The Condition of the Shi'ah Sects and How to Deal with Them
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His Eminence the Shaykh: Have all the Shi'ah present in this time perished except for the Rafidah? And if only these Rafidah remain, how should one who does not know their methodology deal with them? Should he deal with them as he deals with hypocrites, or what?
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them in excellence until the Day of Judgment. After that: The Shi'ah: they are everyone who claims that he follows the Ahl al-Bayt,Meaning: due to their kinship with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). They are many sects and groups, and the theologians who wrote about the sects of this Ummah have stated that they number more than twenty sects. This means that we cannot rule on all of them with a single ruling; rather, we must look at what they do, what they believe about the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and what they believe about the Companions?For example: If they say: We believe that 'Ali ibn Abi Talib is a god and a Lord, as is mentioned regarding 'Abdullah ibn Saba', who confronted 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) explicitly and said: You are Allah, so 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) ordered for trenches to be dug, and they were dug, and then he burned them with fire due to the severity of their statement, and may Allah protect us from that.
Likewise, the one who said: If they say: The Companions apostatized after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) except for a small group from the Household of the Prophet, then they are also disbelievers; because this leads to disparaging the Islamic Shari'ah, and to us not trusting what was transmitted to us from it, neither the Qur'an nor what is attributed to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) from it. And if this includes disparaging the Shari'ah and demolishing it, then it is disbelief in Allah the Exalted and disbelief in His Shari'ah as well.
And whoever said: If they say: 'Ali is the master (wali) and that he is better than Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), then he is a disbeliever; because the Muslims have unanimously agreed that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the best of all people.
And the important thing is that we look at the creed of this Rafidi or Shi'ite. If it necessitates disbelief, we rule that he is a disbeliever. And if it does not reach the level of disbelief, but is rather an innovation that makes him an open sinner and not a disbeliever, we rule according to what his innovation necessitates.
As for dealing with them, we deal with them according to what public benefit necessitates. Whatever public benefit necessitates, we deal with them accordingly. So if it is in the public benefit to invite them, we invite them to the truth and clarify to them that this is what is obligatory, and that it is not permissible to deviate from it, then there is no harm in inviting them. And if their situation necessitates otherwise, let us deal with them according to what their situation necessitates. As for taqiyyah (dissimulation), there is no doubt that it is part of their methodology—I mean the Rafidah—they believe it to be a religion. However, some of them may not practice taqiyyah; but he is an ignorant person deceived by their arrogance and their leaders. For every situation there is a specific statement, and the intelligent person can deal with people, with the success of Allah, according to what their situation necessitates.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them in excellence until the Day of Judgment. After that: The Shi'ah: they are everyone who claims that he follows the Ahl al-Bayt,Meaning: due to their kinship with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). They are many sects and groups, and the theologians who wrote about the sects of this Ummah have stated that they number more than twenty sects. This means that we cannot rule on all of them with a single ruling; rather, we must look at what they do, what they believe about the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and what they believe about the Companions?For example: If they say: We believe that 'Ali ibn Abi Talib is a god and a Lord, as is mentioned regarding 'Abdullah ibn Saba', who confronted 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) explicitly and said: You are Allah, so 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) ordered for trenches to be dug, and they were dug, and then he burned them with fire due to the severity of their statement, and may Allah protect us from that.
Likewise, the one who said: If they say: The Companions apostatized after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) except for a small group from the Household of the Prophet, then they are also disbelievers; because this leads to disparaging the Islamic Shari'ah, and to us not trusting what was transmitted to us from it, neither the Qur'an nor what is attributed to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) from it. And if this includes disparaging the Shari'ah and demolishing it, then it is disbelief in Allah the Exalted and disbelief in His Shari'ah as well.
And whoever said: If they say: 'Ali is the master (wali) and that he is better than Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), then he is a disbeliever; because the Muslims have unanimously agreed that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the best of all people.
And the important thing is that we look at the creed of this Rafidi or Shi'ite. If it necessitates disbelief, we rule that he is a disbeliever. And if it does not reach the level of disbelief, but is rather an innovation that makes him an open sinner and not a disbeliever, we rule according to what his innovation necessitates.
As for dealing with them, we deal with them according to what public benefit necessitates. Whatever public benefit necessitates, we deal with them accordingly. So if it is in the public benefit to invite them, we invite them to the truth and clarify to them that this is what is obligatory, and that it is not permissible to deviate from it, then there is no harm in inviting them. And if their situation necessitates otherwise, let us deal with them according to what their situation necessitates. As for taqiyyah (dissimulation), there is no doubt that it is part of their methodology—I mean the Rafidah—they believe it to be a religion. However, some of them may not practice taqiyyah; but he is an ignorant person deceived by their arrogance and their leaders. For every situation there is a specific statement, and the intelligent person can deal with people, with the success of Allah, according to what their situation necessitates.