ALSO: Shaykh Ahmed Sirhindi on Sufi Authority: “And there is another way close to the spiritual sovereignty and this is the way of the Saints and the general friends of Allah, and this way is marked by its characteristic passion and it carries the guarantee of mediation and the leader and chieftain of the Saints of this way is ‘Alī al-Murtada. And this grand office is reserved for him. On this way, the feet of the Holy Prophet are on ‘Alī’s head and Fatima and Hasan and Husayn are included with him. I believe that he enjoyed this position even before his physical birth, as he did after it, and whosoever has received the divine blessing and guidance, has received it through him, because he is closest to the last point on this way and the centre of this spot belongs to him. And when his period ended, the grand office passed on to Hasan and Husayn and then on to each one of the Twelve Imāms, individually and elaborately. And whosoever received guidance in their life and after their death, received it through these Saints. And the refuge and place of shelter of the Saints of high ranks are these Saints, (because they are the centre of all spiritual activity) and the sides tend to converge on the centre” (Maktubat, Volume 9:173#123). “O Brother! Indeed Imam ‘Ali is the holder of the keys of the Sainthood, Wilayah, of the Prophet Muhammad and the training regime for the status of Aqtab, Awtad and Abdaal, who are from amongst the reserved Awliya, is done under the shelter of his Sainthood. The rank of Qutb al-Aqtab, who is the greatest Qutb and the guide and mentor of others, lays under his (‘Ali’s) feet. His orders are issued under the supervision and support of ‘Ali and he performs his duties under the supervision and support of ‘Ali and fulfills his tasks. Sayyida Fatima and both of her sons, the Imams (Hasan and Husayn) share this rank with ‘Ali.” (Maktubat Imam Rabbani, Volume 1:438#251) The venerable Muhaddith Shah Wali Allah wrote: “This Faqir has come to know that from all the other relations, the Twelve Imams [ra] have the relation of central pole leadership (Qutb). And the way of Tassawuf (Sufism) had taken birth during their lifetime. But all the orders of Aqaed and Shariah are limited to the ahadeeth of the Prophet (saww). And they have the order (Amr) of inner (Batin) leadership (Qutbiyat), which is free from the problems of Shariah. And in regards to the very leadership (Qutbiyat), each of them had an indication and ‘Nas’ for the next one to come, and the affairs of imamate which they said, actually referred to this kind of central pole leadership (Qutbiyat).” [Maqalaat al Waziyah fi Naseehat al-Wasiyah, page 7 (Lucknow)].
Bahr ul Kalam notes continued: The proof of the superiority of Abu Bakr as Siddiq is that Imam Ali was upon the minbar at Kufah and his son Muhammad Ibn Hanafiyya asked him “who is the best of this nation after the Messenger?”. He replied: “Abu Bakr”. Then he asked, “then who”, he said, “Umar”, “then who”, “Uthman”, “then who”, and he remained silent. He said, “if you wish I can inform you of the fourth”, and Muhammad Ibn Hanafiyya said, “You?”, and Imam Ali said, “your father is but a man among the Muslims”. And Ali remained silent because he did not wish to praise himself. Another proof of this is that the Apostle, alayhis salam used to seat Abu Bakr on his right hand side, and Umar on the left, and he did this consistently until his passing. And do not think, as the Shia claim, that somehow Abu Bakr and Umar forced themselves into this position and intimidated all Muslims into accepting their authority, including the Prophet himself, for obviously the Prophet did not fear his two best friends, who would, and did, sacrifice their lives for him. Thus the Prophet delegated the task of Imamate to him during his illness, and it seems as though he did this with a particular purpose in mind, because he delegated this task to him in front of all of the companions. (pg179) ON THE SAYING OF THE PROPHET TO IMAM ALI: “You are to me as Harun was to Moses”… If someone quotes the hadith “You are to me at the same station as Harun was to Moses except that there is no Prophet after me” (Sahih Muslim) And there was no caliphate for Harun, and the response to the hadith is that his superiority is not from the aspect you suppose, i.e. it is not from the political aspect but a deeper spiritual aspect which is the intended meaning of the hadith. Also, this hadith is referring to the Prophet nominating Imam Ali to guard over Madinah while he went for war, and the hypocrites believe that the Messenger did this out of dislike for Ali and thus left him behind. It was in this context that the Prophet had to dispel this false propaganda against our Master Ali, something he had to do another time at the event which took place at Ghadir, another instance which the Shiites use as proof that Ali was chosen for caliphate to the exception of all others, despite knowing the statement of the Imam on this matter. And thus in response to the false propaganda of the hypocrites the Prophet said, “You are to me as Harun was to Moses”. Now, if you want to believe that a statement which was clearly intended for the purpose of alleviating emotional stress was imbedded with a secret message which contained information regarding an important obligation of Islam, then that is up to you, but we of Ahlus Sunnah do not believe that the final messenger of God would relay important commands of faith ambiguously in code form. If he wanted to use this opportunity to appoint Ali as caliph, which would have been rather out of place considering the circumstances, it would have been more fitting if he had said, “you are to me as Yusha’ Ibn Nun was to Moses”, because it was Yusha’, or Joshua who succeeded him as political leader and not Aaron. (p.180) On the term rawafid: The Rawafid are a group of Shia who deny the Imamate of Abu Bakr and Umar, yet Allah is pleased with them both. Also, the origin of the title was when Zayd Ibn Ali rode out in opposition to Hisham Ibn Abdal Malik, in the same style as his grandfather Imam Husayn, and his followers demanded that he curse at Abu Bakr and Umar, Allah is pleased with both of them, so he prohibited them from that, thus they all abandoned him, so he said to them, “have