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Thursday 28th of March 2024
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Establishment of the Independent Identity of the School of the Ahl al-Bayt

After the beginning of the Era of Occultation (ghaybah) and, in particular, following the seventy-four year period of the Lesser Occultation and total severance of the Shi'ah from the Hidden Inan-may our souls be ransomed for him-one of the dangers that threatened the integrity of the school of the Ahl al-Bayt was that of accretions and losses that might occur in it through conscious or unconscious errors and deviations on behalf of those associated with this school. Another danger was that of adulteration of its truths with the doctrines or precepts of deviant creeds and counterfeit schools of jurisprudence as a result of the main conceptual boundaries of the school becoming vague and indistinct. Whenever such a thing occurred during the era of the Imam's presence in society, or whenever such a danger arose, the sacred person of the Imam himself represented the rallying centre and the criterion against which everything was judged and evaluated. Hence, as long as the Imam, may peace be upon him, was in the people's midst, errors did not linger for long and that infallible leader would elucidate the major errors at sensitive junctures. The Shi'ah were confident that if there occurs any deviation in the main lines of the school in any quarter, the truth would at last become manifest and those who seek it shall find it. During the times of the Imams, may peace be upon them, we come across individuals who were expressly repudiated and rejected for being guilty of some bid'ah, or for instituting a wrong creed, or for preaching some false doctrine-such as Muhammad ibn Miqlas, known as Abu al-Khattab, and Ibn Abi al--`Adhafir, known as al-Shalmaghani (this one pertaining to the era of the Lesser Occultation) and many others like them. We even come across instances where in cases of dispute between two groups of sincere and genuine followers when one of them denounced and ostracized some person or group for holding some belief, the Imam would rise to their defence by making complimentary remarks about them, approving that belief or acquitting the persons involved of the allegations of heresy. An example of it is the Imam's approval of Yunus ibn `Abd al-Rahman (through such remarks as: "rahimahullah, kana `abdan salihan," or "inna Yunusa awwalu man yujibu `Aliyyan idha da'ah";see Rijal al-Kashshi, the biographical account of Yunus ibn `Abd al-Rahman) when ostracized by the Qummis, who narrated denunciatory traditions regarding him. Another is the case of the Banu Faddal, who were eagerly sought for by the seekers of the sciences of the Ahl al-Bayt as a reliable source of knowledge. With the remark "khudhu ma rawu wa dharu ma daru" (`Take what they narrate but refrain from their interpretations'), the Imams checked their heretical (Fathi) belief from penetrating into the Shi`i masses. Such instances are numerous in the history of the relations of the Imams ('a) with their contemporaries and disciples.

 

From this viewpoint, during the period of his presence the Imam, may peace be upon him, is the ever-vigilant and watchful keeper of the creed's frontiers who safeguards the boundaries of the creed which are critical to its integrity.

 

However, it is a totally different situation during the period of occultation of the Imam, especially during the Greater Occultation. In this period, on the one hand, due to the daily increasing needs of the community, which now had to be met by the `ulama' rather than the Imam (`a), and, on the other, due to the absence of a clear and decisive authority to settle what are natural disagreements between the `Ulama' and the learned of the faith, the door is open for different ideas, views and interpretations in matters of religious doctrine and law. Amongst the varied opinions that emerged, it was natural that elements belonging to deviant schools of thought or those pertaining to heretical Shi'i creeds (Zaydi, Isma'ili, Fathi, etc.) should enter the school of the Ahl al-Bayt, may peace be upon them, and compromise its purity and integrity, or even pose the threat of total disintegration in the long run.

 

Here arises one of the most important duties of the living leaders of the ummah, a duty which if carried out faithfully ensures the survival of the faith and amounts to a jihad critical for its continued life. That duty is that of the definition of the Shi'i faith as a system of thought and practice and the determination of a doctrinal and legal framework derived from the precious legacy of the statements of the Imams, may peace be upon them. The independent and clear-cut identity of the faith of the Ahl al-Bayt (`a)thus defined becomes available to its followers for understanding and utilization. This enables the `ulama' and the thinkers to distinguish departures from the principles in kalam and fiqh from variance of opinion within the framework of the school.

