Is Syiah part of Islam?

One of the most perplexing scenarios to non-Muslims is the division they may see between Shiites and Sunni Muslims. Some tend to become confused when they see that each group claims to be following the true Islam. To truly understand this subject to the fullest, one must delve into the early history of Usul al-Fiqh.

Shariah and fiqh are often treated as synonymous terms designating the body of rules constituting Islamic law. However, fiqh can also refer to the science of interpreting the shariah. The first root of the fiqh is the Qur'an. Muslim scholars developed an elaborate methodology to interpret the Qur'an.

The secondary root of fiqh is the Sunnah Mutawatir of the Prophet (pbuh) narrated in ahadith. Similar to the Qur'an, reading the hadith literature without the proper fiqh methodology developed by Islamic scholars may lead to erroneous conclusions.

The task of interpreting the requirements of the shariah which do not have clear evidence from the Quran and Sunnah Mutawatir are termed as ijtihad (independent reasoning). School of thoughts (mazhab) follow an equation of 'hierarchy of authority' by using various Ijtihad tools to formulate a fatwa or hukum to solve religious problems.



For Example:


1) Hanafi School of Thought = Quran --> Sunnah Mutawatir --> Istihsan
--> Qiyas --> Ijma' --> Sunnah Ahad --> Ra'i of Sahabi --> Urf --> Istishab.

2) Maliki School of Thought = Quran --> Sunnah Mutawatir --> Amal of Medina/Ijma' --> Maslahah --> Qiyas --> Sunnah Ahad --> Ra'i of Sahabi --> Sadd al-Dhara'i --> Urf --> Istishab.

3) Shafi'i School of Thought = Quran --> Sunnah Mutawatir --> Ijma' of Sahabi --> Sunnah Ahad --> Ra’i of Sahabi --> Istishab --> Qiyas

4) Hanbali School of Thought = Quran --> Sunnah Mutawatir --> Sunnah Ahad --> Ra’i of Sahabi --> Ijma' --> Qiyas --> Maslahah --> Istihsan --> Sadd al-Dhara'i --> Istishab.

5) Zahiri School of Thought= Quran --> Sunnah Mutawatir -->Sunnah Ahad -->Ijma

6) Syiah School of Thought = Quran --> Sunnah Mutawatir -->Ijma
-->Sunnah Ahad (only selected ahlul bait hadith) 

The similarity of all Islamic Mazhab are their priority of choice in ijtihad tools used to interpret legal doctrines and to solve their religious problems. As long as their first choice of legal interpretations and ijtihad tools were Quran and Sunnah Mutawatir, they are considered safe within Islamic boundaries.

According to Islamic Scholars, followers of these Mazhab (safe within Islamic boundaries) are considered as Muslim and they were allowed to perform Hajj during Eid al-Adha at Mecca, including the Syiah school of thought. (non Muslims are prohibited from entering Mecca esp during Hajj season)

The first Islamic scholar who wrote a book concerning usul al-fiqh was Imam al-Shafi'i under the title al-Risala, followed by Syiah scholars, al-Shaykh al-Mufid and al-Sayyid al-Murtada on books like Al-Dhari'a ila usul al-shari'a and al-Dhakhirah fi Usul al-Fiqh. All these books played a significant role in the Usul al-Fiqh development.

Further more, Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (6th imam of Twelver Shia and 5th imam of Ismaili Shia) was the teacher of hadith and fiqh for Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal (mazhab Hambali) and Imam Malik bin Anas (mazhab Maliki).

Therefore, be very careful in saying that the Syiah is not part of Islam or to use the word kuffur on them. You may dislike some of their actions or refute some of their fatwa but never generalize or assume that all Syiah are not Muslims. As long as they still are allowed to enter Mecca to perform the Hajj, they are considered as Muslims.

There is a danger of performing takfir on fellow Muslims. The Prophet (pbuh) said, "He who says to his brother 'O disbeliever', then it returns upon one of them." (Reported by al-Bukhari, Muslim, Malik, at-Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud)

In another naration; Ibn Umar related that the Holy Prophet (pbuh) said: "If a Muslim calls another kafir, then if he is a kafir let it be so; otherwise, he (the caller) is himself a kafir.'' (Reported by Abu Dawud)

Wallahu'alam



Why are there different mazhab in Islam? 

- Nuruddeen Lemu