Shaykhi Sect - part 3

Shaykhism - from users contribution

These posts are owned by their respective authors. They have the full rights to it.

post # 12

Sheikh Ahmed Al-Ahsaei is originally from Eastern Al-Jazeera Al-Arabia, and he was an Akbari Sheikh, who believed that Imam Al-Mahdi was going to appear at any time (During the year 1840), and he ordered his followers to look for the Imam, and some of them did. One of those students was Muhammad Ibn Ali Al-Shirazi, who later on Proclaimed to be Imam Al-Mahdi, and the founder of the Babi religion, and Ultimately Bahaism later on.

post # 18 and 21

The name of the founder of Bahaism is Hussayn Ali Al-Nuri, who was later renamed Baha’ullah - and he was one of the followers of Sayed Muhammad Ali Al-Shirazi, who proclaimed to be Imam Al-Mahdi after the death of Sheikh Ahmad Al-Ahsaei.

As for those who said he's not an Akhbari, well I suggest you reread his history again because he rejects Taqleed and the principle of conjecture through emulation of Ahlul Albayte - not to mention his complete rejection of the usage of Aql, but taking all Ahadeeth as true from the Holy Imams, which explains why Sayed Alkhomeini compared him to Wahabbism’s founder (This is the first time I hear of this, so my answer is assumed from what I read above in this regard).

This is not my opinion, but that of the Akhbari School within Athna Ashari Shiism :) Of course, the power of dispute in Ilm Al-Rijal; and how hadeeth basically functions can differ from our two schools, but non the less, it was on a high scale with Sheikh Ahmad Al-Ahsaei, and this is why Sayed Ali Muhammad Al-Shirazi took advantage of that and proclaimed the Mahdism for himself.


Post #24
I am not claiming that Sheikh Ahmad Al-Ahsaei has done anything wrong in being an Akhbari, nor did I say that Akhbaris are not Shias or anything remotely close to such a thing. As for Sheikh Ya3qoob Al-Kulyni rejecting Taqleed, he did but for a very clear reason, and that’s because the infallible Imam was present, and under the grounds that an infallible is present, Taqleed becomes void - and that exactly what Sheikh Al-Kulyni was standing on.

Once again, I am not here to discuss the roots of the two schools, both have great arguments in supporting their stances, but you have to realize that depending on Scholars is an Islamic concept, not a Sunni innovation. Most of the Usoli Mujtahids you're referring to have claimed that Sunnis have beat us to this field first due to the fact that we as Shias were oppressed and killed for many centries due to their stance against us, not to mention that Al-Ghayba Al-Kubra went into full effect in the beginning of the fourth century after the death of Al-Bab Muhammad Al-Sammiri - we did not need scholars in interpreting our faith since the Imams where there, not to mention Al-Niabah Al-Khassah which lasted a little less than a century.

Shaykhi Sect - part 2

A few more notes on the Shaykhi sect (Note: These are mostly from users contribution).

Shaykh Ahmad Ahsai

• Shaykh Ahmad Ahsai is/was an Usooli scholar.
• He promoted using the wisdom and philosophy from the traditions of Ahlul Bayt.
• He strongly believe all knowledge originate or is contain in the Holy Book
• He rejected using Sufi or Greek philosophy.
• Shaykh Ahmad appointed Sayyid Kazim Rashti as his successor

Division

• The Shaykhi school crystallized after the death of Shaykh Ahmad Ahsai (see wiki reference on his bio)
• The division in the Shaykhi school happened after the death of Sayyid Rashti (please see ShiaChat discussion)

This is a direct quote from this discussion

The first group followed Merza Hassan Qohar where he used to live in Karbala. Others followed Mohammad Kareem Khan who lived in Kerman.

The followers of Merza Johar followed Ahmad Alehsaei path in Usool and faith, while Kermanis added things to the Ahsaei intellect as The Fourth Rekn (Alrekn Alreabe3) like Sufis, That shaykh Ahmad is the shaykh and the guide.

Unfortunately yes, there isn\t much about the school of shaykh Ahsaei in English. That is because who follow his school today are inactive. Moreover, the shaykh is oppressed intellectualy by shia like persian who prefare the phlosophy of Mula sadra.

Lecture: Life through Trials

Description:
02/25/2011 - Haj Hassanain Rajabali speaks at the YMA Friday night program. He discusses how we live our life through trials and tribulations, and how we can deal with it. He points to the ultimate role model for living through this life, which are the Holy Prophet and his holy progeny Ahlul-bayt [as].

Listen to the lecture.

ShiaChat it not online

It went down yesterday night.

Some Confusions- Industrial Alcohols vs. the Intoxicants

Interesting reading (see posts by user Abdul Hussain).

