INTRODUCTION
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Praise be to Allah the Lord of the worlds, and the best of blessings and purest of greetings be on the one sent as mercy to all creatures; our master and guardian Abul Qasim Muhammad ibn Abdullah the last of prophets and messengers and on his immaculate progeny the leaders of guidance and lanterns in darkness; the imams of the nation and saviors of mankind.
Allah has, by the grace of Muhammad and his progeny (peace be on them), favored me with the guidance to know the Truth that there is nothing after which except deviation, and made me taste the sweetness of the fruit that had ripen in the six books;
1 Then I was Guided, To be with the Truthful, Then ask the People of Remembrance (those who know), the Shia are the People of the Surma, Fear Allah, Know the Truth, in order to inform of that concealed truth, and consequently many truthful people who always search for the pure truth, turned to follow the way of the immaculate Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) and became Shia.
Such people cannot be counted. In fact, only Allah the Almighty knows their real number :
And none knows the hosts of your Lord but He Himself. 2
However, the many letters that come to me in Paris and in Tunisia from everywhere in the world make me happy and hopeful that the deliverance of Allah is imminent and that His promise is true. Thus, I quote this verse that reads :
Or do you think that you would enter the garden while yet the state of those who have passed away before you has not
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1 Written by the author before.
2 Qur'an, 74:31.
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come upon you; distress and affliction befell them and they were shaken violently, so that the Messenger and those who believed with him said: When will the help of Allah come? Now surely the help of Allah is nigh. 3
Through reading those letters, I feel that goodness does not and shall never stop at all and that the truth prevails and is not overcome. Allah the Almighty says,
Nay! We cast the truth against the falsehood, so that it breaks its head, and lo! it vanishes. 4
Since it is Allah Who casts the truth against the falsehood, so I do not and will never hesitate at all in announcing what I believe that it is the truth until Allah judges between me and those fanatics who approve nothing except that which they have accustomed to, even if it is false, and deny nothing except that which they have ignored even if it is truth. Nevertheless, I pray Allah to endow them with guidance and success, for it is He Who guides whomever He likes to the Right Path.
And since I communicate with a great number of readers and researchers through letters or direct reviews during the lectures that I give on different occasions, I found that some people saw that which I had written (in my books) as the truth, but they often said: we are in no need to provoke these problems that may be against the unity of Muslims in a time that the west and the east have gathered together to do away with the Muslims.
I saw in their saying an acceptable logic and reasonable opinion, because they try their best to narrow the cycle of disagreement and to unite the rows (of Muslims); therefore, I followed their request obediently and accepted their advices with gratefulness calling to mind the saying of Ameerul Mo'minin (a.s.) :
"Let the most beloved of affairs to you be the most
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3 Qur'an, 2:214.
4 Qur'an, 21:81.
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moderate of which in the truth, the most comprehensive in justice, and most thorough in the satisfaction of the subjects, because the dissatisfaction of the public annuls the satisfaction of the upper class, and the dissatisfaction of the upper class is forgiven by the satisfaction of the public ..."
5
For all that, I put before dear readers this book All Solutions are with the Prophet's progeny' in which I try all my best to avoid the sensitive issues that may provoke some people and then take them away from the truth, and thus the purpose of guiding them becomes vain.
In fact, I think that the provocative manner that provokes high souls, which I have depended on in my previous books, has given fruitful and wonderful results; nevertheless, it is no problem to me to follow a peaceful, lenient manner that may convince many people, and here the fruits become more delicious and more appetizing. Thus, I follow the two manners together as the Holy Qur'an that has followed the manner of interesting and the manner of warning to take the greedy to the Paradise and save the fearful from the Hell.
Since we do not look forward to the position of Imam Ali (a.s.) who did not worship Allah out of the greed for His Paradise nor out of the fear of His Fire and who even if the screen had been uncovered to him he would not have been more certain than he had been, so we ask Allah the Almighty to favor us with His mercy and join us to the righteous.
Muhammad at-Tijani as-Sammawi
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5 From Imam Ali's missive to Malik al-Ashtar when he (Imam Ali) appointed him as the wali over Egypt.
