Mu'tazilah

A theological school centered in Iraq (mainly around Baghdad and Basra). It emerged in the 8th century AD.  Its heyday was between the 9th and 10th century AD. The earliest development of the sect is a little bit sketchy.

This school differs from the other Muslims sects from the many number of individuals who claim to be from this school or who can be identified (belong) to this school. A variety of ideas and views were espoused by its members.

You have to spend a lot of time reading what or who the Mu'tazilah were. This is mainly due to the many contradictory ideas between the generations and among the many individuals in the same generation. Mu'tazilah group had many skillful debaters (sometimes I get the impression that the Mu'tazilah were members of a large and elaborate debate club).

Many people believe that the downfalls of the Mutazilah school was when it was no longer considered orthodox enough. In the past, some people did consider the Mu'tazilah to indulge too much into the philosophical realm (speculative theology).

This is just a brief overview. I might post some historical background and the development of the sect in the future.

Do you know meme generator?

You can create funny captions for pictures. I’m getting quite addicted re-captioning the pictures. You can check out some of the captions by me and other talented artists here

Concluding Remark about Jarudiyya

Jarudiyya is the earliest of the Zaydi sect. They came before Battriya, another sub sect of Zaydi.

Both sects have some degree of similarity, such as, not restricting the Imamah solely on the line of the twelve Imams of the Shias.

The most striking difference between the two sects is the level of tolerance shown at the governance of the first two Sunni Caliphs (Abu Bakr and Umar).

Jaruddiya, the earliest of the Zaydi sect, considered anyone who refused to recognize the Imamah of Ali ibn Abi Talib as unbeliever. They completely reject the caliphate of Abu Bakr and Umar al-Khattab.

Battriya, the sect that came later, acknowledge the caliphate of Abu Bakr and Umar al-Khattab and also Ali Ibn Abi Talib. They have also rejected the later Imams of the Shias, some preferring to go with the descendants of Zayd.

What did al-Sharastani say about Jarudiyya Zaydi

Al-Sharastani in his book [1]  said that the Zaydis are split into the following sub sects
- Jarudiyya
- Sulaimaniya
- Batriyya

He then gave more specific about the Jarudiyya sect

• These were followers of Abu al-Jarud Ziyad b. Abu Ziyad
• Jarudiyya believe that the Prophet appointed Ali to be the next Imam (Prophet successor) by description and not by name.
• The Jarudiyya also believe that many men failed in their duty by not recognizing Imam Ali. And when men made Abu Bakr as the caliph, they became unbeliever.
• The Jarudiyya differ among themselves as to the interruption of the Imamate and its continuation.

...to be continued

Reference
[1] Al-Shahrastani. al-milal wa al-nihal, page 135

Druze sect is now on the side with other labels

I can’t fit many sects on the top most part of my blog in a single line. I don’t really like to have multiple lines there. So the Druze sect has been moved as a side label. Maybe if I wrote more about them, then they may have a chance to be back on the top. The Kharajites is now placed on the top. The other sect in danger of being pushed to the side is the Allawi sect.

Will need to organize my blog again!

For the past week, I have been busy doing translation work on a propaganda documentary from Malaysia. I am not yet done. Apart from this documentary, I also have a few other clips from Malaysia that would need to be translated.

Since the blog posts are getting longer now, my research into other sects is not getting through. That’s not good.

So I am thinking of restructuring my blog. I have created another blog under my account to post news about Malaysia Shia. http://malaysiashia.blogspot.com/

I’ll try to post new information and news about the Malaysian Syiah Community in my second blog. I’ll also leave a link here for my readers so you guys know whenever I have something new. The other thing I am exploring is making my second blog bilingual (English and Malay). I’ll probably cheat a bit and use Google translator to translate my English post to Malay. Since I know both languages fluently, I’ll know if something funny is happening in the translation.

Asylum must not be denied?

That is the title of an article published in one of Malaysian newspaper.


The journalist writes that the deportation of a Saudi National who was seeking asylum in Malaysia has now become another global PR debacle.

A few other details emerged from this report. Hamzah Kashagari was intercepted while he was enroute to New Zeland. And he was detained for three days at Kuala Lumpur before he was sent back to Saudi Arabia to face a possible beheading.

The ex-Prime Minister of Malaysia, a very serious blogger I might add, has this to say about Kashgari

The authorities should have studied the case of the Saudi Arabian journalist thoroughly before making the decision to send him back. “If it causes the loss of life, we have to see the justification,” he said.

