Present day Shi’ism is the essence of all the various Shia ideologies with their extremism and radicalism, a cocktail of all sorts of Zandaqah (heresies). To the extent that even the extremist Sab’i tendency of deifying ‘Ali () stares at us from the narrations of the Twelvers and their minstream beliefs and rituals. This will be clear to anyone who merely peruses through the topics of the chapters established in al-Kafi (lil-Kafir) and al-Bihar (al-Dhulumat) or listens to their infamous Khatibs (preachers).
Likewise the Batini (esoterical) tendency is also glaring in light of their interpretations of the Qur’an, the fundamentals of Islam and their views regarding dissimulation and the concealment of knowledge. Hence the Twelver dogma has become the final pool for the various Shia ideologies with their flaws, discrepancies and reprehensible innovations. Every extremist will thus find therein his need and that which will support his school.
Unbiased historians, let alone Islamic scholars, will testify that Rafidi Shiism undergoes has (and is still) undergoing a metamorphosis. It does not remain the same for two generations. One of their top Post-Safavid scholars (who employed much less Taqiyyah – if at all – then their Salaf/predecessors, as they had a powerful empire on their side, thus a number of them openly preached that the Qur’an was distorted by the Sahabah!) testify to this fact. Let us quote a Shia website (wikishia.net):
ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad Ḥasan Māmaqānī or Mamaqāni (Arabic:عبدالله بن محمدحسن مامقانی) (b. 1290/1873 – d. 1351/1933) is a Shi’a scholar in rijal of the 14th/20 century.
He had written several books in different fields of Islamic sciences including hadith, fiqh, usul al-fiqh, rijal. The most important one among them is Tanqih al-maqal, a comprehensive Arabic book on ‘Ilm al-rijal, in which he discussed about 16000 hadith transmitters.
And here a glimpse into his life and who he used to pray to (again taken from wikishi.net):
Mamaqani writes in Tanqih al-maqal: “When I was writing the book, I saw the grace of God several times. Sometimes, I wanted to look up something in a book and just when I opened the book it was in front of my eyes. I rarely needed to flip through a book for finding a topic. One night I had to refer to al-Tahdhib and it would take me a long time, while I did not want an interruption in the writing of the book; thus I appealed to Imam al-Mahdi (a) and begged him to help me in this path. At this time, it occurred to me to go toward the old books – which were about Arabic grammar and also exegesis of the Qur’an and were stacked up in the corner of the closet. I went towards them while I was sure that al-Tahdhib is not among them; yet I reached out for a book and picked it up and opened it. It was the part of al-Tahdhib that I needed. The book was new and written by a beautiful handwriting. I wrote down the topic that I needed and put the book in a corner. The next day, I searched for the book; but I could not find it. I counted that as a Divine grace. This incident increased my enthusiasm for writing and completing Tanqih al-maqal more than ever.”
Now to al-Mamaqani’s revealing confession (that he actually repeated several times in his book thus giving the commentators in the introduction and footnotes a hard time trying their utmost to water down al-Mamaqani’s words who himself of course claimed that all those top-Shia narrators from whom the Shia really take their religion from and who were accused of Ghuluw/extremism were actually innocent lambs):
ان ما یعتبر غلوا عند الشیعة الماضین اصبح الیوم من ضرورات المذهب
“That which was considered extremism (Ghuluw) by the Shia in the past is now considered fundamentals of the sect.”
Reference: Al-Mamaqani, Tanqiḥ al-Maqal v. 3 p.240
And:
ما هو من ضروريّات مذهبنا اليوم في مراتب الأئمة عليهم السلام كان يعدّ عند القدماء غلوّا
تنقيح المقال في علم الرجال نویسنده : المامقاني، الشيخ عبد الله جلد : 32 صفحه67
“That which is considered of the necessities and fundamentals of the (Shia) sect today with regard to the Imams – peace be upon them – was considered by the predecessors as extremism (Ghuluw).”
Reference: Al-Mamaqani, Tanqih al-Maqal v. 32 p. 67
And:
جملة ممّا تعتقده الشيعة اليوم،و يعدّونه من ضروريّات المذهب؛ كان القدماء يعدّونه غلوّا و ارتفاعا
تنقيح المقال في علم الرجال نویسنده : المامقاني، الشيخ عبد الله جلد : 19 صفحه : 164
“A plethora of what the Shia hold as beliefs and consider of the necessities and fundamentals of the (Shia) sect today was considered by the predecessors as extremism (Ghuluw) and excessiveness.”
Reference: Al-Mamaqani, Tanqih al-Maqal v. 19 p. 164
The Rafidi religion keeps undergoing modifications. Their dogma is continuously changing and evolving. The beliefs that the Rafidi Twelvers hold today were considered extreme even by classical Rafidi Shia (who were already extreme in their beliefs) standards. Thus, the extremism that was disliked by the former scholars is now part of the fundamentals of the religion. This means that the standards by means of which they judge the beliefs of a narrator will keep changing as the religion progresses and changes. Al-Mamaqani (in his desperate attempt in declaring known Ghulat/extremists who used to lie about the Ahl al-Bayt as trustworthy narrators!) says:
إن القدماء – يعني من الشيعة – كانوا يعدون ما نعده اليوم من ضروريات مذهب الشعية غلوا وارتفاعا, وكانوا يرمون بذالك أوثف الرجال كما لا يخفى على من أحاط خبرا بكلماتهم
The predecessors (of the Shia) would consider to be extremism (Ghuluw) and excessiveness that which we now consider as the fundamentals of the religion. On the basis of these, they would criticise the most reliable narrators. This is not hidden to the one who is well-versed with their speech.”
