Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 1 of 2

teachers, going to extremes in condemning those who imitate or
follow scholars, the neglect of their duties on the part of many
scholars, the spread of injustice and refening to man-made laws for
judgement, the spread of conuption among people and their failure to
purify their souls. I point to the most significant aspects of their
exaggeration, such as going to extremes and making issues of
religion hard on themselves and others, pretending to have great
howledge, self-admiration, clinging to their own opinions and
regarding others as ignorant, criticising and maligning the dedicated
scholars, having harsh and violent altitudes towards others and
regarding some Muslims as disbelievers.
I speak of the R2fidi Shia sect and explain the meaning of the
words 'Shia' and 'ar-rafd (the root of the word R2fidi) both in
linguistic terms and in Sharia terminology, and thk reason for their
being called RZGs; how they originated and the role of the Jews in
that; the stages through which the Shia passed; the most important
beliefs of the RZ& Shia; the attitude of 'Ali (&) and the scholars of
Ah1 al-Bayt concerning those beliefs that are attributed to them, such
as the belief in imamate and the ruling on the one who denies that.
They claim that the Qur'an has stated the concept of imamate in the
verse of purification (33: 33), the verse of mubiihalah (3: 61) and the
verse of wilriyah (5: 55). Their so-called evidence from the Sunnah
includes the sermons of Ghadeer Khum and the hadith, "You are to
me like Haroon was to Moosa." I also discuss the weak and
fabricated hadiths that they quote as evidence for the concept of the
imamate, such as the hadith of the bird, the hadith of the house, and
the hadith "I am the city of howledge, and 'Ali is its door." I discuss
at length the evidence that they offer for the concept of infallibility,
and I explain why it is false.
I include in the book an index of the weak and fabricated
hadiths that the RZ& Shia quote as evidence, so as to warn the