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) calls the repatriation as a breach of international human rights rules and norms.

The biggest culprits who were responsible for this fiasco are Malaysian Home Minister, Malaysian Immigration director-general, Malaysian Inspector-General of Police and the Saudis.

Saudi beheading Committee has a bloodthirsty reputation

The beheading of a woman, Amina Abdul Halim Salem Nasser, who was convicted of “witchcraft and sorcery”, sparked global outrage last year.

Sorcery and witchcraft is widely practiced in Malaysia because it is a thriving business opportunity. The journalist sum up his piece by

One wonders how our own celebrated bomoh – especially those frequently called in to help politicians facing trials in courts as well as football teams seeking spiritual help – would fare if sorcery were similarly enforced as a crime in Malaysia.

Done translating the third part of the documentary

A question is displayed on the screen " Is it true that the Syiah accused the companions of the Prophet of being Kafirs? " 

Abdullah Hassan (Malaysian Syiah): “We do not consider the companions of the Prophet as Kafir in sense that all the companions were bad/disgraced/shamed. Even though some would say that according to the narration, only four of the companions were nice or good.

But the meaning here is that to turn back [reverted] doesn’t mean someone became kafirs. But it could mean something else like turning back against the commandment of the Holy Prophet. It doesn’t mean that everyone became apostate and only four people remained. “

The video is now showing the reporter sitting in front of Abdullah Hassan while looking at his notes.

The narrator started “Nevertheless his (Abdullah Hassan) statement is contradictory to what you are about to see”

The next clip is showing some Syiahs performing salat. 

[I am not surprised that they are using Yassir Habib in their propaganda material]. Based on the subtitle, this clip is taken from Youtube and the quality of the visual may not be to your satisfaction.

Yasir Habib was seen reciting a dua. You can see the translation of what is being recited.

‘Meaning: O Allah, send la’nat on your enemies, especially on Abu Bakr, Umar and Ayesha’

Video is now showing one of the Sunni Ulama from Malaysia. [His name is Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin. He was interviewed in the beginning of the documentary. 

This is the same person who kept on repeating thrice that the differences between the Sunni and Shia is about aqeedah]

The Sunni Ulama: “He (referring to Abdullah Hassan) may be denying privately but their [Syiah] books consider the companions as apostates. They [books] call Abu Bakr and Umar as Saname-Quraish or the two idols of the Quraish.”

“If they [Syiah] don’t consider the companions as apostates then why do they send la’nat on Abu Bakr and Umar? And this can be found in their books. In fact if you look in the book Raudah al-Kafi, they are stating clearly that all companions apostate except a few of them who didn’t apostate such as Bilal, Miqdad, Abu Dhar, Ammar. Others are outside of the religion (apostate), people like Abu Bakr, Umar al-Khattab, Uthman al-Affan and the other companions. Huge names among the people of the Sunnah Wal Jamaah unlikely..how do you equate”

[He appeared to be visibly upset and incredulous that people of huge caliber among the Sunnah wal Jamah are not respected enough or highly rated by the Shias.

I can understand and perhaps share his sentiment. Like him, I also don’t understand why Sunnism have not show any respect towards the Imams of Ahl al-Bayt. Almost unbelievable]

The video continued showing the night scene. The reporter is speaking now; his first sentence is too vague to be translated accurately. He is implying that Islam is a religion that control human thoughts especially when it deals on Fiqh. That sounds too wrong to be translated.

He continued by saying that “Fiqh are matters which are considered as Furu or branches in the religion, as long as it is based on the two main sources; the Quran and the Sunnah”

“But Islam has a strict policy when the it touches on the question of Aqeedah. Let’s witness the next segment”

[Here they are implying that no matter how contradictory the four Sunni Fiqh Schools are with each other, this is not a big deal because as long as you can brag about following the Quran and supposedly the contradictory Sunnah of the Prophet then you are fine. But being a Shia is not okay because we [Sunni] only allow contradiction to exist within our own schools and that is acceptable because we can justify it in anyway we like]

The video is now showing the reporter looking at his paper while talking to the elderly Shia Man who is holding a book. They are standing behind a nice bookcase filled to the brim with interesting religious book.

The narrator started with “If you are following, the history of this madhab [Syiah] is very long. It started since the time of the companions of the Prophet. Chronologically, it is based on a number of important incidents/events in the history of Islam after the death of the Holy Prophet.”