you deserted me?” (rafadtumuni?), thus the title of Rawafid stuck to them. Nevertheless, it is from the belief of the Rawafid that: “the revelations were intended for Ali but Angel Gabriel made error in delivering it to Muhammad, alayhis salam”. A group of them also believe that he was a partner of the Messenger in prophecy, and they are all disbelievers. That is because they denied a clear statement of the Quran, and the consensus of the community. Some of them even believe that Imam Ali was more knowledgeable than the Prophet, and he was like to the Prophet as Khidr was to Moses, they are most certainly disbelievers. The reply to this is that Imam Ali only acquired his knowledge through the Prophet’s teachings, although this is the most lenient and polite of answers, and there are several answers we can give that both relay the truth and shake their evil hearts for their arrogance. Remember the hadith, “I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its gate” (pg.181), thus Ali is a beneficiary of the Messenger, and not the other way round. Khidr possessed llm al ladunni, i.e. inspired knowledge, a.k.a. llham, and the Prophet Moses was superior since he possessed a sacred law (sharia system) and a revealed book, thus a possessor of a revealed book is superior to one without a revealed book, like David over Solomon, and David is superior because the Psalms (zabur) was revealed to him. (pg.182) Some of the Rawafid believe: ‘Ali and his sons will return to the earth after death, take revenge on their enemies, and fill the earth with justice as it was previously filled with oppression’. (pg.188) The Ahlus Sunnah says: “none who have passed away shall return to the Earth until the day of resurrection”. The Quran, in Surah Taha, verse fifty five states, “From it (the earth) we have created you, and into it we shall return you, and from it We shall remove you one more time”, and it did not mention two times, but once. And in the same fashion, He , the almighty says, “do they not see how many nations we have destroyed before them, they will never return to them” (Yasin:31), and the Messenger said, “there is no place of residence after death except heaven or hell”. A GROUP OF THEM SAY: “The earth is never without a Prophet, and prophecy has come as an inheritance to Ali and his children.” The Rawafid believe that the Imamate is not given except through divine decree and that the Prophet clearly announced the Imamate of Ali Ibn Abi Talib through direct succession to the Prophet and that he clearly showed this and announced it, and that the companions all went astray after the Prophet, alayhis salam, because they did not follow the Imamate of Ali. Since they believed that prophecy came as a direct inheritance to Ali and his children and thus it is obligatory upon the Muslims to follow Imam Ali in the caliphate, whoever does not do that then it is necessary to declare him as a disbeliever. Ahlus Sunna hold that there is no Prophet after Muhammad, alayhis salam. And a hadith is narrated from Abu Hurayrah, “If someone emerges claiming prophecy, someone who asks him for proof or clarification has disbelieved, because it is an obvious truth that there is no more prophecy, so asking for clarification is doubting that well known Quranic fact, and whoever claims prophecy after Muhammad does so only in falsehood”. (pg.183) ON THE SAYING OF THE RAWAFID: “The Imam is the Quran that Ali gathered” The Ahlus Sunnah say: “The Imam is the Quran gathered by Uthman Ibn Affan”. Since Caliph Abu Bakr had gathered the Quran upon the passing of the Messenger. And he used to recite it and none differed in it, and the time of Umar came after that, differences arose in recitation styles during the caliphate of Uthman, where foreigners converted to Islam and read using concessions which allowed them to incorporate their various dialects into the Arabic used by the Quran, and when that happened, some of them started to argue with the others out of ignorance that only their recitation was correct. Thus Hudhayfah Ibn al Yaman rode to meet the Caliph telling him that something had to be done before the Ummah began to argue about the Quran in the same way the Jews and Christians differed. So he was sent to Hafsa, mother of the believers, and requested from her the manuscript of the Quran gathered by Abu Bakr. After that, Hudhayfah commissioned Zayd Ibn Thabit, Saeed Ibn al As, Abdullah Ibn Zubayr, and Abdullah Ibn al Harith Ibn Hisham that they should order the scripture according to the original recitation. He said to them that if they differed in the Arabic recitation of the script, that they should write it in the original Quraysh script, the Quran was revealed upon their dialect, once the Quranic verses were all copied afresh, Uthman sent the manuscript back to Hafsa, and he sent a copy to all the major cities, and that all manuscripts differing from this one should be destroyed. The new ordering of the Quran was done in accordance with the one gathered by Abu Bakr, during whose time,the inscriptions were not put in any particular order, and under Uthman’s initiative, the manuscript was reordered according to the instructions of the Prophet, and since this project was his initiative, it is named the Uthmanic manuscript, not because he altered the Quranic verses, as the Shiites claim, and it suffices that the companions all agreed upon this project of his, included Imam Ali who praised him for it. And whoever denies a verse from the mushaf of Uthman has indeed disbelieved, because the manuscript of Uthman is the one upon which all companions agreed upon. (pg.184-185) Issues to do with the caliphate of Abu Bakr as Siddiq or the completeness of the Quran are dealt with as disbelief, and issues to do with the superiority of Ali, is seen as innovation, because during the period when that issue was controversial, people who were Tafdili were usually political agitators, so it was seen as a sign of anarchy, however, if any modern Shiites do not hold these beliefs, they should call themselves Sunni, and if they still do hold these beliefs, then it is better for them to stop extending the hand of alliance to Subcontinental Sunnis who are apparently still undecided on their opinion or who just dont know why they are wrong.