Namely:

All kinds of alcohol (whether extracted from wood or other sources) is pure, not najis. So, the medicines, the perfumes, and the food containing alcohol are pure and can be used. It is also permissible to eat such food if the amount of alcohol is very minute, e.g., 2%.

The differentation here is Alcohol which is liquor and intoxicating, i.e which is liquid in origin and underwent the process of fermentation (e.g wine), and that which is not liquid in origin, is not intoxicating and did not undergo fermentation (e.g ethyl alcohol). Personally, I like to use the phrases liquor alcohol to describe the first and industrial alcohol to describe the second. So, it becomes apparent that there is no conflict in the rulings.

It's actually incorrect to say that the ruling is based on the potabilty, though you would be correct to assume that it is the differentiating factor, because the deduction of the ruling comes from the verses and hadiths showing the impermissibilty of firstly drinking alcohol and then it being najis. The scholars of previous times have said that the "intoxicant which is liquid in origin is najis" [Luma'a v1 p22] which shows that even then there was a distinction made between that which is liquid in origin and not. With the development of science a wide variety of chemicals not intoxicating or not liquid in origin have come under the category of alcohols, which is why the fuqaha have exercised precautions in the matter. Thus, what can be drunk as an intoxicant (assuming it is liquid in origin i.e fermented) would be classified as najis, and that which is not drunk as an intoxicant (ethyl alcohol is poisonous dose-related) and is derived from other sources would be classed as tahir either by precaution or as a direct ruling.

That's why fragrances, medicines and most other alcohol-containing consumer products are classed as tahir for use. [There is some controversy over vanilla extract because of the type of alcohol used in the extraction process].

Shaykhi Sect - Mostly Users contribution

I'm reading the Shaykhi sect. This will be an informal reading based on users contribution.

It is a common knowledge that the sect is a hybrid, based on teaching of Shi'ism and Sufi'sm. According to a SC user, the follower of Shaykh Ahsai completely rejects Sufism.

Especially when it comes to the idea of man becooming one with god, and the concept of wahdat- wajood. They also reject the sufi practice of blindly following a morshed.

The user also added that one of the followers of the Shaykh Ahsai started the Bahai religion.

A student or follower of Shaykh Al-Ahsai deviates and claims to be the gate to Imam Zaman (ajtf) or the Imam himself (naoothobellah) does not mean that the sheikh himself endorsed it. On the contrary, he would be totally against bab and the bahais and the shaykh's true followers consider bahais outside of Islam. Some have even written books to answer and refute the ridiculous claims of Mirza Ali Mohammad(??) the founder of Bahai cult.

(Note: Don't really know much about the Bahai).

To be continued...

Daily Show on Libya

Funny. Please watch it online at www.dailyshow.com, direct link.

Here is the partial transcript from Hollywood Reporter. (Note: I have removed the profanities). 

----Start of the transcript------

Jon Stewart went off on Moammar Gadhafi for nine minutes on The Daily Show Thursday night.

our editor recommends

First he joked about the rebels shooting the Libyan dictator, saying his last words were reportedly "don't shoot," and pointing out, "You know why they shot him. They're rebels. 'Hey man, don't tell us what to do!'"

He then quipped about the networks going overboard to warn about graphic images and video, before playing the clip of the Wicked Witch shriveling up under Dorothy's house in the Wizard of Oz.

To Gadhafi, he offered a word of advice, or what he called a "Dic Tip."

"Really, a hole? Really?" he said incredulously at the dictator's hiding place of choice.

"The thing about Gadhafi is that his [EDIT] up weirdness stood out even among the [EDIT] up and weird," added Stewart before playing footage of Gadhafi swatting himself with a broom on live TV and a news reports that he kept photo albums of Condoleezza Rice in his home.

Stewart reserved his harshest criticism for Fox News and Republicans. First he slammed them for showing a clip of a New York Daily News columnist and  Jon Bolton talking about how Gadhafi's death could be bad for the country -- and then a follow-up clip of commentators on the network saying they should have killed him faster.


"Is there no Republican that can be gracious and statesmen-like in this situation?" said Stewart. "We removed a dictator in six months, losing no American soldiers, spending, like, a billion dollars rather than a trillion dollars, and engendering what appears to be goodwill with the people who now have a prideful story of their own independence to tell… not to mention oil, they have oil. Anybody wanna give credit?”

He then played more clips of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican, and Sen. John McCain giving credit to the French and British.

"What the [EDIT] is wrong with you people? Honestly, what is wrong with you?" Stewart asked. "Are you that small? Should we give credit to the Chinese… 'Without the invention of gun powder…'"

---end transcript ----

There is also an interview with John Oliver and the Libyan Ambassador.

