The article ‘Imamah the Antithesis of Egalitarianism’ was an emotional appeal to ‘open minded’ Shia to free themselves of the shackles of Shiaism and embrace Sunnism. To enable this the author sought to present the Shi’a doctrine of Imamate as an unfair belief, that by believing imamate is a divine right, negates the right of others from being Khalifas of the Prophet (s). The difficulty for the author is simple, once you have successfully taken people away from the Shi’a doctrine, you will need to a better alternative to fill that gap. Just think of the idea of selling a house. This is a difficult, traumatic process. It is time consuming, expensive, and involves a massive upheaval. So why do we do it? Simple all of this is being done, because we are moving into a better more luxurious house that will improve the quality of life for one’s entire family. There would be no logic in moving into a house that was less luxurious, more cramped, damp, or poorly constructed. Faced with such a prospect, rather than moving house, the reasonable person would feel it was better to stay within the confines of his existing home. The problem is Ibn al Hashimi is seeking to convince the Shi’a to vacate their homes and move into his, without showing this better home that he occupies. When we see that the alternative that he is offering us is neither better, more accommodating nor attractive to us, then what is the sense in us moving into your house?
The Shia doctrine of Imamate is based on excellence the best man for the position if appointed by the Creator to meet the needs of the people. People have no say in the matter the principle of egalitarianism doesn’t come into the equation since this is a right of Allah (swt) alone. The Sunni doctrine of Imamate is likewise non egalitarian, a person that attains power can do so through any means necessary, methods can include a small committee, direct appointment through to military coup all are sound. The only stipulation is that the person be of Quraysh lineage, apart from that his character, or his lack of one forms no bar to his being the Khalifa of the Prophet (s) he remains in charge and the Ummah is duty bound to obey him. If this Nawasib continues to fool his Sunni readership into suggesting that the Shia doctrine of appointment through divine designation is false and runs contrary to the a doctrine that should egalitarian in spirit and consistent with fairness – then we suggest he leaves the Islamic faith, and adheres to the madhab of Harith bin Numan who advanced the same type of arguments to Rasulullah (s) following his appointment of Maula Ali [as] at Ghadeer Khumm.
The real indigestion that Ibn al Hashimi has is the Shia belief that Maula Ali [as] was divinely appointed by Allah (swt) through Rasulullah (s). That is what motivates him. Let us quote another motivated individual with similar leanings like him. The renowned imam of Ahl’ul Sunnah Halabi and others have recorded the event:
On the day of Ghadir the Messenger of Allah summoned the people toward ‘Ali and said: “Ali is the mawla of whom I am mawla.” The news spread quickly all over urban and rural areas. When Harith Ibn Nu’man al-Fahri (or Nadhr Ibn Harith according to another tradition) came to know of it, he rode his camel and came to Madinah and went to the Messenger of Allah (s) and said to him: “You commanded us to testify that there is no deity but Allah and that you are the Messenger of Allah. We obeyed you. You ordered us to perform the prayers five times a day and we obeyed. You ordered us to observe fasts during the month of Ramadhan and we obeyed. Then you commanded us to offer pilgrimage to Makkah and we obeyed. But you are not satisfied with all this and you raised your cousin by your hand and imposed him upon us as our master by saying `Ali is the mawla of whom I am mawla.’ Is this imposition from Allah or from you?”
The Prophet (s) said: “By Allah who is the only deity! This is from Allah, the Mighty and the Glorious.”
On hearing this Harith turned back and proceeded towards his she-camel saying: “O Allah! If what Muhammad said is correct then fling on us a stone from the sky and subject us to severe pain and torture.” He had not reached his she-camel when Allah, who is above all defects, flung at him a stone which struck him on his head, penetrated his body and passed out through his lower body and left him dead. It was on this occasion that Allah, the exalted, caused to descend the following verses:
“A questioner questioned about the punishment to fall. For the disbelievers there is nothing to avert it, from Allah the Lord of the Ascent.”(70:1-3)
Tell us one thing ibn al-Hashimi :
if the Shia belief that Imamat is divine starting with Maula Ali [as], is not egalitarian in spirit and inconsistent with fairness – why did Rasulullah (s) not take on board such views advanced by this Nasibi?
The refusal of Rasulullah (s) to accept this argument and the punishment by Allah (swt) shall suffice as proof that Imamate is certainly not egalitarian in nature. His view seems to be strikingly similar to Harith bin Numan, so why doesn’t Ibn al-Hashimi just stop practicing taqiyyah and openly admit that he shares the same beliefs on Imamate as Harith bin Numan, in other words he is a Nasibi?