heard that I had become Shia, I continued to succeed.
Eventually, I was able to bring two of my sisters into Shi‘ism.
By then, I had read nearly all the Shia books available to me, and I found in their doctrines and supplications an inexhaustible treasure.
That was the course of my life with Shi‘ism. It began with private doubts concerning the disagreements among the schools, and it ended with my public declaration of Shi‘ism and my adherence to the school of truth: the school of Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them.
Peace be upon you on the day you were born, on the day you were martyred, and on the day you shall be raised again.
Utterly lost is the one who neither knows you nor recognises your true rank.
I am deeply regretful, and I offer my apologies to you on my own behalf and on behalf of those Muslims who were ignorant of your relationship to the Prophet, ignorant of what he said concerning you, and ignorant of the love and devotion towards you that is obligatory upon us.
I also apologise for those who harmed you and caused others to circulate malicious allegations and lies about you and about everyone who held firmly to you.
May Allah curse them and burn them in His Fire.
Dear reader, should you desire further insight, you should read the books of al-Tijani, al-Antaki, Khalifat, and others who embraced Shi‘ism. Their journeys constitute evidence against us on the Day of Reckoning.
Within those works, you will find answers to all the questions whose answers I have not reproduced here. I have left them unanswered so that you may be encouraged to investigate the path of light and truth for yourself.
After reading them, should you remain unchanged and continue clinging to what you inherited, then farewell to the world and all that is good within it.
But should you reconsider, you will have proved yourself to be a refined human being who follows the words of Allah, the Exalted:
QUR’ANIC VERSES
فَبَشِّرْ عِبَادِ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ هَدَاهُمُ اللَّهُ ۖ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمْ أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
“So give glad tidings to My servants—those who listen to what is said and follow the best of it. They are the ones whom Allah has guided, and they are the people of understanding.”
Reference: Qur’an 39:17–18.