Todo: The Shaykhi sect

Collecting links for reading

The Shaykhi Sect
http://www.shiachat.org/forum/index.php?/topic/234995060-shaykh-ahmad-al-ahs/
http://www.shiachat.org/forum/index.php?/topic/234962227-shaykhi-and-usooli/
http://www.shiachat.org/forum/index.php?/topic/5243-shaykhi/
http://www.shiachat.org/forum/index.php?/topic/71607-shaikh-ahmad-i-ahsai/
http://www.shiachat.org/forum/index.php?/topic/234971900-what-is-the-difference-between-usooli-other/
http://www.shiachat.org/forum/index.php?/topic/47054-khomeinis-fatwa-on-sheikh-al-ahsai/
http://www.shiachat.org/forum/index.php?/topic/234938520-who-are-the-sheikhis-and-also-info-about-carneys-views/
http://www.shiachat.org/forum/index.php?/topic/31057-shaykhis%3B-wahhabi-shias/
http://www.shiachat.org/forum/index.php?/topic/234962227-shaykhi-and-usooli/
http://www.shiachat.org/forum/index.php?/topic/234938842-someone-have-information-about-the-shayk-school/
http://www.shiachat.org/forum/index.php?/topic/71607-shaikh-ahmad-i-ahsai/

Ghadaffi captured?

The rebels has captured the Libyan dictator. He was pronounced dead.

There is a video of him at the above link. Hard to say if he is alive of dead.

Correction: He looks dead to me.

I have stopped following the news

I don’t really know what is going on in the world. I have stopped following the …news. Even forced the husband *Not* to talk politics at home. Ignorance is really blissful! You guys should try it sometimes.

At the moment I am trying to figure out what I missed when I was on "news break"

Where is the Libyan dictator? I typed "where is ghadafi" on the google search. One of the results is clearly optimistic

Best guess for Muammar Gaddafi Location is Libya

On the Libyan front, they found some racy pictures of Aline Skaff (wife of Hanibal Ghadafi). They (the couple) seem to be enjoying a wealthy lifestyle (rich food, wines, luxury resorts, yachts). If you remember, this sadistic couple got into trouble in Europe for abusing their maids a while back.

In Egypt, things are still messy. The people might have gotten rid of the dictator but the situation has not really improved much. Mubarak’s cronies are still running the show.

Rafida, Rafidites

Rafidi is a derogatory term. It is level against the followers of Ahlul Bayt or the Shias.

Generally, when someone is accused of being a Rafida, it means that this person (rafidi) rejects Abu Bakr and Umar al Khattab. The Shias, since the earliest time, have rejected the caliphate of Abu Bakr and Umar. The Shia considers them (the first and the second caliphs) usurpers of the Prophet Caliphate and oppressors of Ahlul Bayt (namely Imam Ali (as) and Fatima (sa)).

Based on a hadith attributed to Imam Jaffar as-Sadiq (as), re-produced below, being called a rafidi should be a source of pride.

A man came to Ja'far al-Sadiq saying that someone had warned him against becoming a Rafidi and Ja'far replied "By God, this name which God has granted you is excellent, as long as you follow our teaching and do not attribute lies to us." Muhammad al-Baqir also mentioned an instance when he pointed at himself stating "I am one of the Rafida."

Real Tashayyu blog had another interesting post on the Muharram Rituals of the Early Shias. I am reproducing the English translation of the quote (all rights reserved to the to the blog)

Rather, (any) reporter (historian) did not mention that anyone from the Shia public performed it (violent Muharram rituals such as tatbir) or that one of their scholars permitted it, in the era in which all the kings of the Islamic countries were Shia. That is the period in which al Buhaivi (founder of the Buyid regime) was the king of Persia and Iraq, and other countries were ruled by his family/progeny. And the Abbasid caliphs did not share the rule with them except by name (as figureheads). Syrian region and the Island was ruled by Bani Hamdan and the rulers of Egypt, Africa and the Maghreb were the Fatimids. And in their age there were great Shia scholars such as Shaikh Mufid, Sharif al Murtada and Syed al Radhi (ra), on top of that the extremism of the Buyids in propagating the establishment of Muharram's mourning ceremonies/rituals to the extent that on Ashura the markets of Baghdad would be closed and Muharram mourning ceremonies/rituals took place on the roads, despite this no one reports that anything such as injuring the heads with swords and its like took place in that period. (In the Risalah al Tanzih by Syed Muhsin al Amin)

You may also want to check out some of my own posts
link 1
link 2
link 3
link 4
link 5

Copyrighted Materials

JSTOR contains a collection of interesting journals. I came to know about these journals from a brother who has provided many interesting articles. There are a number of interesting journals on jstor that publishes Shia related papers. Strangely people who published in these journals work and study in western countries. The reason I said strange because I was under the impression that no one in west study Shia Islam (since it is not the majority sect). And sometimes people tend to focus on the majority sect because they think the majority must have the correct interpretation about Islam.

