A group from our Shia will love us until they will say about us that which the Jews said about Uzayr and that which the Christians said about Isa b. Maryam, so neither are they from us, nor are we from them[1] - Imam al-Sajjad Introduction The original Ghulat did not all share identical … Continue reading The Worldview of the Ghulat (Pt. I)
“We have woken up (i.e. a time has reached) and there is no one who is more inimical (an enemy to us) than those who claim to love us”[1] - Imam al-Sadiq Introduction The most serious challenge to the school of Ahl al-Bayt came from the Ghulat. This is because, unlike external enemies whose … Continue reading The Imams Against the Ghulat
Introduction The presence of contradictions between Ḥadīth (reports) attributed to the Imams within the Shīʿa corpus is an undeniable problem. One that requires explanation. This is especially so because the problem has a long back-history of being weaponised by detractors seeking to expose the inconsistency between it and the theological doctrine of the inerrancy of … Continue reading Sayyid Sīstānī on Why Shīʿa Ḥadīth Contradict (Pt. I)
Introduction What follows is a translation of a small part of the notes of Sayyid ʿAlī al-Sīstānīʾs Baḥth al-Khārij (advance lessons) on Uṣūl al-Fiqh (legal theory) as transcribed by one of his students, Sayyid Hāshim al-Hāshimī, dating back to approximately fourty years ago[1]. The discussion concerns a major topic in Uṣūl al-Fiqh, which is, the … Continue reading Sayyid Sīstānī on Why Shīʿa and Sunni Ḥadīth Differ
What is Fihrist? Why Fihrist? Most readers will possess a rudimentary understanding of Rijal (or Ilm al-Rijal), the discipline in which the status of a narrator is studied in order to evaluate whether his reports should be accepted or not. Much less is known about the Faharis (sing. Fihrist) - the name given to works … Continue reading A New Approach to Authenticating Shia Hadith – The Bahth al-Fihristi