The narrator said, “Among the events according to the chronology are”  We are presented with a bullet list of items “The killing of the third caliph, Uthman al-Affan. Ali ibn Abi Talib became the caliph. The Jamal/Camel war. The Siffin War, the killing of Hussein”

[The other interesting events that are sometimes glossed over in the Islamic history are the event of saqifa, Umar inheriting the caliphate, the six men shura, the corruption in Uthman government, death of Hassan ibn Ali and the rise of the Ummayad dynasty.]

[Let’s continue. The propaganda is getting  interesting.]

The narrator again ”Among a number of scholars of Islamic history, you’ll find some who links the existence of Shia with Ibn Saba who is consider the founder of Shia, who was a Jewish Hypocrite, who was responsible for killing the third caliph. He is the main person who is responsible for the armed rebellion against Uthman and built the Shia movement”

[I understand that this is a propaganda documentary, but why don’t they investigate further the role Ayesha, Talha and Zubair played in the killing of Uthman. Why hide all the sordid details behind Ibn Saba, the fall guy?]

A question is displayed on the screen “To what extent is the truthfulness of this foundation (assertion)”

Video showing Abdullah Hassan speaking now. [I am deeply fascinated by how they are labeling this man – The Shia Practitioner]. 

He started explaining “About Ibn Saba, many books are written by the Shia Scholars stating that Ibn Saba is someone who didn’t exist. Even if you look in the writing of Sunni scholars, for example Shaykh Mahmud Abu Ra’yah, important scholar from Egypt. Also Shaykh Abdul Halim Mahmud, Shaykh of Al-Azhar. They are stating that Ibn Saba never existed in the history of Islam.”

Now, the reporters can be seen standing in front of the bookcase, opening and peering into books.

The narrator is now saying “Nevertheless, a few of the Shia books claim that Ibn Saba does exist”

[Who do you think would be best person to speak about some very rare and obscure narrations about Ibn Saba?

Enter the emotional Sunni Ulama who can’t stand the thought of anyone disliking the major companions of Sunnism.]

Sunni Ulama, Mohd Asri: “The character of Abdullah Ibn Saba exists. If they [Syiah] believe in Tarikh Tabari, this book contains a collection of a mix of narrations, some Shias, some non-Shias, and some mix. The book also mentioned Ibn Saba. One of the Shia book, Rijal al-Kashi, also mentioned about the arrival of Ibn Saba, a Shia book mention about Ibn Saba and his role.”

Now the video is showing mourners dressed in black hitting their chest in a mourning ceremony.

The narrator “Apart from this, one of the major issue frequently cited by the Syiah is about Sayyidna Ali ibn Abi Talib who should have become the first caliph of Muslim after the death of the Holy Prophet.”

The video is back in the propaganda mode; showing scenes of very bloody matam. Blood can be seen trickling down from the head. I guess they don’t have anything scarier that this. These scenes are not from Malaysia. The subtitle states that these clips are taken from youtube.

We are again presented with items in bullet list. The narrator started reading one-by-one items from the list

“The Shia rejects the caliphate of the companions such as, the caliphate of Abu Bakr, Umar al Khattab, Uthman al-Affan”

[One thing you can notice from the list is that even Sunnis themselves have rejected two other deserving persons who should be on this list; Hassan ibn Ali and Hussein ibn Ali.

So, it is a bit hypocritically to be asking the [Syiahs] on why we [Syiahs] don’t acknowledges the first three caliphs when the Sunnis themselves can’t explain why they have rejected the two men (Hassan and Hussein) who deserve to be recognized by them before their three caliphs]

to be continued...

Continue reading the propaganda documentary (part two)

This is part two of the exciting propaganda documentary about the Malaysian Shia. Part one of the documentary can be foundhere

The two reporters are traveling to see an elderly Shia men in a Northern Malaysian state.

The interview started at minute 6:01

First question from the reporter: “What is Shia?

Abu Hassan: Ali and his followers; his followers are known as the Shia/Syiah. Shia is a group of people whom follows Ali. Also in the quran, the word Shia/Syiah is used for many groups of followers. So in this context, Syiah refer back to followers of Ali alaihi salam.

The horror music intensified now.

The video clip changes to a busy traffic scene in Johor Bahru in the state of Johor (the southern most state in Malaysia).

The narrator started with saying "The number of Shias in Malaysia can be considered as increasing. Recently in Johor, we heard news about spreading of Shiaism in Southern Malaysia. We traveled to Johor to approach a group of Shia. After investigation, we identified a Shia headquarter. The location is Ulu Tiram. “

The video is showing a car moving to the location carrying the two men reporters.