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PREFACE
We have tried our best in our previous books to convince Muslims of the necessity of adhering to the Holy Qur'an and the immaculate progeny of the Prophet (a.s.) and to keep to them together to assure guidance and the deliverance from deviation. This is according to what the Prophet (a.s.) had confirmed and reliable narrators had narrated in their true books of Hadith of the two sects, the Shia and the Sunni altogether.
As we think, we have fully carried out the research on this subject and have not spared any effort in explaining this fact in different ways that the research required and took us to it whether willingly or unwillingly, until some people thought that we tried to defame the Prophet's companions, hurt their dignities, or deface their honesty.
We swear by Allah the Almighty that we did not want except to exalt the Prophet (a.s.), who represents the whole Islam, and deem him far above every defect and also to exalt and deem his progeny, who are equivalent to the Qur'an, far above every defect; that whoever knows them knows the Qur'an and whoever ignores them ignores the Qur'an, as the Prophet (a.s.) often declared.
By the assistance of Allah the Almighty, we shall uncover in this book that a contemporary Muslim, who lives the civilization of the twentieth century and faces different challenges, cannot abide by the Islamic Sharia
1 correctly except when he keeps to the Immaculate Progeny of the Prophet (a.s.).
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1 The Islamic code of religious law, based on the teachings of the Qur'an and the traditional sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (a.s.).
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The fact that cannot be overlooked is that the Holy Qur'an and the Prophetic Sunna have been liable to misinterpretation and distortion. The Qur'anic verses were interpreted into different meanings away from the actual concepts of the Sharia, and the Prophetic Sunna was distorted by adding fabricated traditions to it that the Prophet (a.s.) was free from.
All the tafsirs
1 that we have in our hands nowadays are not free from some Israelite fables and false interpretations or some personal opinions of interpreters who says that some verses have been abrogated. The same is said about the books of Hadith that underwent fabrication, insertion, and distortion. It can be said that no book has remained untouched. Therefore, Muslims have to revert to the infallible imams of the Prophet's progeny, because they are the only ones who can correctly interpret and explain the revelation of Allah and purify the Prophetic traditions from all blemishes and distortion.
If the final goal of Muslims today is the call to go back to the righteous first companions to take the two sources of legislation from them only as they were the best of people, as most of Muslims believe, then we have to ask these people what their argument is. We can ask them for a convincing evidence and inevitable proof that let no Muslim turn here or there, and make any Muslim submit satisfactorily while his heart is certain. Just the trusting in someone or even his righteousness and good conduct do not make it surely that he has sound perception or infallibility.
Imam Ali, the gate of the Prophet's town of knowledge, referred to this point when he said :
In the hands of people there is truth and falsehood, truthfulness and untruthfulness, abrogating and abrogated (rulings), general and special (rulings), clear and ambiguous, memorizing and supposition. It was fabricated
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1 Books of interpretation and commentary of the Qur'an.
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against the messenger of Allah (a.s.) at his time, until he made a speech saying, let him, he who intendedly fabricates against me, take his seat in the Fire ...'
In fact, those, who convey to you speech, are four men (kinds) who have no fifth one; a hypocrite man who shows faith, pretends Islam, does not refrain from sins or feel shy, and fabricates intendedly against the messenger of Allah, may Allah have blessing and peace on him and his progeny. If people knew that he is a hypocrite and liar, they would not accept from him or believe his saving, but they said, 'he is a companion of the messenger of Allah, may Allah have blessing and peace on him and his progeny, that he (the hypocrite) saw him (the Prophet), heard from him, and took from him', and so they accept from him, though Allah has informed you about the hypocrites with what He has informed, and described them to you with what He has described. Then, they remained after him, peace be on him, and approached to the leaders of deviation and the inviters to the Fire with falsehood an fabrication, and they entrusted them with posts and made them rulers over the necks of people, and ate by them this worldly life. Surely, (most of) people are with the rulers and the worldly life except those whom Allah has preserved. So, this is one of the four men.
