Shi'i Reformation in Iran by Ali Rahnema

Author:Ali Rahnema [Rahnema, Ali]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Islamic Studies, Religion, History
ISBN: 9781317055327
Google: PEyrCwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-03-03T02:53:04+00:00

Chapter 5

Challenging Reports

Aware of the important reliance of his clerical colleagues on reports or ahadith (hadiths) attributed to Shi‘i imams as the proper source of knowledge, Sangelaji labelled such reports and the erroneous information that they propagated as one of the main causes of Islam’s plight. Breaking rank with the clerical tradition he took it upon himself ‘to open the eyes and ears of the people’ by criticizing the beliefs and practices of actually existing Shi‘ism based on hadiths and its official theoreticians and custodians.1 A critical reading and assessment of Shi‘i hadiths could be considered as a major challenge to the foundations of popular Shi‘ism as established by Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi in the seventeenth century.2

Acknowledging a profound crisis among the Shi‘i of his time, Sangelaji observed that they were Muslims in name only and effectively unbelievers (kofar) in their beliefs, as they obtained their knowledge from a source other than the Qur’an.3 Intimating the role of hadiths and its propagators in the deviation of Islam, Sangelaji suggested that the source of false beliefs could be traced to the people’s acquisition of their faith from sources other than the Qur’an, thereby pointing an accusing finger at hadiths or reports.

Sangelaji ruled out the possibility of any association between Islam in its original form and what he labelled as unreasonable and irrational concepts that later crept into the faith. He attributed the irrational ideas and tendencies in Islam of his time to a plot by the early enemies of the faith, namely the original hypocrites (monafeqin).4 The hypocrites, Sangelaji argued, fabricated reports by mixing falsities with certain realities of the faith, to combat the purpose and objectives of Islam.5 The hypocrites, operating as reporters, interpreters and preachers of the hadiths, attributed irrational, occult and unbecoming statements to the Prophet and the imams. To prove the absurdity of certain far-fetched reports, Sangelaji referred to a bizarre report on the supposed breast-feeding of the Prophet by Abu-Taleb, his uncle and Imam Ali’s father. This report attempted to prove that Imam Ali and Mohammad were brothers.6 Sangelaji concluded that these superstitious reports were fabricated to belittle the faith and present it as irrational.7

Therefore, for Sangelaji, returning Islam to its original fountainhead implied cleansing it of all unreasonable and alien concepts maliciously injected into it. If Muslims were to be freed of their state of ignorance hampering their progress, then the faith needed to be purified and refined without concern for the extent to which such detrimental beliefs and practices were popular, widely practised or staunchly believed in. To achieve this end, Sangelaji challenged traditionally respected and widely practised Islamic rites, rituals and dogmas by questioning the non-Qur’anic sources from which they were deduced.

Sangelaji’s major practical challenge was that he aimed at cleansing and reforming reports that were generally attributed to Shi‘i imams. In the eyes of Shi‘i believers, the fact that the reports were said to have originated from the infallible imams provided their content and message with unassailable legitimacy. Consequently, the popular respect for Shi‘i

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