You know what music is accompanying this trip.

The car pulled in front of a few houses. A man went out of the car to meet someone who was standing at the side of the building.

The narrator introduced the man by saying, "This man is known as Pak Malik or Ustaz Malik. He is in the late 50s. He admitted to us that he has been practicing his Syiah faith for the last 20 years"

A written question was posed to the audience accompanied with you know what music – ‘What cause this man to be so attracted to this movement [syiah]?’

We are then presented to the man known as Pak Malik. The subtitle on the screen introduced him as a Practitioner of the Syiah teaching.

Pak Malik is speaking now, "The Prophet said he is leaving two things with us, the heaviest is the Quran and the Prophet family (Itrat). Who followed the Prophet are Ali, Fatima, Hassan, Hussein including his descendents/grandsons."

The next video shows a man who is working in one of the governmental Institute. Mohd AIzam Masod is assistant director of research [investigation] in Jakim.

He started by saying "Al-Kulayni [a Shia Scholar] narrated that Islam is based on 5 issues; Salat (prayers), fasting, zakat, hajj (pilgrimage) and Walayat. And walayat is Imamah. Based on their narration, Imamah is the most important principle, the number one principle for the Shias. So the difference between us (Sunni) and them (Syiah), is fundamental, question on principle. We are worried that we don't know the view of the Syiah; what they think about us the people of Sunnah wal-Jammah who rejects the first Syiah principle [Imamah] the obligatory [wajib] to believe in the Imamah of Sayidna Ali and his descendents from Fatima, the twelve Imams.

and this give raise to confusions in the society [people].  Supposedly in a religion, you find two opposing principles." [I am stunned with what he is saying].

The video is now showing a bookcase, filled to the brim with religious books. The narrator started speaking "It is certain now that the teaching of the Shia is well received especially among the youths [the implication here is that the teaching is getting a lot of traction]"

The video clip is now showing prayer mats and turbahs (the clay pieces).

One of the reporters who was flipping a book almost rolled his eyes after being told something [I wonder what].

The narrator continued by saying "With Pak Malik, we had the opportunity to participate in a dhikir session in one of their hauzah (center) which is consider as their [syiah] biggest in the state of Johor."

The video is showing nice wall hangings, living room furniture and nice carpets.

The narrator said, "We were somewhat left strangely questioning their [Syiah] admissions and actions. "

The video is now showing Pak Malik the Shia practitioner opening a book with the reporters looking on. His friend in a red shirt can be seen carrying a stack of books.

We are then shown a session where some verses from the Quran are being recited. A small group of men are reading the Quran while facing the Qiblah (the direction to the Kaba). The reporters are observing from the side. The subtitle is - "a Syiah Dhikir Majlis (congregation)."

You can see 2 adult women and 2 young girls at the back of mosque who are quietly listening to the Quranic recitation. The congregation stood up as a sign of respect and recited a dua.

Video now showing the living room. You noticed three flags - Malaysian flag and the two other flags (not sure what these flags are).

They are again showing the first elderly Shia Man from Kedah, Abu Hassan.

The narrator started by saying "but....the syiah are also known for their harsh criticism against the companions of the Prophet to the extent that a few of them [companions] are assumed to be Kafir".

A question is displayed on the screen " Is it true that the Syiah accused the companions of the Prophet of being Kafirs? "  

please continue reading part three

One-year anniversary

It has been a year now. I started bloging on Feb 13^th, 2011.

Since then, I have found many interesting stats about people who like to visit/read this site

I’ve made 298 posts in my first year. Not all of them are quality posts, but many are.

A lot of my research into other sects’ materials is queued up as internal queue, piling up as draft copies. I’m planning to clear all of them eventually. Sometimes, works get pushed back because far more interesting events/incidents are happening in the world.

Moving forward, I see a lot of opportunity for improvement, such as,

-       A more effective use of social networking tools like Facebook or Twitter

-       Make the blog more appealing by increasing pictures and images

-       Find better keywords for labeling the posts, searching etc

Blasphemy via Twitter?

This guy could possibly face a beheading if he doesn't repent in a Saudi Court.

Many people are angry over his tweets. He tweeted the following messages on twitter

On your birthday, I will say that I have loved the rebel in you, that you’ve always been a source of inspiration to me, and that I do not like the halos of divinity around you. I shall not pray for you.