Did I tell you that I am from a country that actively prosecutes its Shia minority?

Anyway, I don’t have a subscription to the journal. However, I found a way to access the journal from a university computer. You can go to any library (affiliated with a University) and use one of their computers. You should have an instant access to the journal.

The jstor site has a page-to-page navigation. I have also seen an option to download the article in the pdf format. The download in the pdf format did not work well for me. I was only able to make it work for a few documents, afterward it stopped showing anything it pdf. Don’t really know why this happened.

Anyway, I am not going to upload copyrighted materials, papers, books or journals on my blog because it is in violation of the blogger term of agreement.

If you have interest in certain paragraphs or pages from the journal paper then I can re-quote some of them (not in entirety) here. One thing I know about Academic Journals is that they are very possessive. They even take away the copyright from the original authors who publish papers in their journal.

Self-imposed Asceticism

I finally realized what I don’t like about self-imposed asceticism (meaning: describes a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from various sorts of worldly pleasures often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals.)

It seems too artificial. I don’t think asceticism is a state of mind. You are either born dirt poor or you are not.

Rant about the middle east

I am asked about my recent post on Saudi Women Voting

Bhooka wants to know

How did voting in a national election turn into an islamic or non islamic issue, and so how is it related to women's "Islamic rights"?

He is right in a way. The political system in Saudi Arabia is a Monarchy (a form of tribal dictatorship) where the Saud royal family manages and runs the political, social, cultural and religious framework in the country.

At the local level people may have some control; vote and elect their representatives, but these votes don’t really mean that there is a working political system over there. People don’t really have the freedom to voice or govern or decide the future of the country.

So, if the royal family decided to send the military to the neighboring Bahrain to squash the majority of the Shia villagers, they can do that easily without consulting anyone in the Kingdom.

The other attractive feature of Arab Middle East is how much hate there is over there
- The Arabs vs. non Arabs
- The Sunni vs. Shias
- The conservative vs liberals
- The white skin vs the not so white skin
And the worse is of course the discrimination of the female gender.

Chapter 23 Verse 28 and 29

023.028
SHAKIR: And when you are firmly seated, you and those with you, in the ark, say: All praise is due to Allah who delivered us from the unjust people:

023.029
SHAKIR: And say: O my Lord! cause me to disembark a blessed alighting, and Thou art the best to cause to alight.

Chapter 66 Verse 8

Muhammad Sarwar: Believers, turn to God in repentance with the intention of never repeating the same sin. Perhaps your Lord will expiate your evil deeds and admit you to Paradise wherein streams flow. On the Day of Judgment, God will not disgrace the Prophet and those who have believed in him. Their lights will shine in front of them and to their right. They will say, "Our Lord, perfect our light for us and forgive our sins. You have power over all things".

Chapter 25 Verse 74

I thank the anonymous user who is making these verses available to me.

Shakir: And they who say: O our Lord! grant us in our wives and our offspring the joy of our eyes, and make us guides to those who guard (against evil).

Chapter 46 Verse 15

Shakir: And We have enjoined on man doing of good to his parents; with trouble did his mother bear him and with trouble did she bring him forth; and the bearing of him and the weaning of him was thirty months; until when he attains his maturity and reaches forty years, he says: My Lord! grant me that I may give thanks for Thy favor which Thou hast bestowed on me and on my parents, and that I may do good which pleases Thee and do good to me in respect of my offspring; surely I turn to Thee, and surely I am of those who submit.

Chapter 71 verse 28

This could also be recited in the Qunoot

Shakir: My Lord! forgive me and my parents and him who enters my house believing, and the believing men and the believing women; and do not increase the unjust in aught but destruction!

Basiriyya (Waqifa) are Ghulats

Basiriyya are Waqifa; they denied Imam Musa al Kadhim (as) death. They originate from Kufa (Iraq).

The group leader is Muhammad b. Basir. Imam Musa al-Kadhim has publicly cursed Ibn Basir for spreading heretical ideas (Ghuluww) such as

• Claimed that Musa al-Kadhim was not a human being. He is a light when seen by the people of the light" ("ahl al-nur"), as a dim light by "the people of dimness" ("ahl al-kudra") and as a human being by normal people
• Claimed that Musa al Kadhim was screened from the people and that he did not die.
• Claimed that Musa al-Kadhim was the Qaim and the Mahdi and will return to earth.
• Claimed that he himself was the successor of Imam Musa al-Kadhim
• Claimed that his son was his successor.
• They believed in some form of Tanasukh - that the soul of Imam passed from one Imam to another

Reference:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4057529