Reference: Tanqīḥ al-Maqal 3/23
He also says the following in defending the reputation of Mufaddal ibn ‘Omar al-Ju’fi (one of the top Shia narrators and a Ghali Mushrik who attributed numerous narrations to the Ahl al-Bayt and from whom the Shia really take their religion from) who was criticised by some of the top ancient Twelver scholars and accused of Ghuluw (yes, although being extremists themselves due to believing in the misguidance and apostasy of the Sahabah and the alleged belief in Twelver Imam, yet even they rejected many beliefs that Shias take today have turned into essential beliefs of their sect):
إنا قد بينا غير مرة أن رمي القدماء الرجلَ بالغلو لا يُعتمد عليه ولا يُركن إليه، لوضوح كون القول بأدنى مراتب فضائلهم – يعني الأئمة – غلواً عند القدماء، وكون ما نعده اليوم من ضروريات مذهب التشيع غلواً عند هؤلاء، وكفاك في ذلك عد الصدوق نفي السهو عنهم غلواً مع أنه اليوم من ضروريات المذهب، وكذلك إثبات قدرتهم على العلم بما يأتي – أي علم الغيب – بتوسط جبرائيل والنبي غلواً عندهم وهو من ضروريات المذهب اليوم
“We have clarified more than once, that we do not rely on the ancients (classical Shia scholars) when they accuse a man of extremism. Because believing in their smallest virtues (i.e Imam’s virtues) was considered extremism for our early predecessors. Likewise what we consider today to be essentially part of the Shia dogma was also considered extremism (Ghuluw) according to them. In illustration thereof, it suffices to say that al-Saduq considered the negation of forgetfulness from the Imams to be an exaggeration (Ghuluw), but today it is treated as one of the integral tenets of our dogma. Likewise the aspect of them having access to the knowledge of the unseen was considered an exaggeration (Ghuluw) whereas it is from the necessities of our school today.”
Reference: Tanqih al-Maqal 3/240
This is a very serious acknowledgment and controversial confession of one of their most senior contemporary scholars in the science of transmitter-impugning (Rijal) and approbation that came to the fore (and of which most Shias are of course unaware of). To put it in the words of Shakh Dr. al-Qaffari:
It is abundantly clear from this text that the present day Shīʿah did not just suffice in following the heritage they inherited from the predecessors, rather they superceded them in their extremism (Ghuluw) and radicalism. To the extent that al-Ṣadūq and other scholars of the fourth century considered the one who believes that the Imāms do not forget or that the Imāms have knowledge of events to happen or, as suggested by al-Kulaynī, they have knowledge of all that happened and all that is to happen and that nothing is hidden from them, to be heretical and extremist beliefs. However, the dogma has evolved and these beliefs have now been incorporated therein, as is acknowledged by al-Mamaqānī. This means that according to the ancient Shīʿah the contemporaries ought to be treated as extremists whose statements are not worth accepting.
Take note that the holders of these beliefs were not deemed extremists by the scholars of the Ahl al-Sunnah but by the scholars of the Shīʿah themselves. Furthermore, this was their view in the fourth century when the dogma had already evolved and taken a specific form, then what do you suggest would be the view of the initial Shīʿah regarding them whose only understanding of Shīʿism was giving preference to ʿAlī رضي الله عنه over ʿUthmān رضي الله عنه.
It is probably these phenomena that lead Muḥibb al-Dīn al-Khaṭīb to conclude that the understanding of religion always shifts and changes according to the Shīʿah. Alluding to this statement of al-Māmaqānī he states:
This is an affirmation which appears in one of their latest and most monumental works in the science of impugning and approbating transmitters wherein they concede that their dogma today is very different than what it was previously. Hence what they considered as extremist ideas and casted aside has now become part of the essentials of the dogma. Their dogma today is thus very different to what it was before the Safawids, and their dogma before the Safawids was very different to what it was before Ibn Muṭahhar. Likewise their dogma before Ibn Muṭahhar was different from what it was before the family of Bābawayh, and what it was before the family of Bābawayh was different from what it was before Shayṭān al-Ṭāq, and lastly, their dogma before Shayṭān al-Ṭāq was very different from what it was during the lifetime of Ḥasan, Ḥusayn, and ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn.
Reference: Usul Madh-hab al-Shi’ah al-Imamiyyah al-Ithna ‘Ashariyyah (A Comprehensive Study of the Shi’ah Creed) by Dr. Nasir ibn Abd Allah al-Qaffari, p. 1301-1302 (English translation)
The confessions shown in this articles prove how inventions of the extremists and deviants made their way into the core beliefs of the Twelver Shia and how they have shaped their sect with time until they end up becoming the norm. This is due to their misguidance and ignorance as well as the leadership of their unqualified ‘scholars’ under the banner of a non-existing (non-guiding) ‘infallible Imam’. This constantly changing religion needs to be unmasked and portrayed for what it is in this era.
And to Allah belongs all honour, and to His Messenger, and to the believers.
Shia Scans 