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SHIA BELIEVES

 

Shia religion is based on certain beliefs and teachings. One who has these teachings is a Shia whether he recognises it or not. And one who is ignorant of all these teachings is not a Shia at all even if he claims to be one of them.

Allah, His Prophetsaww and Masoomeensws have not separated Shia beliefs and rituals from each other instead both of these are the same thing as Aqeeda (belief) is a form of action in itself, and performing an action means one has Aqeeda (belief) over it and action is a way of expressing it. Thus an action performed is a result of one’s belief and therefore cannot be separated. However, traditionally, few earlier Shia scholars divided them into two major parts which became conventions, and for the ease of our young readers, we will follow this convention:

Usool-e-deen

Firo-e-deen

USOOL-E-DEEN

Asal means ‘root’ and its plural is Usool (roots), Accordingly Usool-e-deen stands for ‘roots of the religion’. Whatever the old and new terminologies and interpretations are, usool-e-deen consist of the following five:

Tauheed

Adal

Naboowat

Imamat

Qayamat

FIRO-E-DEEN

 

 

‘Firo’ means ‘branch’. Its plural is ‘Branches’. So therefore, Firo-e-deen means ‘branches of the religion’, because Usool-e-deen and Firo-e-deen were not categorised by our Masoomeensws so the conflict between the two was a must.

Initially Firo-e-deen were of six types

 

Namaz

Roza

Hajj

Zakat

Khums

Jihad

But later four more branches were added;

Tawalla (meaning muwaddah for Ahlul-baiyt)

Tabbara (meaning to express hatred for Ahlul-baiyt’s enemies)

Amar bil maroof

Nahi anil munkir

‘Amar bil maroof and Nahi anil munkir’ means that one should stay away from sins and follow the righteous path i.e. the path of Islam, and to preach these values to others. But we Shias try to preach without fully understanding what are the true meanings of ‘Amar bil maroof and Nahi anil munkir’.

Imam Jafar-e-Sadiqsws was once asked, ‘Mola! Who is this Maroof (well known) towards whom we are asked to call people?’

Imamsws replied: ‘they are those who are Maroof (known) on land as well as in heavens!’

The man requested Molasws for further explanation.

Imamsws replied: ‘Maroof refers to My Grandfather, Ali ibn e Abi Talibsws, and Munkir is referred as to those who are His enemies’.

Thus, Amar bil maroof and Nahi anil munkir is correctly translated as, ‘to call people towards Wilayat, Imamat and Alisws and let others know to turn away from their enemies’.