And a man who heard something from the messenger of Allah but did not memorize it as it was and he was uncertain of it and did not intend to tell lies. Thus, this (saying of the Prophet) is in his hands and he narrates and acts according to it and says, 'I heard it from the messenger of Allah, may Allah have blessing and peace on him and his progeny'. If Muslims knew that he was uncertain in it, they would not accept from him, and if he himself knew that it was so, he would deny it.
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And a third man who heard from the messenger of Allah something that he (the Prophet) ordered people to do, and then he ordered them not to do it, but he (the man) did not know, or he heard him (the Prophet) forbidding something and then he permitted it, but he (the man) did not know, so he memorized the abrogated thing and did not memorize the abrogating thing. If he knew it was abrogated, he would deny it, and if Muslims, when hearing from him, knew that it was abrogated, they would deny it.
And a fourth man who fabricated neither against Allah nor against His messenger. He hates lying for fear of Allah and as glorification of the messenger of Allah, may Allah have blessing and peace on him and his progeny, and he was not uncertain, but he memorized what he heard as it was. He narrated exactly what he heard with neither increase nor decrease. He memorized the abrogating ruling and did according to it, and memorized the abrogated thing and avoided it. He knew the general and special (rulings), and the clear and the ambiguous, so he put everything in its right place.
The speech of the messenger of Allah, may Allah have blessing and peace on him and his progeny, might have two sides; special speech (meaning) and general speech, and that one may hear it and he does not know what Allah the Almighty has meant by it nor what has the messenger of Allah meant by it, and so the hearer interprets it without knowing its actual meaning, purpose, and reason.
And not all the companions of the messenger of Allah (a.s.) asked and inquired from him (the Prophet) that they might wish a nomad or a foreigner to come and ask him (the Prophet) so that they would hear (the answer). But, nothing from that passed by me except that I asked him (the Prophet) about and memorize it. These are the sides on which people are in their disagreements and defects of their narrations.
1
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1 Nahjol Balagha, sermon 208.
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From the speech of Ameerul Mo'minin (a.s.) it becomes clear to us the great difficulty that surrounds us in order to arrive at the real concepts and meanings of the Sharia.
Since this was Imam Ali's analysis at his very time when there was no more than twenty-five yeas passing after the Prophet's death, and the availability of him (Imam Ali) and most of the Prophet's companions (alive), who could revise and purify the Prophetic traditions, then what can we say about the state of Muslims after the passing of fourteen centuries while the nation has disagreed and divided into different sects and cults? For all that, a researcher has to be fully cautious before he may judge for a certain sect and consider it true, or against another and deny it.
As we have mentioned in our previous books through scientific historical studies that the Twelver Shia are the Saved Group that represents the right Islamic line, so this judgment was not the result of the conditions and circumstances that I lived and reacted according to them, but it is a fact proved by the Qur'an and the Sunna as it has also been proved by the true history that is free from distortion and fabrication. In fact, reason that has been endowed by Allah with the ability of arguing and distinction through evidence can easily get to this clear fact. Allah the Almighty says :
... therefore, give good news to My servants, who listen to the word, then follow the best of it; those are they whom Allah has guided, and those it is who are the men of understanding. 1
Allah also says about those who set their reasons aside and therefore deserve torment :
And they shall say: Had we been wont to listen or have sense, we had not been among the dwellers in the Burning Fire. 2
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1 Qur'an, 39:17-18.
2 Qur'an, 67:10.
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In spite of all that and in spite of all the clear arguments and irrefutable proofs that have been mentioned in my previous books, some people, may Allah forgive them, do not read with their minds and hearts but with their emotions. They only read what pleases their feelings and inclination. They have learnt to be against all what may oppose their beliefs and to despise all what may disagree with their wishes.
Since we are from the faithful who love goodness to be for all Muslims and try the best to guide them to the right path, which we thought it is the Ship of Deliverance, so we do not become desperate and we remain until the last of our life inviting them to goodness and happiness that nothing after which except the Garden of Bliss.
Ameerul Mo'minin Imam Ali (a.s.) says :
May Allah have mercy on a man who sees a truth and he assists it, or sees injustice and he denies it, and be assistant by truth against the injustice-doer.
