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RAPPROCHEMENT IN HISTORY
This study is largely based on materials from the book
Masalat at-Taqrib bayn as-Sunnah wash-Shiah
by Dr. Nasir Abdullah al-Qafari.
The idea of bringing the Ahl as-Sunnah and the Shiah closer to one
another has enjoyed much popularity in South Africa in the past two
decades since the success of the Iranian revolution in 1979.
Actually, the idea of bridging the gorge that separate the Ahl asSunnah from the Shiah is much older than the revolution. The
banner of Taqrib (which literally means "to bring close") has been
raised at various stages in history by individuals, organisations, and
even governments. In this study the various endeavours towards the
realisation of this goal of Taqrib are identified, and an attempt is
made to explore the reasons why not one of those endeavours has
ever met with success.
1. ATTEMPTS AT TAQRIB IN HISTORY
The earliest attemps to achieve harmony between the Ahl as-Sunnah
and the Shiah seem to have been made in Baghdad during the 5th
century after the Hijrah (the 11th century CE). The western quarter
of Karkh in Baghdad was almost exclusively populated by the Shiah,
and ever since the Shii Buyid dynasty from Daylam came into
political ascendancy in 334/946 and reduced the Abbasid khalifah to
a titular head of state, the Shii population of Baghdad felt
encouraged to make their presence felt. In 351/962 graffiti cursing
the Sahabah appeared on the walls of Baghdad. In 352/963 overt
encouragement from the Buyid ruler Muizz ad-Dawlah allowed them
to organize, for the first time in the history of Baghdad, if not the
whole Muslim world, mourning processions on the 10th of
Muharram.1 Processions like these would almost invariably lead to
confrontation between the Ahl as-Sunnah and the Shiah, since the
emotional frenzy of such processions would propel the Shiah to
publicly curse and execrate those amongst the Sahabah whom they
considered the enemies of the Ahl al-Bayt. The Ahl as-Sunnah,
infuriated by such vile treatment of the memory of the Sahabah,
would respond physically. The like of these processions can be seen
number of Sunni ulama from Egypt and Zaydi ulama from Yemen
responded to his invitation. One of the early participants, Shaykh
Abd al-Latif Muhammad as-Subki, a member of the Hayat Kibar
al-Ulama (Council of Senior Ulama) in Egypt, relates the beginning
of the Dar at-Taqrib in the following manner:
The one who worked for the establishment of this group was a Shii
shaykh who has been living in Egypt for some time. A group of
respected ulama of Egypt responded to his invitation. It wouldnt
have been becoming of any Muslim to ignore a call for renewing
Muslim unity which the Quran itself calls for...
I was attracted by this call. I was honoured by being made a
member amongst those great men. So what has our group achieved
after about four years? In the beginning it held meetings
consecutively, sometimes for the purpose of meeting one another
and electing a head, a representative and a secretary; sometimes to
receive a guest from the East who was visiting the headquarters;
and sometimes to listen to letters being read out from various
quarters, amongst them letters from Najaf, the centre of the Shiah,
in which the writers requested for an address to be delivered at the
ceremonies being held to commemorate Imam Husayn. In that same
session it was suggested to us that the group must approach alAzhar with a demand that Shii fiqh be taught side by side with the
madhahib of the Ahl as-Sunnah. This suggestion was quickly
suppressed because it was premature, as some members had
murmured.
Thereafter the meetings stopped, and the groups activities became
confined to the publication of a journal by the Dar at-Taqrib called
Risalat al-Islam.25
The Dar at-Taqrib spent lavishly. Shaykh Abd al-Latif as-Subki
writes:
It made me doubt and every other innocent member has to doubt
with me that the Dar at-Taqrib was spending freely without us
knowing where the money was coming from, and without any of us
being asked to contribute membership fees to pay for an elegant
headquarters expensively fitted and furnished. It spent on its
journal, paying the people in charge of it, the writers of articles as
own view without imposing it upon others. Let them think good of
one another, because differences on issues other than the
fundamentals of religion do not affect Iman, and do not cast anyone
out of the fold of Islam.27
The sentiments expressed here are the essence of any taqrib effort.
It is generally suggested that there is enough common ground
between the Ahl as-Sunnah and the Shiah to achieve the kind of
working
solution
described
here.
That,
however,
is
an
oversimplification of a problem that has roots much deeper than
what the credulous onlooker may see, or may want to see.
This line of thought presupposes that the Ahl as-Sunnah and the
Shiah share a common set of fundamentals, represented in belief in
Allah, the Ambiya, revelation, the hereafter, etc.. It overlooks the
fact that the Shiah have beliefs which to them are on exactly the
same plane of importance as the abovementioned fundamentals.
