Meaning of the word Shia and its
terminological use
The
word شيعة comes
from the root شيع to
follow, adapt, imitate etc. The obvious question that arises here is to follow
whom? If we call ourselves the shia of Aimmah (a.s) then it should be
understood how they would want their followers to be like. Here we should
understand that the very reason for Shias to adhere to the Ahlebayt (a.s) is
the will and repeated instructions of the Holy Prophet (sawa) in the form of
mutawatir traditions and the clear verses of Quran ordering the believers to be
obedient to the ulil’Amr.
The word Shia in Prophetic tradition:
As
for traditions there are countless traditions on this topic we bring forth one
from Janabe Jabir (a.s) “we were in the presence of the prophet (sawa) when
Hazrat Ali (a.s) entered The Holy prophet (sawa) said
والذي نفسي بيده انهذا وشيعته لهم الفائزون
يوم القيامة
by the
one in whose Hands is my soul most certainly he (a.s) and his shias are
successful on the day of judgement.”
The word Shia in Holy Quran:
With
respect to the Quranic verse, The Holy Quran in Surah Saffat verse number 83
says that Hazrat Ibrahim was a Shia:
وَإِنَّ
مِنْ شِيعَتِهِ لإٍبْرَاهِيمَ
“And Ibrahim was most certainly from his
Shias”
Under the
tafsir of this ayat we read that Hazrat Ibrahim (a.s) requests Allah to
consider him amongst the shias of Amirul momeneen (a.s). (Kindly
translate this tradition and mail it to Al Kausar to get your gift)
Tafseer Burhan Vol 4 pg 599, Tradition 8992/
[3]
قال: و يؤيد هذا التأويل- أن
إبراهيم (عليه السلام) من شيعة أمير المؤمنين (عليه السلام)-
رواه الشيخ محمد بن العباس، عن
محمد بن وهبان، عن أبي جعفر محمد بن علي بن رحيم، عن العباس بن محمد، قال:
حدثني أبي، عن الحسن بن علي بن أبي
حمزة، عن أبيه، عن أبي بصير يحيى بن أبي القاسم، قال: سأل جابر بن يزيد الجعفي
جعفر بن محمد الصادق (عليه السلام) عن تفسير هذه الآية: وَ إِنَّ مِنْ شِيعَتِهِ
لَإِبْراهِيمَ.
فقال (عليه السلام): «إن الله
سبحانه لما خلق إبراهيم (عليه السلام) كشف له عن بصره، فنظر، فرأى نورا إلى جنب
العرش، فقال: إلهي، ما هذا النور؟ فقيل له: هذا نور محمد صفوتي من خلقي. و رأى
نورا إلى جنبه، فقال: إلهي، و ما هذا النور؟ فقيل له: هذا نور علي بن أبي طالب
ناصر ديني. و رأى إلى جنبهما ثلاثة أنوار، فقال: إلهي، و ما هذه الأنوار؟ فقيل له:
هذا نور فاطمة، فطمت محبيها من النار، و نور ولديها: الحسن، و الحسين. و رأى تسعة
أنوار قد حفوا بهم؟ فقال: إلهي، و ما هذه الأنوار التسعة؟ قيل: يا إبراهيم، هؤلاء
الأئمة من ولد علي و فاطمة.
فقال إبراهيم: إلهي، بحق هؤلاء
الخمسة، إلا ما عرفتني من التسعة. فقيل: يا إبراهيم، أولهم علي بن الحسين، و ابنه
محمد، و ابنه جعفر، و ابنه موسى، و ابنه علي، و ابنه محمد، و ابنه علي، و ابنه
الحسن، و الحجة القائم ابنه.
فقال إبراهيم: إلهي و سيدي، أرى
أنوارا قد أحدقوا بهم، لا يحصي عددهم إلا أنت؟ قيل: يا إبراهيم، هؤلاء شيعتهم،
شيعة أمير المؤمنين علي بن أبي طالب. فقال إبراهيم: و بم تعرف شيعته؟ فقال: بصلاة
إحدى و خمسين، و الجهر ببسم الله الرحمن الرحيم، و القنوت قبل الركوع، و التختم في
اليمين. فعند ذلك قال إبراهيم: اللهم، اجعلني من شيعة أمير المؤمنين. قال: فأخبر
الله في كتابه، فقال: وَ إِنَّ مِنْ شِيعَتِهِ لَإِبْراهِيمَ».
Who are the real Shias?
Thus
we come to know that the word Shia is a very high status for which even Ulul Azm
prophets (a.s) longed and desired.