He also says :
I hate for you to be revilers, but you may describe their deeds and mention their conditions, and it would be more correct in saying and more effective in excusing. You may say instead of abusing them: 0 Allah, spare our bloods and their bloods, and reconcile between us and them, and guide them from their deviation, until those, who have ignored the truth, know it, and those, who have attached themselves to aggression and enmity, refrain from it.
1
In my six previous books, I have followed this style which Imam Ali (a.s.) had advised his followers to follow; therefore, I was not a reviler, but I described their
2 deeds and mentioned their
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1 Nahjol Balagha, sermon 204.
2 The companions and men of authority of the first stages of Islam who had committed some errors and injustices and who have been taken as ideal models by great numbers of Muslims.
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conducts, so that those, who ignored the truth, would know it. Yet, what shall I do to those, who do not accept even to describe and mention the deeds and conducts of those companions? And what shall I do when the truth cannot be shown except by this way?
Here in my seventh book, I try my best not to mention the conducts of those companions or describe their deeds, but I try to prove the right of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) and their followers in a new manner that may please most of people, though I think that the satisfaction of all people is an unreachable goal. I pray Allah the Almighty to make me successful in doing what He may please, make all Muslims successful in doing everything good and guide them and us to the truth, make us not die except on the Right Path, and make our end the best.
Longing for his Lord's mercy
Muhammad at-Tijani as- Sammawi
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THIS IS THE TRUE ISLAM
This was the title that I chose for the lecture I gave in the mosque of my Sunni brothers in the city of San Francisco, California, the United States of America two years ago. That day, there was a great crowd of men and women from different nations and countries; from Africa, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Egypt who attended the lecture and most of them left satisfied after the free purposeful argumentation.
An academic Egyptian, who recently had his doctorate, objected to me during the argumentation, saying, "How could Shiism be the true Islam, whereas the well-known thing is that the Sunni are the saved group (on the Day of Resurrection) who have kept to the Qur'an and the Sunna altogether, while the other sects are in deviation?"
Very calmly, I answered him and directed my speech to all of attendants, saying, "0 brothers, I loyally swear that if I found one group from the Sunni or other than them practicing their religion according to a creed ascribed to Abu Bakr , I would say: Well blessed! Abu Bakr was a great companion and he was one of the first Muslims. He accompanied the Messenger of Allah (a.s.), was the second of the two in the cave, and was the first of the (four) orthodox caliphs. I would be satisfied with that and be one of that sect.
And if found a group of the Sunni practicing their religion according to a creed ascribed to Umar ibn al-Khattab, I would say: Well blessed! Our master Umar was a great companion. He was the Farouq, who differentiated between the truth and
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falsehood, by whom Allah had strengthened Islam. He was from the first Muslims, and he was the second orthodox caliph. Then, I would be satisfied and would follow this group.
And if I found a group of the Sunni or other than them practicing their religion according to a creed ascribed to Uthman ibn Affan, I would says: Well blessed! Our master Uthman was from the first companions, and he was of the two lights of whom angels felt shy. He was the third of the orthodox caliphs, and it was he who had gathered the Qur'an (in one written book). Then, I would be satisfied and follow this creed.
However, I did not find any group of the Sunni, nor from other than them claiming that they followed a creed belonging to one of these three caliphs or any one of the first companions. On the other side, I found one group practicing their religion according to a creed ascribed to Ali ibn Abi Talib, and this group is the Twelver Shia.
The other sects of Muslims follow (imitate) Abu Haneefah, Malik, ash-Shafi'ee, or Ahmed ibn Hanbal. These scholars, in spite of their high positions, great knowledge, and piety, had never accompanied the Messenger of Allah (a.s.) for even one day, nor had they seen him at all. They all lived after the great sedition that spread over them from its darkness and they all were affected by its bad effects.
1
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1 Ibn Khaldun in his Muqaddimah, p. 411, shows the cause of the difference between the first companions and the imams (of the Sunni) coming later after them saying, "The new events are not covered by the (religious) texts, and what is not clear in texts, it is to turn to the other (texts) when there is similarity between them (events). And all these things are causes of disagreement that is necessary to take place."