On your birthday, I find you wherever I turn. I will say that I have loved aspects of you, hated others, and could not understand many more.

On your birthday, I shall not bow to you. I shall not kiss your hand. Rather, I shall shake it as equals do, and smile at you as you smile at me. I shall speak to you as a friend, no more.

Some people think that these wordings are controversial, insulting and blasphemous. I don't think they are blasphemous at all. 

Blasphemy is not a very well define crime. There isn't a plaintiff or a victim. If someone thinks you wrote something uncomplimentary about Allah swt or the Prophet then you are being blasphemous. 

He has apologized soo many times. Most people are unwilling to let it go. Some people believe he should be beheaded for insulting the Prophet of Islam. 

He could be tried either for apostasy or blasphemy - both carries the death sentence based on the Islamic tradition. The only way he can save himself now is if he repents in the court. With a repentance done in front of the judge, he can be acquitted.

Many people have advised him not to be hero. Issue a quick apology and save yourself.

To save himself from being prosecuted, he tried to seek asylum. Unfortunately, he traveled to the worse possible country in the world to seek asylum - Malaysia. Malaysia doesn't believe in political asylums and they don't grant anyone political asylums. They will treat you just like a regular criminal after charging you for breaking immigration laws. Malaysia will also swiftly send you back to the same country that you are running away from!


As expected, Malaysia has cheerfully extradite him almost immediately as soon as he landed in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. 

Even the lawyer who tried to help the poor kid couldn't do a single thing to stop the deportation

Muhammad Afiq Bin Mohamad Noor, the Malaysian lawyer hired by Mr. Kashgari’s family, said he obtained an interim court order from the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Sunday afternoon that would have prevented the authorities from deporting Mr. Kashgari. He only discovered later on Sunday, when he spoke to an immigration officer at the Kuala Lumpur airport, that Mr. Kashgari had already been deported on a private Saudi jet. 

 After sending this kid to a possible death sentence

“The police have contacted their counterpart in Saudi Arabia to determine the next course of action,”

"It’s not our practice to grant political asylum"

Malaysia even bragged about how friendly they are with Saudi Arabia

“The nature of the charges against the individual in this case are a matter for the Saudi Arabian authorities.”  

The official said Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country, had good diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. 

Correcting grammatical mistakes is boring

and time consuming. It takes a second or a third reading before you see them.

You could probably write faster too if you don’t have to deal with all the grammatical errors and typos.

Why am I anonymous and how do you get in touch with me

The main reason why I am anonymous is because I don’t want to be prosecuted for my religious belief. When you are brought up in an environment where your religious belief is illegal, and the government is actively prosecuting other people who share a similar belief with you, then you grow up in an environment where you are constantly scared to be found out, especially when you are living in a predominately Muslim country where the environment is non-secular.

I have always felt more secure living in western countries than living in my own nation because people in western countries don’t care about your religious belief. Everyone is treated equally under the law. 

If you wished to get in touch with me privately, please email me at . If you don't hear from me, that means I am not checking my mail. So just come to my blog and leave a message here.

Exciting propaganda documentary about Malaysia Syiah

The propaganda documentary was released yesterday 9^th of February 2012 on Malaysia main TV channel prime time at 10:30pm. This documentary is being promoted by a supposedly religious organisation in Malaysia with a dominant web presence.

Most people in the world are not aware of how nasty the Malaysian religious authority treat Muslims who do not follow the official Sunni sect. A lot of Muslim from other sects have been insulted, degraded, hurled to courts under fabricated charges, their association disbanded, face jail time and being placed in reform schools to force convert them to Sunnism.

Taqiyya has been heavily used and practiced in the Malaysian society, by not only the Shias but also non-Shafii Sunnis, Sufis, Ahmadis, Ismailis and people from other Islamic sects. I am aware that non-Muslims also faced prosecution in the Malaysian society.

I am not only interested in researching sects and religions other that the Shia Ithna Asharis, but I am also interested to study how religious people uses propaganda as a mean (mechanism) to promote the superiority of their faith. An interesting case study would be to look at how the propaganda is being used by the Malaysian Sunnis of the Shafii sect for over two decades now to criminalise its Shia minority.

Unfortunately, since most of the resources are in Malay language, people don't get the sense of what is going on in that tiny country. English language newspapers and magazines over there don't really cover things that are sectarian in nature about Muslims.

Whenever I get times, I will translate resources (videos, audios, texts) from Malay to English that I find interesting enough.