In one another incident a person
visited Imam Jawad (a.s) while he was very happy. The Imam enquired for the reason
of his happiness, in reply he said that Oh son of the Prophet of Allah I have
heard from your father that the right of day is that you be happy when Allah
gives you opportunity of charity and goodness and reconciliation between
believing brothers, and today I was blessed with helping ten believing brothers
from such and such place and all of them were needy and destitute and this is
the reason for my happiness. Imam (a.s) replied yes indeed it is like this so
long as you do not nullify your deeds of charity or they get nullified
afterwards. The man replied how are these supposed to be nullified while I am
your real Shia? Imam (a.s) said
certainly you have nullified your goodness with your brothers and rendered vain
your charity. The person enquired and how is this possible oh the son of
messenger of Allah? Imam (a.s) told him read the saying of Allah “O ye who believe! Render not vain your
almsgiving by reproach and injury” (baqarah:264). The person said oh the son of
messenger of Allah I have not obliged upon neither harmed those whom I gave
charity. Imam (a.s) told to him that Allah has only said “O ye who believe! Render not vain your
almsgiving by reproach and injury” and has not said do not waste your charity
by reproaching the one whom you gave charity nor by injuring the one you gave
charity. Tell me which action of yours is more detested injuring the one whom
you gave charity to or injuring the proximate angels of Allah and injuring us?
He replied surely injuring you and the proximate angel is worst. The Imam (a.s)
by you saying that “how are these supposed to be nullified while I am
your real Shia “ you have nullified your charity. Do you understand who the real shias are?
They are Janabe Hizqeel, Momine Aal e Firaun, and Janabe Salman and Janabe
Abuzarr and Janabe Miqdad and Janabe Ammar. Do you consider yourself equal to
them?
Have
you not injured us and injured the proximate angels by this saying of your? The
man repented and enquired how should I say then?
Imam
(a.s) replied say that “I am from your lover and devotee (محبيكم&مواليكم)
and enemy of your enemies and lover of your lovers.”
Thus
we should know that the term Shia is reserved for those special followers of
the Imams whose sacrifices we cannot even comprehend. As for Janabe Salman (ra) the paradise awaits
him, he used to speak with the angels had wilayate taqwini, was blessed with
ilme gayb, used to eat from the food of paradise. If the readers have more
interest in learning the personality of Janabe Salman (ra) should refer to the book
Nafasur Rehman fii fazaile Salman of Mirza Noori (a.r).
Conclusion:
One of the
best resources the readers could refer to for getting a better understanding of
the topic is the book Sifat ush-Shia By Shaikh Saduq (a.r). This book
has 71 traditions on the characteristics of Shias.
We shall
conclude our discussion with three characteristics of Shias of Imam Ali (a.s)
from this book
- The marks of the Shia
My father,
Allah may have mercy upon him, narrated to us from Mohammed bin Ahmed bin Ali
bin as-Salt from Ahmed bin Mohammed from as-Sindi bin Mohammed that Amir
ul-Mu'minin (a) turned his face to the group who were following him and asked
them about their beliefs. “We are your Shia, Amir ul-Mu'minin,” they answered.
He said, “But I cannot see the marks of the Shia on your faces.” “What are the
marks of the Shia?” asked they. He (a) spoke:
The Shia are pale-faced because of staying up at
nights, shrunken stomached because
of fasting, and dry-lipped because
of prayers to Allah. The dust of the
submissive covers them (غبرة
الخاشعين).
- The best of the Shia are those whose marefat is the most
My father, Allah may have mercy upon
him, narrated to us from Ahmed bin Idris from Mohammed bin Ahmed from Ibn Abi
Umair that one of the Imams (a) said:
Some of you offer more prayers than
others do. Some perform the hajj more often than others do. Some give alms more
than others do. Some observe the fasting more than others do. The best of you,
however, are those who have the most marefaat.
When anyone of them is spoken of
highly, he says: “I know myself better than others do, and my Lord knows me
better than I know. O Allah do not blame me for what they say, and make me
better than what they think of me and forgive me (those shortcomings) which
they do not know. You are surely the knower of the things unseen and the
coverer of the defects.”
- The Shia of Hazrat Ali (as) abstain from the food appetite and work for their Creator
Mohammed bin Musa bin al-Mutawakkil,
Allah may have mercy upon him, narrated to me from Ahmed bin Abdullah… that
Hazrat Abu Abdullah (a) said:
By Allah I swear, the Shia of Hazrat
Ali (as) are only those who abstain from the food and desires, work sincerely for the Creator, hope
for gaining His reward, and fear from His punishment.
Thus it becomes crystal clear for us
that the term Shia demands certain qualities and before claiming this title we
should introspect our actions and try to verify if we really should claim
ourselves to be real shia? A shia never feels safe from the chastisement of
Allah neither he despairs from the mercy of Allah and the state of his heart is
always between the two feelings of Hope and fear and he strives hard in this
world and tries to tread the path of wara to always please his Master the Imam
e Asr and his slogan should be
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