|
|
The word "Shia" means "followers; members of party". As such, the term "Shia" alone has no negative or positive meaning unless we specify the leader of the party. If one is a Shia (follower) of the most righteous servants, then there is nothing wrong with being Shia. . Allah mentioned in Quran that Some of His righteous servants were Shia of His other righteous servants. An example was Prophet Abraham who was mentioned in Quran specifically as the Shia of Noah: "And most surely Abraham was among the Shia of him (i.e., Noah)" (Quran 37:83) | | | .. ^ | _o_,_8 | _, |_| 4_,_e_,_w . _o . | q ( .. /. .. (_) (_) / ^^^^^^^^^ (Notice that the word "Shia" is explicitly used, letter by letter, in the above verse as well as the following verse.) In another verse, Quran talks about the Shia of Moses versus the enemies of Moses: "And he (Moses) went into the city at a time when people (of the city) were not watching, so he found therein two men fighting, one being of his Shia and the other being his enemy, and the one who was of his Shia cried out to him for help against the one who was of his enemy" (Quran 28:15) | . | |: : : | | . . | ]_8 . |_|_,_,_o_, . _,_|_7 |_8_,_9 ]_7 q_9 (_) .. (_).. . / .. . / ^ | . : | . | . .. ^ 4_, |_e_,_w |_9 O q ]_c . _o | ]_8 q 4_,_e_,_w . _o / (_) / .. (_) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ . || | .. ^ . || O q ]_c . _o ]_|| _|_c 4_,_e_,_w . _o ]_|| / (_) (_S (_S .. (_) (_S ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ In the above verse of Quran, one is named the Shia of Moses (AS) and the other one is named the enemy of Moses, and the people at that time were either the Shia or the enemy of Moses (AS). Thus Shia is an official word used by Allah in His Quran for His high rank prophets as well as their followers. Do you want to say Prophet Abraham was sectarian? How about Prophet Noah and Prophet Moses? If somebody calls himself a Shia, it is not due to any sectarianism, nor any innovation. It is because Quran has used the phrase for some of His best servants. The above verses that I mentioned in support of Shia, has used this term singular form (i.e., one group of followers). This means that it has special meaning, such as: THE Shia of Noah (AS), THE Shia of Moses (AS). Also in the History of Islam, Shia has been specially used for the "followers of Ali". If we wish to discuss the Shi`as without fanaticism or affectation, we would say that they are the adherents of the Islamic School of Thought which respects and follows the twelve Imams from the family (Ahl al-Bayt) of the Prophet.
|