The following is the first part of the translation of the most recent audio about the Syiah Imamiah in Malaysia

Syiah -Madhab or Religion.

Lol at the horror music being played in the beginning.

The narrator started with saying “that the biggest problem with the Shia/Syiah is them claiming that whoever disbelieve in their 12 Imams are out of the true path.

One of the Malaysia Sunni religious figure said “Those twelve Imams of the Shias are also known in the Sunni books of hadiths”

Second Sunni Religious figure said “The Sunni Imam Shafii said if I can trust everyone in the world, I will never ever trust/believe a Shia”

The third person was heard questioning “The Prophet's companions! Should we not hold to the Prophet's companions or should we hold to the people who came later”

The subtitle had a label displaying that this was a recap from last week. [What was on last week?]

The camera then panned to the main character/speaker. The speaker started with the perfunctory bismillah, a mini Dua, salawat and Salam. He didn't waste any time but went straight into the propaganda mode

“The Syiah, just saying it [the name syiah], will take our mind to number of issue that is unpleasant to ears/hear, such as, nikah mut'ah, hitting your body until injured (self-flagellation) are a few of the activities most commonly identified with the syiah. [he emphasize his sentence by using the word synonym to draw the image of Shisim consisting of only the act of self-flagellation and muta].

“Our nation which is based on the belief or the teaching of the Sunnah Wal Jamaah, all these matters [he meant the self-flagellation and the muta] can be described as weird/strange and bizarre from the original teaching of Islam. “

“However, do we know if the belief of the syiah is only centered/revolve around both of these issues? Or is there something further than this? That involves the question of the foundation/base of the religion or the aqeedah”

“In this exclusive episode we will show (investigate) the syiah – a madhab or a new religion” the journalist ends here (at two minutes mark).

 Enter the first ignorant Sunni Mullah. He said, “We don't question the Fiqh of other madhabs. We only question that madhab when the issue is about the aqeedah. The most serious problem between the Sunni and the Shia is the question of the aqeedah and not so much on the mut'ah. That (Mut'ah) is also a problem but the biggest problem is still aqeedah. Their aqeedah is very different from the Sunni in such matters as the companions, the question of Quran, believing in their Imams (as wajib), and anyone who disbelieve in their Imams are lost and in the state of Kufr etc. That makes them (Syiah) very different from us.”

The video is now showing a group of children in the midst of performing the matam (mourning rites by hitting the chest) following the recitation of a sad latmeyah. The video displayed the following subtitle “Followers of Syiah in Malaysia”.

The narrator voice is heard saying “ What you are witnessing here is not something that is happening in Iran. But these people are Malaysian citizen who have chosen to become the followers of Syiah.” [just translating what he said. I know it sounds stupid but that is what he said.]

Then the video shows a group of shirtless foreign men (not Malaysian) performing the bloody matam. Blood can be seen trickling down on the front of their chests.

The narrator then continued “Hitting your body until injured while listening to poetries or poems on the tenth of Muharram is supposedly to symbolize the killing of Hussain, Prophet's grandson.” [he was rudely implying that this is supposedly a Shia myth of some sort]. The identity of Hussein [his killing] is commonly pictured [portrayed] by the Syiah worldwide.”

Next, the narrator cheerfully said the following “Generally, in Malaysia, the followers of this path (the Shias), are always tied to the deviancy (being deviant). ”

The video is now showing Malaysian Shias being detained at Ar Ridha center on the eve of Ashura in the year 2010 (we also have videos of this unfortunate incident).

The narrator can be heard saying “On 17^th of December year 2010, The JAIS (Selangor Islamic Religious Authority), raided the Shia Headquarter in Gombak. About 200 syiahs were detained and arrested from this operation, including women and children.”

The camera is now showing syiah women dressed in all black hejab being asked to squat on the floor.

The narrator continued by saying “From this incident, a follow-up raid was planned last may when a group of Syiah gathered together for remembering Sayyida Fatima Az Zahra, also in Gombak”

A written question was being displayed in the propaganda documentary for you to reflect on “What really made them (Syiah) be considered deviant” 

 The documentary continued by exploring what makes the Shia deviant. The horror music intensified and became louder. Another question is being displayed “What is Shia?”

