Shia vs. Iran

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                               Shia vs. Iran

Some people have fallen victims of confusing Iran with Shia. They try to
imply that Shia were persians who hated Arabs and that is why they oppose
Umar and some other companions.

Iran is a country and Shia is a belief, they are two different entities!
Many people are Shia but they are NOT Iranian.  There are Shia in Iraq,
Hijaz (Arabian Peninsula), Syria, Lebanon, and all of them are Arabs.  In
addition to that, there are Shia in Pakistan, India, Africa, America, and
all of them are neither Arabs nor Persians.

More over all of the 12 Imams of Shia are Arabs, from Quraish and from Bani
Hashim. If Persians were prejudice and hated Arabs, as some people claim,
they would have chosen Salman al-Farsi as their Imam since he was a great
companion of the Prophet, and respected by both Shi'its and Sunnits.

On the other hand, most of the leading Sunni Imams were Persian, such as
Abu Hanifa, al-Nisa'i, al-Tirmithi, al-Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Majah, al-
Ghazzali, Ibn Sina, al-Farabi, and many others.

If Shia were all Persians who rejected Umar because he destroyed their
power, then how can we explain the rejection of Arabs who were not
Persians? Thus, this is an illogical claim. These people refused Umar
because of his role in excluding Ali from leadership after the departure of
prophet and because of the tragic disputes.

It is true that Shia whether they were Arabs or Persians or any other
nationalities, followed closely Quran, and the tradition of the Prophet
transmitted by his family, and refused to accept the alternatives, despite
the repressive/oppressive policies of the Umayad and later the Abbasid for
seven centuries. During that period, they chased Shia every where. They
killed them, displaced them, denied their rightful grants, tried to destroy
their cultural and intellectual heritage, and spread all sorts of rumors
about them in order to keep people away from them. The legacy of such
policies is still felt up to now.

Another Wahhabi (Umayad reborn) mentioned:

     All the historical records show that truely Iran was the hotbed for
     most of the turbulence in the Islamic history, be it the Khurramiah,
     the Khawarij, the Hashshasheen, the Qaramitah, and all kind of
     corrupted groups including the worshippers of the 12.

Pure non-sense. Khawarij appeared in Iraq. Hamdan Qarmat (the head of
Qaramitah) was living in Kufah. Most of Qaramitah were from Yemen. FYI,
there is no group who worship 12. This is what you have been granted by
your mother's milk.

Although I do not want to favor any nationality, but the authentic Sunni
collections contain many traditions which is in favor of the Persians. I
just quote some of them here:

     Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith: 6.420
     Narrated Abu Huraira:

     While we were sitting with the Prophet Surat al-Jumu'a was revealed to
     him, and when the Verse, "And He (Allah) has sent him (Muhammad) also
     to other (Muslims).....' (62:3) was recited by the Prophet, I said,
     "Who are they, O Allah's Apostle?" The Prophet did not reply till I
     repeated my question thrice. At that time, Salman al-Farisi was with
     us. So Allah's Apostle put his hand on Salman, saying, "Even if Faith
                                                             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
     were at (the place of) Ath-Thuraiya (pleiades, the highest star), then
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
     some men or man from these people (i.e. Salman's folk) would attain
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
     it."

The next tradition right after the previous one:

     Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith: 6.421
     Narrated Abu Huraira:

     The Prophet said "Then some men from these people would attain it."


I have to also mention that Salman was from a province inside of Iran named
"Fars". It is now in the middle of present Iran. Sahih Muslim has also many
traditions in this regard:

     Abu Hurairah reported: We were sitting in the company of Allah's
     Apostle(may peace be upon him) that Sura al-Jumua was revealed to him
     and when he recited (these words): "Others from amongst them who have
                                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
     not yet joined them (62:3)" a person amongst them (those who were
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
     ^^^
     sitting there) said: Allah's messenger ! But Allah's Apostle (may
     peace be upon him) made no reply, until he questioned him once, twice,
     or thrice. And there was amongst us Salman the Persian. The Apostle of
     Allah (may peace be upon him) placed his hand on Salman and then said:
     Even if faith were near the Pleiades, a man from amongst
     these would surely find it.

Sunni reference: Sahih Muslim, English version, Chapter MLI, titled as:
                The merit of the people of Persia, Tradition #6178


     Abu Huraira reported Allah's messenger(may peace be upon him) as
     saying: If the din (religion) were at the pleiades, even then a person
     from Persia would have taken hold of it, or one amongst the Persian
     descent would have surely found it.

Sunni reference: Sahih Muslim, English version, Chapter MLI, titled as:
                The merit of the people of Persia, Tradition #6177


Again, I do not intend to favor any nationality, but I merely quoted these
traditions to show the absurdity of the false aqusations against the
Muslims from Iran

The Wahhabi contributor further mentioned:

     Actually most of Iran have accepted the SUnnah of the prophet and
     joined the Jamaah before they were forcefuly converted to Rafidhism by
     the Safwiyyeen, to show the extent of the strength of the fitnah in
     there.

Most people of Persia followed Ahlul-Bayt from the beginning of the
appearance of Islam in that place, eventhough the Umayad and Abbasid
oppressive governments continued to prosecute the followers of Ahlul-Bayt
in Persia, Iraq, Hijaz, and other places.

No body can force a person to convert into another religion, since religion
is in the heart of People and not in ID. Your logic slips away from me when
I see many Arabs inside the Arabian Peninsula (what is now know as the
kingdom of Saudi Arabia) are the Shia of Imam Ali (AS) despite the
oppressive regimes in Hijaz since the early history of Islam. Perhaps you
give me an excuse that Hijaz was a part of Iran at the time!
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