Fatima's; The Logical Missing Link

This is a personal experience posted to us by a sister, who challenged whatever she heard, she challenged what she believed. She realized that the character and nobility of the Holy Prophet (SAW), which is testified by the Quran also, should not be destroyed based on hadith and their blind following.

You can contact her through her email address [naazfatima07@gmail.com]

Fatima Says,

"In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious Most Merciful. Allahu Akbar! Alhamdulillah! Subhanallah! I wish to thank Allah by all possible ways and means for the blessings that He has showered on me. I have been a Sunni Muslim for 25 years of my life. Throughout my life I have been instructed by friends and family that the Shias are incorrect people who have diverted from main stream Islam.

My first interaction with a Shia was 4 years ago. This interaction turned into a lifelong relationship when I married him, though it was a difficult task for me to convince my family about this marriage. It has been a year and a half since our marriage, but I was always very indifferent towards the Shia traditions and beliefs. I found it uncomfortable and was not able to adjust to them. In the past 6 months, I started to search for the truth, where is true Islam?

I prayed to Allah to guide me so that I can follow the ways preached and taught by the Holy Prophet (SAW). I set out to search for the truth through Sunni sources, but to my surprise I was not satisfied with what I found there.

I found missing links;

• It did not approve to my logic that the Holy Prophet (SAW) would die without appointing his successor, as his death was not sudden!
• The Holy Prophet (SAW) was appointed divinely to spread the message of Allah. The succession of protecting this message also should be divine!
• It’s not logical that people can decide amongst themselves the successor. (Indeed succession does not mean that there will be another prophet as the Holy Prophet (SAW) was the last prophet.)
• When I began to read about the Four Caliphs, I could not find any one of them convincing and worthy except Imam Ali (AS). Also that the selection of the Four Caliphs was done in four different ways!
• The four schools of thought of Sunnis emerged a minimum of 100 years after the Holy Prophet (SAW). Why is it necessary that we should follow their school of thought when they were not appointed by the Holy Prophet (SAW)? And if we don’t we are infidels, and if you follow anything else you are not in “Main Stream” Islam! Who were people who lived within that 100 year period, when the Sunni school of thought have not emerged as yet!
• I started reading the Sahihs (Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim), which are considered next to the Holy Quran. In these I found many Ahadith which were illogical, irrational, disgusting and insulting the Holy Prophet in many ways. And the Sunnis say that these collectors of these Ahadith were very strict in validating any hadith narrated, so how could such things pass by?

Since this was very misleading, I moved to the translation and Sunni Tafsirs of the Holy Quran. Surah Abasa, the 80th Surah, where it explains that the Holy Prophet (SAW) frowned at a blind man, according to Sunni interpretations! How can the most perfect being created by Allah do such a thing? He is every Muslim’s role model, so how can my role model do such an act? The Holy Prophet (SAW) delivered the message of Allah, and if he does such an act then it will be permissible for me do such a thing!

This was again not convincing. I came across many other Hadith from Sunni books which were insulting the Holy Prophet (SAW) as well as the office of prophethood.

Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah: While Allah's Apostle was carrying stones (along) with the people of Mecca for (the building of) the Ka'ba wearing an Izar (waist-sheet cover), his uncle Al-'Abbas said to him, "O my nephew! (It would be better) if you take off your Izar and put it over your shoulders underneath the stones." So he took off his Izar and put it over his shoulders, but he fell unconscious and since then he had never been seen naked.
Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 8, Hadith 360

If i have the sense to not to take off my lower body garment infront of people, and if my 10 year old neighbor acknowledges this, how could a man like Muhammad (SAW), the most eloquent, wise, noble and best creation of Allah, do it (God forbid), what you would expect from a caveman or an ignorant Bedouin who does not follow any law/rule and is below the standard of human intellect. Is this not the disrespect to Prophethood, which enrages every Muslim and makes them call for the head of the blasphemer.

I went back and looked at history of Islam and the closest to the source (time of the Holy Prophet (SAW)) were the AhlulBayt.

I started to share this with my husband and friends. Though my friends were not so keen in listening, my husband was very supportive through out. It was he who found out a link to the famous Shia – Sunni discussion – Peshawar Nights. Once we started reading it, everything changed.

It was after reading a few chapters in this book that I believed and completed my faith by saying – Aliyan wali Allah wasiye rasoolallah!

Never did I feel so satisfied and contented in life. Now I could feel closer to Allah and to the Holy Prophet (SAW) by being close to his AhlulBayt. I read more about the false Ahadith quoted in books considered so authentic and next to the Holy Quran. And every false hadith is available online for the whole world to read. And the only question I kept on asking was – why are people so blinded? Why cant people see what has been written? And lastly, how do people believe it?

The only answer is that people do not wish to face light because they fear being blinded by too much light. They wish to close themselves behind many doors so that not even a single ray of light should reach them. If only people had the willingness to question what they believe rather than blindly following.

Many Sunnis today believe that, there is no need to get into any discussion; the Holy Quran is enough to suffice. But the Holy Quran is the Book of Allah; it is so eloquent in its language that it is not possible for a common man to interpret it. Over the years, there have been various Tafsirs of the Holy Quran and each author has written the commentary based on these false Ahadith and their interpretations. This is what leads to misunderstanding of the Holy Quran. Hence, it is very important that the Book of Allah should be understood from the correct means and who can be better than the equals of the Holy Quran – the AhlulBayt.

As narrated in Sahih Muslim;

... One day Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) stood up to deliver sermon at a watering place known as Khumm situated between Mecca and Medina. He praised Allah, extolled Him and delivered the sermon and. exhorted (us) and said: Now to our purpose. O people, I am a human being. I am about to receive a messenger (the angel of death) from my Lord and I, in response to Allah's call, (would bid good-bye to you), but I am leaving among you two weighty things: the one being the Book of Allah in which there is right guidance and light, so hold fast to the Book of Allah and adhere to it. He exhorted (us) (to hold fast) to the Book of Allah and then said: The second are the members of my household I remind you (of your duties) to the members of my family....
Sahih Muslim Book 031, Number 5920

Now the confusion about the AhlulBayt is that the Holy Prophet’s wives are included in this. But as per a lot of Ahadith from Sahih Muslim, Sahih Tirmidhi and other authentic sources of Sunnis, it is very clear that the AhlulBayt were none but Imam Ali (AS), Bibi Fatima (AS), Imam Hasan (AS), Imam Hussain (AS) and his progeny. And to love them was a compulsion for us from Allah and the Holy Prophet (SAW);

That is of which Allah gives the good news to His servants, (to) those who believe and do good deeds. Say (Muhammad): I do not ask of you any reward for it but love for my near relatives; and whoever earns good, We give him more of good therein; surely Allah is Forgiving, Grateful.
Quran [42:23]

If only my Sunni brothers and sisters could see what I can see. Before I conclude, I only wish to quote what the Holy Prophet (SAW) said about Imam Ali (AS);

Wa dara al-haqq ma'ahu haithu dar"
"And the truth (the right path) turns with him (i.e. Ali) wherever way he turns."
Tafsir al-Kabir, by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Commentary of "al-Bismillah"

And I have indeed found the truth is with Imam Ali (AS)."

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The Précis

For some people, co-incidences are signs. For the rest, signs from Allah are co-incidences. Something which makes perfect sense to me might seem nonsense to you. But nothing changes the fact. None is guided but him who Allah wills. If we can free ourselves from biases, ignorance and extremism, we can see the light.