The Origin of the Shia - Part Two : Re: Christian Ayatollahs

» Binte - Re: Christian Ayatollahs

In response to Christian Ayatollahs posted by Pinky102:

Sorry for the delay in replying. Saturday was Ashura, one of the greatest days in Islamic - and especially Shi'ite - history. (I've written an article on it at http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/shia... then I got a 24-hr virus which kept me away from my comp

That said, I read both your posts with great interest. The various empires that arose within Islamic history did adopt one aspect of Islam, or rather their interpretation of it. No one dynasty was perfect or safe from human interests.

About the quote you sent:

"Where Christians have come to identify orthodoxy with correct belief, Muslims, like Jews, require orthopraxy**, a uniformity of religious practice, and see belief as a secondary issue. The five 'pillars' require each Muslim to make the Shehadah (a brief declaration of faith in the unity of God and the prophethood of Muhammad), to pray five times daily, to pay a tax (Zakat) to ensure a fair distribution of wealthy in the community, to observe the fast of Ramadan as a reminder of the privations suffered by the poor, and to make the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, if circumstances allow."

While orthopraxy is a good word to explain the attitude of Muslims, to say that belief becomes secondary is a bit of a general statement. Within the Shia, actions without belief are like traditional practices carried out from force of habit - they have no 'weight' or little value. In many cases, the performance of religious actions is the lowest level of obedience, and individuals are required to build upon this with study and thought regarding beliefs.

Which leads me to my second protest - the description of the Shahada that Armstrong gives. It's an extremely common misconception, but this list applies to the Sunnis. For the Shia, there are two aspects of belief:

The Roots which make up the basic articles of faith i.e. Belief in One God, His Justice, the institutes of Prophethood and Imamat and Life after Death/Accountability.

The second are the Branches, which complement faith. These are the 'actions' like praying, fasting, going for hajj, giving charity, supporting good, discriminating against evil and so on.

So amongst the Shia, belief is actually the core of the actions and primary, rather than secondary.

Regarding the keadership, if a society was able to implement pure Islamic Shariah, there is no place for personal interpretation within it. The laws are clearly laid out and available to anyone who wishes to study them. Which is why many Shia are not averse to it.

By the way, I have been browsing through the other threads. I often find myself losing track of the conversation though Either because it's based on American society, which is foriegn to me or because it's from a perpsective so far removed from or opposed to Islam that I find I can only be an interested observer and not actually contribute.

-- posted by Binte