It is clear that the scattering of the companions and the second generation that came after them (companions) in different countries and towns and that some of them were appointed as judges or in charge of giving fatwas, led to the differences in their theories and ijtihad (personal reasoning in giving a certain fatwa on a certain event) according to the condition of the
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And if we divested Imam Ali (a.s.) of every thing and did not acknowledge any preference or virtue to him, he would always remain the great companion and the first Muslim (in believing in
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country they lived in and the personality of the jurisprudent himself in facing different questions.
As a result to that, two schools came to light for them;
First, the school of opinion that was famous among the Iraqis: the most prominent one of this school was Abu Haneefah an-Nu'man ibn al-Munthir in Kula and his disciples and adherents. This school had some characteristics; A, they used branchings and then violated them even the imaginary and abstract things. Therefore, they often said, "what do you think if it was so", that they asked, contradicted, and then derived a ruling for it. Then, they turned over and upside down with its possible sides, until they were called by the scholars of Hadith as (Ara'aytiyyun). (in Arabic, `...do you think...' is 'a ra'ayta'). B, they narrated and trusted in little traditions and according to certain conditions that only little traditions were accepted by them. Some of them were so excessive that they thought not to depend on the Prophetic traditions at all, and their argument in this was that they suspected the narrators of Hadith and the much doubting of traditionists about narrators.
Second, the school of Hadith whose characteristics were; A, they very much hated the asking about obligations because the source for them was Hadith which was limited, and they hated to give their personal opinion (on this matters). They hated to ask about an event except when it actually happened. 'They criticized the Iraqis for their often discussing of obligations. B, they depended on traditions even the weak ones. They were not strict as to the conditions of (accepting) traditions, and they preferred this to the giving of one's opinion. (Refer to Fajr (dawn of) al-Islam by Ahmed Amin, p.243.
The disagreement and dispute between the two schools was so strong that they abused, reviled, and accused each other of impiety and disbelief. In fact, some of them fabricated false traditions. It was narrated from Abu Bakr and Umar that they approved and reproved the acting according to Hadith. The same was narrated from ibn Mas'ud. Some scholars overexerted themselves in reconciling between these contradicted savings because of those disputing schools. Therefore, the truth and honesty were not observed and Allah the Almighty was not feared. For more details, refer to the book Know the Truth, p. 96-98, and Fear p. 67-72, by the author of this hook.
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Islam) who spent all his life beside the messenger of Allah (a.s.). I adjure you all by Allah, that if you give up fanaticism and emotion and make your reason to judge in order to please your Lord before anything else and then to please your consciences, whom shall you choose to follow and obey?"
Most of them cried out, "Imam Ali is the worthiest to be followed ..."
I said, "If I add to you the traditions of the messenger of Allah (a.s.) that have been mentioned by the Sunni in their books of Hadith (Sahihs and Musnads), like the following ones :
I am the town of knowledge and Ali is its gate.
Whoever I am his guardian, here is Ali to be his guardian.
Ali is with the truth and the truth is with Ali. It turns with him wherever he turns.
Ali to me is as was Aaron to Moses ...
Ali explains to my nation what they shall disagree on after me (after my death).
Ali is with the Qur'an and the Qur'an is with Ali; they shall not separate until they shall come to me at the Pond (in the Paradise).
If Muslims know these facts after having acknowledged by their reasons to follow Imam Ali (a.s.) just for his companionship with the Prophet (a.s.), then no doubt shall remain that the true Islam is the Islam adopted by the Twelver Shia who are called Refusers (rawafidh) because they refuse to follow anyone else than Imam Ali (a.s.)."
After having given answers to the questions offered and been discussed calmly through the scientific, historical research, much many attendants came to me congratulating and kissing me, and praising Allah the Almighty for the guidance. They asked me to give them all my books and to lead them to some books of the
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This is the True Islam 21Y Shia. From among these people was the imam who managed the mosque. He was crying when I was talking to him about the tragedy of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.). He was an Egyptian physician who loved the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) too much. He said to me, "Be delighted my brother! I did not think that you would convince us so easily. I was worried about you from some fanatic persons who did not like you, but by the grace of Allah and by your influencing and truthful speech, you could affect their hearts...yes by Allah!"