The video is showing pictures of people performing matam who had their heads bleeding. The narrator started speaking about the definition of syiah “Syiah from the perspective of the people of Sunnah wal Jamaah, are those people who have a number of issues/problems with their aqeedah. For example, the Shia Imamiah, have exaggerated set of belief”

The video has been showing non-stop images and videos of bloody matam. But now it panned on drawings/pictures of all twelves Imams sitting together.

The narrator continued by explaining what the exaggerated set of belief is “they (Shia Imamiah) believe in the twelve Imams as contained in their books. And among them (Syiah) are those who make takfir on the companions of the Prophet.”

The video is showing a car traveling to a place in the state of Kedah (Pendang), Malaysia. “To further understand them, we are traveling to met those who are involved with the Syiah, those who practice the teaching of Syiah”

The horror music intensified.

Video is showing a young man going towards the fence near a gate of a home. The man is heard asking “Is this the house of Abu Hassan?” The voice from the inside of the house said no. So the man asked again the house of the person he is looking for.

The narrator showed us a sad picture of Abdullah Hassan. The narrator introduced him to us “Abdullah Hassan is a very famous Syiah in Malaysia. He is 64 years old. This man is practicing his syiah belief openly without hiding it.”

The horror music intensified.

The video is now showing two men with a camera capturing pictures secretly from a car. The narrator explained that “Abdullah Hassan is among the Syiah Imamiah who has been practicing his faith in this country the longest. And without any appointment whatsoever we visited his building”

The video is now showing the camera man stepping out of the car taking pictures of the owner's house and his land.

The narrator continued saying “in Pendang Kedah we are to see him and to experience his belief that is being propagated by him” [seems a very stupid things to say to another Muslim. But remember that this is a propaganda documentary]

“We were in luck when he was willing to let us and our crew in, to see what is being hoarded in his home” [Jerks].

The camera showed interior of his home. Just simple carpets, a few furnitures and then the narrator exclaimed “When we saw it, we realized how serious this man is practicing his syiah belief.” [I didn't see anything that was threatening. A small mimbar, a nice chair, some columns, nice decorations with flowers, pictures of quranic verses hanged on the wall, pictures of Hussayn ridding his white horse carrying a banner with his face being blanked out by lights, emblem of Iran, pictures of Khomenei, khamenei, flowers, and drawings of lady of light, pictures of all the twelve Imams]

They sat down to interview the old man. 

please continue reading part two

Parliament with a beard?

That's the label used for the newly elected members of Egypt parliament.

The first Parliament in the Arab world dominated by Islamists — nearly half of its members come from Egypt’s mainstream Muslim Brotherhood and nearly a quarter are from the ultraconservative Salafi movement — is a laboratory for daily experiments in religion and democracy.

A Salafi member of the parliament (from the ultraconservative Salafi Asala Party) decided to interrupt the proceeding by reciting the Adhan (or the Muslim call of prayers).

He was promptly asked to shut-up by the speaker of the parliament, also a Sunni Muslim.

“After you’re done with the call for prayers, I’ll talk to you because you breached the order of the session,” he said. “You’re not more of a Muslim than we are,” Mr. Katatni added, once the call for prayers was over. “You don’t need the media show.” 

I've watched some of the parliamentary session in my own country (very well known for oppressing its Shia minority). We also have plenty of politicians that uses Islam to advance their own political agenda. This isn't something new. I guess that is why some Muslims are sick and tired of Islamic based political parties.

Also, one thing I have noticed about the parliament session is that the session always breaks for lunch and prayer (salat al-dhuhur) and then for teatime-break and prayer (salat al-asr). So I guess the speaker could be right when he said that the politician is just showing off.

It snowed in Libya

Check this out

Some Muslims believe that when it starts snowing in a barren or a dessert like place, then prepare for the doomsday.

I was reading this news report

It snowed on Monday in Libya. Libya! That is a country better known, weather-wise, for suffering the highest temperature recorded on earth in modern times (136 degrees Fahrenheit, in 1922).

I am glad Libya is taking over much of our snow. We didn't get much this winter.

When is a charity not a charity?

When they start paying more than half a million dollars to one of their administrators to run the "charity business".

When the people who run the charity have interesting political connections.

When the charity donates less than 25% to their main cause and keep 75% of the money for themselves for "administrative services".

Yesterday was an interesting day. You get to see one of the biggest self-proclaim charity in America getting under intense public scrutiny.

The funding stopped under the flimsiest of excuse.
The sources from inside describe the decision as politically motivated.
People started to express the outrage. 
Some officials resigned from the charity as a sign of protest.
The chairperson of the charity looked like a buffoon when she tried to defend the moronic decision.
Female senators expressing disbelieve over the decision.


