No, I'm not a Sunni, but rather a 12ers Shia Muslim, converting to Islam from Christianity in 1999 at the age of 39. Before becoming a Muslim, I studied the Quran, Sufism, the Four Sunni Muslims, Salafism and Wahabism, and Zaidi and 12ers Shia Islam. When I gave Shahada, I began practicing the Jafari Madhab of the12er Shia Muslims, minus the offensive folk practices that developed much later and are banned by Shia jurists anyway. I liked the fact that after Karbala, when tour 3rd Imam and grandson of the Prophet was murdered by the Ummayad Caliph Yazid, whose father Muhawiya led an Insurgency against the 4th Sunni Caliph and first Shia Imam Ali Ibn Talib, the later Imams did not desire political power or riches. Yet, they were all murdered by Caliphs despite the fact that they were not a threat to the Caliphs' imperial rule.
Had Karbala not happened, there would be no true Sunni or Shia Muslims today. If anything like Islam existed at all today, it would be similar to Al-Qaeda or the Taliban, and the Quran might only exist today in fragments, since the Quran is barely more than a chant book today. Imperialists like the Caliphs after the 4th and last of the rightly guided ones don't want defensive warfare within limits as Is clearly taught in the Quran, unless an anti-Muslim wants to quote only half an Agha, thus not giving the true meaning of the passage. If I tried to quote half a verse of the Bible to force the Bible to say something that it doesn't teach, I would be a liar, correct? It is the same when an anti-Muslim misquoted the Bible: he or she is a liar.
Most anti-Muslims don't seem to realize the the six Sunni Authentic Hadith collections appeared after the first three Sunni schools of Jurisprudence appeared. Sunni Imams Hanif, Malik and Shafi did their legal work BEFORE the Six Sunni "Sahih" or Authentic books appeared. Yes, the Muwatta of Imam Ibn Malik appeared before the six Sahihs, but only some Muslims consider the Muwatta to be Sahih. The 6th Shia Imam Jafar As-Saddiq, for whom the Jafari Madhab, was one other teachers of Imam Hanif and Imam Malik. Imam Shafi was taught by Imam Malik and started with the Muwatta but added other traditions (hadith) and formed the Shafie School. The Reliance of the Traveller is a later Shafie School manual of Jurisprudence and is the most exhaustive Shafie Manual translated into English today. Not only that, but the Shafie School is the closest Sunni school to the Jafari School, with about 80% agreement in basic rulings.
According to true Sunni and Shia schools of fiqh, when one signs a contract, he or she must honor the contract. Thus, it is a major sin for a Sunni or Shia Muslim to get a Visa and come to the USA, and then break laws. How much worse if I, a born and bred US citizen, would do such a thing? However, Al Qaeda and the Taliban are not Sunnis, but are actually Wahabists. Wahabists is a fairly modern version of controversially Ibn Tamiyyah's extremists version of the Hanbali Madhab. Ahmed Ibn Hanbal's school of Jurisprudence was the last to appear of the 4 Sunni schools still in existence, and it relies the most on traditions. Early on, followers of the Hanbal Madhab persecuted sheikhs of other Sunni schools, though I don't blame Imam Hanbal for this problem. Modern Wahabists like the Saudi Monarchy persecute Shia Muslims, yet Ahmed Ibn Hanbal's book of hadith, the Musnad, has traditions in favor of Imams of the Shia Muslims, as well as traditions of Jesus Christ from Ebionite and Nazarene sources, since those extinct Christian sects still existed at the advent of Islam and were absorbed into Islam.
As a 12ers Shia and an American, I love my Sunni brothers and sisters who are truly Sunnis. They are not the ones trying to make us extinct. As for the USA, it is one of the safest places in the world for a Shia Muslim to live, with perhaps the best Constitution of any country in the world. There are many Muslim countries in the world, but only one truly Islamic country, and that one is not perfect. I'm speaking of Iran of course. I don't see any countries are truly Sunni, either. I do see countries based on Wahabism. One of them, Saudi Arabia, is said to be a friend of the USA. One of the biggest stockholders the FOX News corporation is a rich Saudi. So, of course, true Sunnism and Shi'ism doesn't get a fair shake there. ISIS massacres not only Shia Muslims and Christians, but true Sunnis who won't how the knee to the mutation of Islam that Wahabism truly is. I see some aspects of Salafism in ISIS, but it is from the more extremist elements of that movement. Salafism is another later development in the Hanbali school, but some Salafis are just as law abiding as true Shia Muslims and Sunni Muslims. Others have very Wahabists tendencies.
My advice to anti-Muslims who use the Reliance of the Traveller is to read all the sections of the book, not just those on Jihad. The translator, Sheikh Nuh Keller, is a Sufi. Sufi Muslim bands, with the exception of the Naqshbandi, trace their lineage back to the Prophet through the 4th Sunni Caliph and 1st Imams of the Shia Muslims, Ali Ibn Talib, who only took the Caliphate on the condition that he would be able to govern according to Quranic principles. One of those principles was that the Major Jihad was the struggle to be a good and honorable Muslim, that is, to be a good citizen, a good spouse, a good parent, a good neighbor, a good worker, etc. The Little Jihad is defensive fighting, whether that be militarily or by writing books and public speaking. Sheikh Nuh Keller may have his differences with Shia Musllims, but he is a good citizen and hates that 911 happened. Any attempt to paint true Sunnis as terrorists is bearing false witness against one neighbor. Who is your neighbor? Read the parable of the Good Samaritan in the Gospels. Who did the Jews hate the most in the early 1st Century? The Samaritans of course. Who do many fundamentalist Evangelical Christians who follow the Dispensationalist hermeneutic since 1880 only hate the most today? Muslims! Now, if you say "but we dispensationalists believe the Gospels are Old Testament and not for today", aren't you being just like the Christian and Muslim empires of threats 200 years, and even more the Wahabists of today who use the Quran mostly for chanting and follow the books of traditions that appeared AFTER the Quran and schools of Jurisprudence?
I also recommend Al-Maqasid, Imam Nawawi's Manual of Islam, also translated by Sheikh Nuh Keller. Imam Nawawi was a great Shiekh and a Sufi, one of the best Sunni Muslim sheikhs in this Shia Muslim's humble opinion.
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A crucial book in its field.
It reached me in KSA from the US only after10 days. I am extremely satisfied.
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Mark Anderson
For All Non-Muslims, This Is A Very Informative And Authoritative Manual On Islamic Law And Jurisprudence
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