ShiaMan14

Salaam brother, Yes, waseelah is a means of seeking closeness to Allah which is a fairly streamline belief and not unique to this post. It is also true that anything and everything can be used a a waseelah to Allah. However, it is not a question of what we think is a waseelah to Allah but what Allah considers the best waseelah to achieve closeness to Him. This important aspect is completely missing from your post. Simply reading the Quran is not enough because had it been, then the Khawarij would have been the most enlightened and compassionate Muslims but the opposite was true of them. More recently, we see ISIS, Taliban, Al-Qaeda having hafiz but fat lot of good that does. Your article was a good read brother.

Hijab and veil is in Judaism and Christianity as well. Allah's deen has always been Islam that's why the Laws between Judaism, Christianity and Islam are very similar. Since all Prophets came from Allah, they all brought the same message...incrementally.

Let's be careful here - slandering is different from narrating history. slander = making false statements against someone to damage a person's reputation Speaking about historical events does not equate to slander. Slandering is not permissible in Islam neither is using abusive language.

Being a Syed is an honor but also a major responsibility. I know people who have a dislike of Syeds because only Syed can accept khums. They see this as a bias in Islam even though non-Syeds are eligible for sadaqa and zakat. Other communities do things that are specific to their community (Khoja) but people seem to ignore those. Respect good Syeds and good non-Syeds.

Establishment Liberals Liberal and racially and ethnically diverse, they stand out for their optimism and support for political compromise

Another in a long list of (il)logical sunni arguements. Lutf is not what Allah could have done but what Allah did do. Allah could have given us the 3 things mentioned above and it would be his lutf. Allah gave us prophets and imams which was his lutf. Just because Imam Ali (عليه السلام) mentions things which could have been Allah's lutf but weren't does not mean lutf does not exist. If means those were not part of Allah's lutf.

Salaam and thank you. I was hoping more people would add shia cemeteries that they know off across the US. I will add more to this list as I find more.

hahaha. You are right. I chose 3 for 3 reasons: 1) There are 3 shaitans 2) Keeping this one to myself 3) Arabic doesnt just have single and plural, but it has single, double and plural....so 3 kittens implies lots of kittens.

Salaam, The Quran mentions DhulQarnayn going West and then East. Alexander mostly went East whereas Cyrus and Darius went Westward and then Eastward.

For all the rhetoric, at the end of the day your most prolific narrator of hadith is:

Shia: Hz. Khidr has been alive for 2,500+ years. Sunni: Alhumdulillah Shia: Hz. Isa has been alive for 2,000+ years. Sunni: Alhumdulillah Shia: A rock ran away with Musa's clothes. Sunni: Of course. I love rocks Shia: 12th Imam is alive for 1,200+ years. Sunni: Oh no, this is kufr. I am going to go blow up a mosque......aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhh That about sums up sunni (il)logic.

What about Hz. Khidr? Hz Musa was asked to follow him and Hz Khidr was not a prophet (although there is no consensus on this). There a number of ayahs in the Quran that mention "good" imams and "bad" imams as in "these imams will lead you astray" or "these will cause you to go to hell.." That alone is sufficient to understand that Prophethood and Imamate are separate "offices". What do you think?

Thank you for this lengthy explanation. Others have also tried to explain things to him but when the heart is sealed, it is sealed. If I took him seriously I would have argued that Allah, Heaven, Angels, Hell, Shaitan, Grave are among a few things other things that are ghayab. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) was in occultation (ghayab) the first 40 years of his life; he was in occultation during hijra and even left a naib in his absence. Furthermore, Allah promised Hz Ibrahim (عليه السلام) that Imamah would be in his progeny. There was no caveat about Hz Ismael (عليه السلام) or Hz Ishaq (عليه السلام) only inheriting this responsibility neither was there a term limit on how long this would hold therefore Imamah would be in the progeny of Ibrahim until the end of time. With that said, Imamah ended in the progeny of Ishaq with Hz Isa (عليه السلام) who didn't die but went into occultation - Allah kept his promise. Similarly, the promise in Ismael's progeny couldn't end with the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) because he was martyred. The rank of Imamah continued through Imam Ali (عليه السلام) until the 12 Imam who also went into occultation like Isa - thus retaining Allah's promise to Ibrahim that Imamah would remain in his progeny until the end of time. BUT I can't take @sunni muslim seriously so I choose mockery.

I posted a link to it in this thread. Oh man this is so confusing - shia concept of Imamah is false; sunni concept of Imamah is right. But then you confuse the matter further in that either Imamah is true or Ghaybah is true which is different from imamah is false. Wouldn't it be true that if Imamah is false then ghaybah would automatically be false too? Is your problem Imamah or ghaybah? You also didn't state that you believed in Imamah just not how the shias believe in it. Your initial post should have clarified most of this - you proposed a 1/2 baked hypothesis and are blaming me for poking holes in it. Lastly, why so angry? Was it something I wrote?