The reference, of course, is to their belief of Imamah, the rejector of
which is exactly the same as one who rejects Nubuwwah. It is at
this kind of juncture that the entire taqrib operation becomes a
unilateral process instead of a bilateral one, with Sunnis expected
to make room for the Shiah, without the Shii having to budge one
inch.
With the passage of time the Dar at-Taqrib came to display a bit
more of its true colours. In the third year of publication the journal
Risalat al-Islam carried an article by one of the leading Shii ulama
of Iran, Muhammad Salih al-Hairi, under the caption "A Practical
Method of Taqrib". In it the author demands that the Ahl as-Sunnah
start referring to the eight hadith sources of the Shiah, that a chair
be established at al-Azhar for the teaching of Shii fiqh along with
Shii aqaid, and that the Ahl as-Sunnah admit and accept the
doctrine of Imamah.28
The publication of an article of this nature was not at all strange,
since Muhammad Taqi al-Qummi had himself the previous year
written an article in which he openly asked the following question:
"So what will it be for them (the Ahl as-Sunnah) to accept that which
is beyond the fiqh (of the Shiah) just like they have accepted the
fiqh (of the Shiah)? After all, what difference is there between the
Ultimately it turned out that the reason for which the Dar at-Taqrib
was founded, and the philosophy upon which it was built, became
the cause of its failure and downfall. Had there been a serious and
earnest desire from the Shii side to reconsider its own history and
heritage, this venture might have been a stepping stone to SunniShii co-operation and rapprochement. However, in each and every
venture undertaken by it, the Dar at-Taqrib showed that it had no
objective other than to further the cause of Shiism in established
Sunni societies. Not a single iota of the Shii view of history or
theology was ever brought under scrutiny. Not one of the beliefs
cherished by traditional Shiism was ever challenged.
Admittedly, there definitely was movement in operations of the Dar
at-Taqrib. However, whatever motion there was took place
exclusively in one direction: It was the Ahl as-Sunnah who had to be
brought closer to the Shiah, while Shiism remained where it was.
This was the downfall of the Dar at-Taqrib: Its assumption that
Shiism is Truth, while what the Ahl as-Sunnah possessed was
merely a corrupted form of True Islam.
If Taqrib, or rapprochement means the mutual act of coming
together, it goes without saying that any endeavour of
rapprochement that is founded upon the preconceived notion of one
party as the sole claimant to Truth is bound to come to nought.
There can be no clearer demonstration of this observation than the
case Dar at-Taqrib in Cairo.
______________________________
NOTES AND REFERENCES
While this article is largely drawn from the book Masalat at-Taqrib
bayna Ahl as-Sunnah wash-Shiah by Dr. Nasir al-Qafari, other
sources have also been consulted.
1. Ibn Kathir: al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah part 11 vol. 6 p.259 (Dar arRayyan, Cairo 1988)
2. ibid. vol.12 p.56 (Maktab al-Maarif, Beirut 1980)
3. ibid., Ibn al-Jawzi: al-Muntazam vol.8 p.145, adh-Dhahabi: al-Ibar
vol.3 p.199
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#3 [Taqrib--Study of attempts for sunni-shia unity: post #3] salmany
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Banned
7,818 posts
Location:Long Island , NY
Posted 25 April 2003 - 03:29 PM
Sallam
Brother after reading my post you may understand why.
What is the difference between following the Sunnah and following
Ahly Bait? Or do you imply the Ahly Bait and Sunnah are 2 different
things?
Also you know very well the position of Hazrat Ali, Hazrat Hussain
,Hazrat Fatima, Hazrat Hasan etc in the eyes of sunni. Just because
we dont make a circle around them and say thats the only people we
talk about doesnot mean we ignore them.
Sallam
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#4 [Taqrib--Study of attempts for sunni-shia unity: post #4] baqar
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8,456 posts
Interests:The true message of the Ahlul Bayt (as)
Posted 25 April 2003 - 04:13 PM
(salam)
The difference between the Ahlul Bayt and the Sunna is the same as
the difference between a teacher and a book. The Ahlul Bayt are the
human face of Sunna and therefore more easily accessible in case
of doubt and difficulty. They have the capacity to explain and
expound upon the Sunna. The reverse is, however, not true.
But Muslims have unfortunately espoused the Sunna or what little
they understand of it, and completely abandoned the Ahlul Bayt,
finding innumerable excuses to try and do without them. I am not
talking about you personally, but about Muslims as a whole.
And please don't tell me how much the Sunnis love the Ahlul Bayt.
You may be one of the exceptions. One Muslim friend even told me
once : Imam Hussain and Yazid were two princes, they fought, one
lost and the other won. And he was not particularly a Wahabi.
What Shias and Sunnis need to do is to get their scholars to sit
together and discuss their hadithes and history in an open minded
spirit.
Until then, all the cut and paste being done on this forum is a
COMPLETE waste of everyone's time.