In the name of Allah the Most Gracious the Most Merciful

The shaykh mentions this point of benefit in his explanation of “Sharhus Sunnah” under the 110th point:

The first foundational sect: The Shi’ah

The first time they appeared was during the killing of ‘Uthman bin ‘Affan (may Allah be pleased with him). ‘Abdullah bin Saba the Jew came and began a fitna(trial/tribulation) between the Muslims and called to a partisanship towards ‘Ali bin Abi Taalib (may Allah be pleased with him). He claimed that ‘Ali was the successor after the Messenger (peace be upon him). He also said that the companions oppressed ‘Ali and took the caliphate away from him. It was at that time where the partisanship towards ‘Ali first appeared.

The scholars have mentioned that the “Shi’ah” are of many sects:

The first Shi’ah sect:

“al-Mufaddilah”- They were those who gave preference of ‘Ali over the other companions. Even Abu Bakr , ‘Umar and ‘Uthman. They were given the name “al-Mufaddilah”, but they didn’t curse the caliphate of Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, or ‘Uthman. They only said that ‘Ali was more virtuous, and this is a mistake because ‘Ali was the fourth rightly guided caliph. He wasn’t more virtuous than Abu bakr and ‘Umar. ‘Ali even denied those who said that and threaten those who said that with a punishment.

The second Shi’ah sect:

Those who said that ‘Ali was the successor after the Messenger (peace be upon him) and that he was the most rightful of the caliphate. The caliphate of Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, and ‘Uthman was oppression and unlawful. They say that the caliphate of ‘Ali was the divine command after the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and that the companions oppressed and took the caliphate from him.

The third Shi’ah sect:

The extreme Shia that say: The messengership was originally for ‘Ali but Jibreel was deceitful and gave it to Muhammad (peace be upon him). They say:

“al-Ameen was deceitful  and took away the messengership away from Haidarah”

Al-Ameen: was Jibraeel and he gave the message to Muhammad instead of Haidarah (‘Ali).

The fourth Shi’ah sect:

These are the most severe of them. They said that ‘Ali was a god and these were the people who were burned with fire by ‘Ali bin Abi Taalib. He dug trenches, lit them with fire, and tossed them into it while they were alive.  It is reported that ‘Ali said,

“When I saw the affair was a great evil

I lit the fire and called my servant”

So ‘Ali’s servant set them on fire and they said to him, “You are Allah, you are Allah”

Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) saw that it was obligatory to kill them with the sword and not burn them with fire. The reason being that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said,

“No one punishes with fire except the Lord of fire” (Abu Dawud)

However, (ibn Abbas) did not prevent him from killing them, but he said “I see that they should be killed with the sword instead of fire.”

This sect is broken up into even more sects.

Translated by: Michael AbdusSalaam Deonarain

الفقير الى الله

Part 1: Foundations
Part 3: The Qadariyah
Part 4: The Khawaarij
Part 5: The Murji’ah