 

There is no doubt that this task had remained unattended until the time of al-Mufid, may God's mercy be upon him. Ibn al-Junayd's deviant inclination towards qiyas in fiqh and Mu'tazilite leanings in kalam on behalf of the house of Nawbakht are the best evidence of this claim, and these are just two examples of consequences arising from the absence of definition of boundaries of Shi'ism in the spheres of doctrine and law.

 

In the field of fiqh, the neglect of rational principles of juristic deduction and the failure to practise the inference of detailed rules from general principles-which were an incontestable part of the teachings of the Imams, may peace be upon them-or, on the opposite side, tumbling into the valley of qiyas, are reckoned as two opposite deviant tendencies that emerged as a result of the absence of a clear-cut framework and there existing no demarcation of the conceptual boundaries of the school. In the field ofkalam, the major manifestation of this absence of framework is the adulteration of Shi'i kalam by Mu'tazilite theology.

 

In the second case, the consequences were greater and more harmful. In this relation, the following cases are worthy of note:

 

(a) Major and famed theologians such as those of the Nawbakhti family fell victim to Mu'tazilite tendencies in many issues of 'ilm al-kalam and, like the Mu'tazilah, adopted an extreme rationalism for understanding theological issues.

 

(b) Some major Shi'i figures have been claimed by the Mu'tazilah, and Mu'tazili writers consider them as belonging to their own fold. One of them is the famous Shi'i scholar and theologian al-Hasan ibn Musa al-Nawbakhti, the nephew and contemporary of Abu Sahl Isma'il ibn 'Ali al-Nawbakhti, the distinguished figure of the Nawbakhtis. 

 

(c) It came to be imagined that Shi'ism and Mu'tazilism could come together in a single person, and some eminent figures are presented as having been both Shi'i and Mu'tazili. Some even accepted such a notion concerning themselves, proclaiming it repeatedly, and coming to believe it! An example of this kind is al-Sahib ibn 'Abbad, who declares in his verses:

 

 

Were my heart to be split open, Its inside would reveal a couplet, written by no scribe: 'Justice and tawhid' on one, And 'Love of the Ahl al-Bayt' on the other side. 

 

And elsewhere he says:

 declared: Indeed I am a Shi'i and a Mu'tazili!

 , despite the fact that the distinctive doctrine of Shi'sm is the Imamate of the Ahl al-Bayt, may peace be upon them, which no Mu'tazili accepts, and the distinctive dogma of I'tizal is al-manzilah bayn al-manzilatayn[i.e. the belief that the perpetrator of a major sin is neither a mu'min nor akafir], which contradicts established Shi'i beliefs.

 

(d) Some Shi'i scholars accepted one of the five Mu'tazilite dogmas without being styled Mu'tazili by others or themselves. For instance, al-Najashi writes about Muhammad ibn Bishr al-Hamduni that "he held sound beliefs but believed in wa'id" [i.e. the belief that the perpetrator of grave sins would be in hell forever] (Rijal, p. 381).

 

(e) Shi'i kalam in general has been thought to have been derived from Mu'tazilite kalam, in particular the two doctrines of tawhid and 'adl,which are claimed to have entered Shi'ite theology from I'tizal. This notion is repeatedly stated in the statements of non-Shi'i heresiographers and theologians from the early times to the later eras, as well as in the statements of those who have relied for their information on non-Shi'i works, as in the case of the Orientalists. Even at the time of al-Mufid himself, the Mu'tazilite theologian and Hanafi faqih from Saghan, to whom al-Mufid refers as the "deluded shaykh" in his al-Masa'il al-Saghaniyyah,did have such a misconception about al-Mufid, concerning whom he says, "A shaykh from Baghdad who has borrowed his ideas from the Mu'tazilites has said . . . " (see al-Masa'il al-Saghaniyyah, p. 41). However, Shi'i researchers and writers-excepting those who, like the Orientalists, have relied on non-Shi'i sources-have remained secure from this error and this is on account of the greatly fruitful work of al-Mufid. 


source : http://dawoodi-bohras.com/news/99/64/Recostruction-of-Islamic-thought/d,pdb_detail_article/
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