After so much outrage from the people, the charity decided to reverse their earlier decision today.

I can't believe how much money I've spent buying items labelled with pink ribbons. I am not going to buy anything that support this foundation again.

Real or Fake Sayyeds? -- part 3

This is part 3. Please click on the link for Part 1 and 2.

Just a reminder, I am not reproducing every pages from the article. I am only posting materials that have something to do with the topic at hand.


We already looked at the narratives from a few explorers. The author then started discussing the sustainability of the religious class when the revenue from the state is no longer there. The Afghan Qajar Sunni rule in Iran stopped paying stipends to the Shia Ulamas. The Qajar government, by the year 1740, has already usurped all the Shia endowments from the religious class.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi clerics who still possess their sources of revenues from Zakat and Khums, were in a better condition than their Persian counterparts.

These sources of income sustained the religious Shi'ite leaders in the Iraqi shrine cities throughout the late 1700s and formed the basis of their financial independence to pursue their religious and scholarly objectives.

The next discussion was on how the Usooli scholars gain momentum starting from the time of Qajar Persia.

The next few pages are not very relevant with the topic at hand.  Later on the discussion was about the sources of revenues of the religious class from state endowments (stipends, pensions, and functions)

Important ulama and sayyids received stipends and pensions as well as money and other presents during festivals. The leading ulama received large amounts of tithes, alms, and gifts from the believers. The amount of these payments was substantial.

Many of the religious professionals, particularly sayyids, begged or, rather, demanded alms, on the ground of their holy character. The demanding behavior, termed mulla bazi, was not limited to the lower levels of the religious class. In Isfahan the ulama demanded, and obtained by force if need be, one-third of the property if somebody died.

The ulama did this in their own quarter, and the imam-juma all over town (asking yakhasht, or one-eighth). The imam-jum 'a would send an agent who would seal all rooms in a house, even going so far as delaying the burial preparations. The justification for this behavior was that they claimed that the deceased during his life had not paid the khums and zakat tax and/or the sahm i Imam (the Imam's share). There were also religious scholars, such as Muhammad Madi Naraqi, who criticized the hereditary sayyid class for their assumption that piety is an innate quality obtained through lineage.

The sayyids drew so much attention to themselves because they were a kind of religious hereditary nobility, and entitled to part of the khums tax under Shi'i law. Consequently, "it is an act of greater savab (act of merit) to give to a drunken seyid than to the most deserving beggar."

Dieulofoy reported that by 1880 this custom had largely fallen into disuse, though in the large towns, such as Isfahan, where sayyids were numerous they continued to exert much influence and impose themselves in particular on small shopkeepers who did not have the clout to oppose them.

Sayyids therefore enjoyed prestige and this led to a proliferation of sayyids (fabricated or not) because of the material reward this position offered. Many true believers cheated the Imam out of his share by conniving with his descendants, who, for a fair remuneration, would hand out a signed statement that the religious obligatory payment had been truly effected.

To increase their fair share, many people also would dress up their children and/or relatives as beggars and would grant these fake poor their share of the bounty for the poor. If they were religious
professionals they could keep the rest for themselves. Sometimes rich persons, including
religious professionals, did not pay their full contribution either.

To be continued...

Honorless Killing

The Canadian Court found three members of a family (Mohammad Shafia, 58; his wife Tooba Yahya, 42; and their son Hamed, 21) guilty of killing three teenage sisters (Zainab, 19, Sahar 17, and Geeti, 13) as well as Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, Shafia’s childless first wife in a polygamous marriage.

Prosecutors said the defendants killed the four women because they dishonored the family by defying its strict rules on dress, dating, socializing and using the Internet. Prosecutors added that the defendants drowned their victims, then placed their bodies in the car and pushed it into the canal. [1]

The local press printed police transcripts of a ranting Mr. Shafia calling his daughters "whores" and boasting, "nothing is more dear to me than my honor." [2]

More than 80 Canadian Muslim organizations, imams and community leaders signed a call for action late last year against “the reality of domestic violence within our own communities, compounded by abhorrent and yet persistent pre-Islamic practices rooted in the misguided notion of restoring family honor.”[1]

References (news sources)
[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/at-least-one-member-of-afghan-family-to-appeal-verdict-in-canadian-honor-killing-case/2012/01/30/gIQAHRR3cQ_story.html

[2] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203920204577191321206664022.html