now this:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1863028643997746&id=100008718844905&fs=0
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[is there an emoji for shaking head?]
before this snowballs in another controversy, let us assess this:
mufti ashraf sahib in his short speech said:
if i were in that time, i would be with mawla `ali raDiyAllahu anhu, and raise my sword in the army of mawla `ali, and fight alongside ali against the army of hazrat amir muawiyah
mufti aslam sahib objects that a person in this age cannot say this, because:
and facing you is a sahabi, a person of our time saying that "i would fight with a sahabi.."
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the latter implies that a person in our time cannot say this.
but if you think about it: if mufti ashraf sahib would indeed be in the time of those battles, he would be a contemporary of the sahabah NOT a person from our time. and by all rights, he SHOULD have been with mawla ali, because that was the most appropriate thing to do. else we would be talking of a certain 'ashraf' who did not aid mawla ali!
and mufti aslam sahib's citing imam shafiyi is also proper but in a different sense:
Allah has saved your hands from being stained by their blood; safeguard your tongues from being stained too
that is, it would be a difficult choice - and it would be quite probable that we would be fighting a sahabi (al-iyadhu billah) and hurt them, which would be a great enormity. so it is a relief that we were spared such a choice.
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conclusion:
mufti ashraf sahib is only emphasising that "mawla ali was on Haqq; he was in the right; and it was only appropriate that we should have aided him in his battles". in saying so, he is expressing his desire to support the Haqq and his love of mawla ali raDiyAllahu anhu.
but mufti aslam sahib is also right: "praise Allah, that you were spared the difficult choice of fighting a saHabi, EVEN if you were in mawla ali's camp".
besides, who knows where would we be? what if we (al-iyadhu billah) were ignorant of mawla ali's greatness and did not know that "aqDakum ali" and decided to support OTHER sahabah, thereby fighting mawla ali's army?
RasulAllah sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam has said:
"do not be (eager to or) wish to meet the enemy (in a battle) - ask Allah ta'ala to give you safety" [sahih muslim, #1742]
Allah knows best.
نسأل الله العافية