Sunni Perspective on Shia Traditions

badabing · February 23, 2015, 1:40am

Re: Sunni Perspective on Shia Traditions

I don’t want this to be a shia - sunni debate, especially in light of horrors being inflicted on shias in Pakistan.

(I know it will end up becoming a mud hurling event, eventually, so I ask mods shut it down when it starts inching that way).

I am talking to a guy who has a shia mom and sunni dad and somehow brings together the two traditions and it’s impressive, I just want to see what the sunni perspective is on traditions in Muharram.

So here are my questions:

What does a Majlis consist of ? What’s the purpose of this tradition? What is done during the day of Majlis? Which days is it done on and how many days?

My dad is telling me that Majlis can even be held by sunnnis, and when my dad was growing up in Pakistan, they held Shaam e ghareeban in sunni mosques as well.

Do Sunnis hold that Muawiyah was corrupt and trying to get his son into leadership? And that his treatment of Imam Hasan was wrong? Is there evidence he was involved in Ali (R)'s murder?

My understanding is both sunnis and shias agree that Yazid was corrupt and a total disaster. Is that right?

If Shias come from the camp that supported Imam Hussain during Karbalah, then what camp do Sunnis come from? Do we automatically come from the Muawiyah camp? Can you be Sunni and simply not think Muawiyah was a fit leader, and that he may have been corrupt?

Do Sunnis recognize that historically that Hasan and Hussain SHOULD have been caliphs over Muawiyah? Or if you believe that, does that make you Shia? Could it mean you just have a political opinion and it doesn’t make you shia or sunni?

The Shias discount hadith of Abu Hurairah. Can you be Sunni and also consider it suspect that Abu Huraira managed to collect SO MANY hadith and that some of these hadith, especially the anti-female ones, may be inaccurate of the real sunnah of the Prophet?

Can Sunnis do Majlis? Can they commemorate the events that happened in Muharram and recount the history of the atrocities that happened to Imam Hussain and Imam Hassan without necessarily believing in some sort of infallibility or divinity of Ali (R)?

Do all Shias have a different Kalima where they add the Ali (R) part to the end of the Kalimah?

Sweetheart I attended mosque here in London form the age of 5 to 16, 2hrs, 5days a week - it was hanafi. Anyway, once I got a bit older, i’m 29 by the way, I started to read, everything and anything - the 4 mhadabs, giving credence to jurisprudential rulings by al azhar, al ghazali, different biographies of the prophet (loved the one by Martin Lings btw, well worth a read), different sufi traditions from shariat compliant sufis such as Hajweri to those that seem a bit looney (lol) like Rumi and Shams Tabreez, Twelver shia books, ismaili books etc you get the jist of what I’m saying, won’t bore you with a complete bibliography lol. Anyway, what I had been programmed to believe turned out to be bs imo. Sunni Islam seems to be heavily loved up with Ummayid clan imo. suffice to say my inclinations are more shia leaning now (I was once totally anti-shia) although I don’t beat my self or go to shia mosques or anything nor do I curse Shahaba. To me it’s simple, I have mates, but who knows me better my mates or my family?

Also, sunnis tend to hate logic, they say even a shaih hadeeth defies logic, one can’t question it, lol - dissect the hadeeth about keeping fast on 9th and 10 th of Muharram due to Moses, lol, enough said! Similarly, some things shia say and do imo are bat**** crazy. For example, the sixth imam, Imam Jafar (AS) allegdly says that when going to majalis for Muharram, even if you have no tears flowing from your eyes, force yourself to cry? LIke seriously? I class my self as Muslim, neither shia nor sunni, not the best of Muslims mind you, lol. Just read, don’t let fat mullahs who scream and screech from the pulpit influence you - they are the reason why muslims are in the state they are today. SUnni’s also tend to be accepting of the innovations of Umar (ra) yet “Zaban pur tala lug jata hai” when anything Ali (AS) centric is raised, it is simply shouted down as shia propaganda. Just my two cents.