Are you Shai or Sunni ?

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and We bear witness that Muhammad is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 22 Surah Hajj verse 77-78: O you who have believed, do ‘rukooh’ (bow down) and do ‘sajdah’ (prostration), and worship your Lord Allah Alone, and do righteous deeds: it may be that you attain true success! Exert your utmost for the cause of Allah, as one should. He has chosen you for His service, and has not laid on you any hardship in your religion. Therefore, be steadfast in the religion of your father Abraham. Allah had named you ‘muslims’ before this, and has named you (muslims) in this Quran also, so that the Messenger may be a witness in regard to you, and you may be witnesses in regard to the rest of mankind.

The All Knowing, All Wise, Allah has named us ‘muslims’, and commanded us to follow the religion of Islam, and be a witness in regard to the rest of mankind. He never commanded us to break our religion into sects and creeds and give them different names like Shias, Sunnis, Ismaelis, Dawoodi Bohras, Sulemani Bohras, Itna-asharis, Wahhabis, etc. These are the names given to sects by their leaders and have absolutely no place in the deen of Islam! We all belong to one and the same ‘ummah’ (community) and Allah has named our community as ‘muslims’.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 23 Surah Al-Mu’minun verse 52: And this ‘Ummah’ of yours is one ‘Ummah’, and I (Allah) am your Lord, so fear Me alone!

It has been reported in an authentic tradition that Allah`s Messenger (saws) said: “There will befall my Ummah exactly all those evils which befell the people of Israel (Jews and Christians), so much so that if there was one amongst them who openly committed fornication with his mother, there will be amongst  my Ummah one,  who will do the same.   And if the people of Israel were fragmented into seventy-two sects, my Ummah will be fragmented into seventy-three sects.   All of them will be in Hell Fire except one sect.”   The noble Companions asked: “O Allah`s Messenger (saws), which one is that?”    Whereupon he (saws) said: “It is one to which I and my companions belong.”

Thus we must strive to come out of these petty sects and creeds which we named ourselves, and come to the one ‘ummah’ or community of muslims in Islam. Thus if someone asks us our religion, the answer should always be that we are ‘muslims’ and we follow the deen that was followed by the Messenger of Allah (saws). If Mohamed (saws) was a Shia, we are Shias! If Mohamed (saws) was a Sunni, we are Sunnis! If Mohamed (saws) was a Ismaeli, we are Ismaelis! If Mohamed (saws) was a Dawoodi Bohra, we are Dawoodi Bohras!

But no one, who has an iota of knowledge, can ever claim that the Messenger of Allah (saws) was a Shia, Sunni, Itna-ashari, or Dawoodi Bohra!   The Messenger of Allah, and all his noble companions, including Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (r.a.), Fatema bint Mohamed (r.a.), Imam Hasan ibn Ali (r.a.), Imam Hussein ibn Ali (r.a.), etc. were all ‘muslims’ in the true sense of the word. These divisions of Shia, Sunni, etc. were created much after the death of the Prophet (saws), by unscrupulous leaders and self-proclaimed holy men! Allah has strongly condemned people who break their religion in creeds and sects, and commanded us to stay away from doing the same.

Allah says in Chapter 30 Surah Rum aayat 30-32: "This (Islam) is the right and true faith, but most people do not know. (Be steadfast on this) turning wholly and sincerely towards Allah Alone, and fear Him, and establish the Salat, and do not be like the mushriks, who have set up their separate creeds and divided themselves into sects, each sect rejoicing in what it has."

Just look at the Anger and Wrath of Allah described on those who break up their religion into sects:

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 23 Surah Mu’minoon verse 52-56: And you all belong to one and the same ummah,  and I(Allah) am your Lord; so fear Me Alone!  Yet afterwards the people divided themselves into different sects,  and each sect rejoicing  in what it has. Well,  leave them deeply involved in their heedlessness up to an appointed time. What?  Do they think that,  by continuing to provide them with wealth and children,  We are solicitous for their welfare? Nay, they do not understand the reality of the matter!

Thus we hereby declare, and Allah is our witness, that we are neither Shias nor Sunnis:  but rather, we are ‘muslims’.   

May Allah guide all the muslims to read and understand the clear message of the Glorious Quran, so that we can recognize these self-proclaimed leaders and holy men, who are instrumental in breaking up this deen of Islam into petty sects and creeds. May Allah help us and guide us all to follow the Straight Path of Islam.  

May Allah guide you and us all to the Siraat al-Mustaqeem

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me.  Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan