peace psyah, first of all, i apologize :) coz u got offended by me using caps lock.. i in no way intend to shout at u or anyone else.. i use caps lock so that one pays more attention to my posts while reading..
sir i couldnt find post number 3 in the favor of ismailis.. u have said that the outward behavior of ismailis is alien to the mainstream n so on...this, even if not intended, directs the point to the way that ismailis r wrong n the mainstream is right.. well, the outward behavior n beliefs of sunnis is alien to us.. but their beliefs r not too far from other muslims.. how about that?? does that sound like its in your favor??
n what i mentioned earlier in my post(s) was that the pakistani government has the ismaili constution (as hav all other countries in which ismailis live) which contains our beliefs.. if there was anthin wrong wid our beliefs, then we should hav been declared as non-muslims like jamaat-i-ahmadiyya.. n btw i'm not in favor of ahmadis or any other sect being declared as non-muslims.. we should leave it upon Allah SWT to punish the false ones upon their judgement.. PERIOD. if we think they r wrong, thats arite. we should keep it to ourselves rather than trying to become the "final verdict" on religion.. what did we get by declaring our own pakistani brothers as non-muslims???
Peace again a-town boy
I am humbled by your apology and I too offer the likes, but insist you do not need to make this gesture I have been tactless with my words.
I hear what you say and typically agree with it not having changed my opinion. I was speaking initially to answer the question "why the Pak gov did such and such ..." whether they were right to do so or not the reasons I gave I believe are accurate. I also believe that it is up to Allah (SWT) to decide, but it is up to us to preserve Islam as vicegerents on Earth.
Privately, I still think that by saying the outward of Ismailis being different yet the beliefs being similar is a statement of fact and should not be attached to any emotion. You can say it other way round if you like, that Sunnis are alien to Ismaili but that sounds odd because Ismailis are not the recognised standard of Islam because they are a break away sect of a break away sect. Again this is fact and no emotion should be attached to this. I am not making any claim here that a break away sect is wrong for simply being a break away sect.
The way this has been done in the past was by the formulation of 'aqidah which is definitive principles that Muslims must adhere to any variation from those principles need careful thought and justification. As far as I am concerned a person who believes in One God and acknowledges that Muhammad (SAW) is the final messenger upon whom direct revelation (The Word of God) was sealed, is a Muslim.
Other forms of Guidance, such as dreams and Islamic sciences to arrive at truth is current today at the disposal of pious and learned people. The interpretation of the Sahabah takes priority over our own, and the adhesion to tradition is better than the guess work of technology. This is the specific strain of Islam that I believe is correct, but not such that it makes other forms obsolete or so incorrect that they fall outside Islam.