Siffin: How Important Is Intelligence For Iman

[Khadim uz Zahra]

(BISMILLAH)

 

(Salam)

 

I hope you are all in the best of health and Iman.

 

When we look at the events surrounding Siffin and the events resulting from it, such as the creation of the Kharjites and the subsequent battle of Naharwan, we that a lot of the people who left the Imam's side were not necessarily evil but were simply fooled by Ibn Aas. For example, when I was younger and had for the first time come across the Imam's history in the series made about him, when his camp started panicking because Ibn Aas has spread rumours that he would divert the flow of the Euphrates, I actually believed it! I was neither in the war nor was I opposed to the Imam (I was barely old enough to understand this stuff) but, if I was, at that time, one of his camp, I would have probably run away like those guys. The same was true for a lot of the people who accepted arbitration: they simply weren't clever enough to see through Ibn Aas' rouse. Many of the Kharjites, too, were not bad people. They were not out for personal gain or to profit and in fact had a very ascetic lifestyle but because they were not clever enough and hypocritical, they became the worst of the Imam's enemies, despite probably having good intentions and only wanting to please God.

 

 

Now, if we believe that non-Muslims who have good intentions and tried their best to find the right religion but were, for whatever reason, unable to come to accept Islam as the right religion will also be accepted into Heaven, what about people like the Kharjites? Given that I can't exactly control how intelligent I am and if I will be able to see through another person's deceit, is it possible that they will also be forgiven?

[Marbles]

No doubt Khawarij had good intentions and wanted to follow Islam as they understood it. It was, however, a false facade under which lay an evil that immensely harmed Islam. Soon they developed a theological position that was diametrically opposed to the teachings of the Prophet. Rejecting Ali, either as a divinely appointed Imam or an elected caliph of the Prophet, became an article of their faith. Not only that, it was wajib to believe in Ali's kufr (nauzbillah). If you did not believe in that, you became an apostate yourself.

 

Their extremism and brutality was typical of the cold blooded Wahhabi jihadists we see all around us, spreading death and murder for the glory of Islam. Khawarij tableeghis would trick less intelligent believers into a discussion with them, catching at anything that didn't conform with their extremist views, and then they would declare the believer kafir and proceed to brutally murder him or her (doesn't it sound so familiar?) - a sort of mini inquisition went on in areas where they were particularly strong. That went on while the Imam was alive.

 

Their nasb, their hatred of the Imam and his progeny, their crimes against believers and innocent people, basically the satanic role they played in the history of Islam from that day in Siffin till much later absolutely sealed their place in the lowest dungeons of hell even if they had mohr marks and long beards and were the sincerest believers the earth had ever produced.

[Khadim uz Zahra]

 

No doubt Khawarij had good intentions and wanted to follow Islam as they understood it. It was, however, a false facade under which lay an evil that immensely harmed Islam. Soon they developed a theological position that was diametrically opposed to the teachings of the Prophet. Rejecting Ali, either as a divinely appointed Imam or an elected caliph of the Prophet, became an article of their faith. Not only that, it was wajib to believe in Ali's kufr (nauzbillah). If you did not believe in that, you became an apostate yourself.

 

Their extremism and brutality was typical of the cold blooded Wahhabi jihadists we see all around us, spreading death and murder for the glory of Islam. Khawarij tableeghis would trick less intelligent believers into a discussion with them, catching at anything that didn't conform with their extremist views, and then they would declare the believer kafir and proceed to brutally murder him or her (doesn't it sound so familiar?) - a sort of mini inquisition went on in areas where they were particularly strong. That went on while the Imam was alive.

 

Their nasb, their hatred of the Imam and his progeny, their crimes against believers and innocent people, basically the satanic role they played in the history of Islam from that day in Siffin till much later absolutely sealed their place in the lowest dungeons of hell even if they had mohr marks and long beards and were the sincerest believers the earth had ever produced.

 

And, I agree that all that is abominable and if someone were to ask me if the Imam was right in fighting them, the answer is an obvious yes. I have over the years developed...intriguing questions about the very nature of belief and while all they did was horrible what I am more interested in is that if they did it with the right intentions, then should they really be punished? Indeed, you alluded to ISIS and al-Qaeda in your response and I didn't want to include this in my original post because people would assume that I was supporting terrorism but, while this question about Siffin and the Khawarij has been on my mind for a long time, when writing the post, it occurred to me how similar the terrorists of today are to them. With al-Qaeda, they often indoctrinate their members by showing them videos of Shi'as insulting Aisha, for example. Now, if a person who's been brought up to revere Aisha as a holy figure is exposed to the way in which some of the Shi'a insult her today, I can totally understand why he would bomb a Shi'a mosque. I don't agree with it but I certainly do understand it. And, apart from the fact that if, as some argue, we have an inherent dislike toward killing, I can't really say that he was, if you look at it from his eyes, particularly evil. So, if I saw a guy like this and even if I knew him to be a good person at heart and he was trying to bomb a place, I'd shoot him in a heartbeat but that is because not doing so would put others in harms way. On the Day of Judgement, however, such a restriction doesn't exist and, so, I've always wondered if God would perhaps forgive his actions.

 

And, that's what I really want suggestions on/explanations of. While your post illustrates just how loathsome their external actions were - and I agree - I want to understand how God will account for their inner feelings.

[mina]

I read that we can get jugded by our capabilities and efforts to see the truth.In times of internet and globalization we have much more access and capability to get informed and gain foresight than in former times.So even less intelligent people are able to seek for truth.

Judgement depends on our circumstances as well as personal ressources and intentions.

I unfortunately forgot what the term is for this.God can judge by adl ,absolute justice,and by "i forgot the word" ,considering our capabilities.

[Panzerwaffe]

Wrt to khawarij of Alis time it can be said that only the people of nahrawan were eventually killed that is 4000 out of the 12000 khawarij who originally defected but were brought back by speeches of Ali abu ayyub and ibn abbas

The negative hadoth like one of abu Saeed khudri are pertaining specially to khawarij Ali killed not to the general label of khawarij which applied to any pietist uprising against a corrupt caliph

The khawarij Ali killed in nahrwan had no excuse to persist in their transgression remember it wasn't just Ali they fought .but other senior Sahaba too in army of Ali..they killed son of khabab b aratt a great companion for no fault...I know it means nothing to shia nowadays but these men were pillars of faith at that time

For people today with khawarij tendencies remember warning of Ali ...."don't fight khawarij after me "as they are better than those who are willingly seeking falsehood like muawiyah gang ...see NB...so we cannot just label our opponents today khawarij and have our own nahrawans this is what corrupt caliphs did in our history misuse the hadith which were specially for only khawarij of Alis era...we are not like the Sahaba and Tabaeen in Alis army.First show us giants like Ali qays abukatada abu ayyub then we can call their opponents khawarij.

Edited February 7, 2015 by Panzerwaffe