Did Muhammad Receive Revelation by Mistake?!

Did Muhammad Receive Revelation by Mistake?! The following article is adopted from the "Shi'ites Under Attack" byMuhammad Jawad Chirri with some modification. ======================================================Do the Shi'ite Muslims Say that the Revelation Came toMuhammad by Mistake, and that it Was Intended for Ali?======================================================This [false accusation is] widely spread in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and otherArab countries in order to discredit the followers of the members of theHouse of the Prophet. This accusation was made during periods ofoppression against the Shiites. The rulers of the periods of the Omayadsand Abbasids used to consider every follower of the Members of the House ofthe Prophet revolutionary and dangerous. They conspired against theseShiites and accused them of heresy and disbelief in order to encourage theMuslims to shed their blood and usurp their rights and wealth. The centuries of oppression passed with all their injustices and terrors.It was expected that during the new period of freedom, the mistakes of thepast would be corrected. It was hoped that Muslim scholars would make aserious study in order to see if there is any justification for suchterrible accusations. It is very easy to know the truth. There are hundreds of books written by Shiite scholars about their beliefs.Had the Sunni scholars read any of these books, they would have found thatthe Shiite beliefs are in full agreement with the Book of God and the well-known statements of the Prophet. We are living in the era of speed and easy movement. It is easy for Muslimscholars to have conferences, discuss problems, and find solutions. The simplest principle of justice is to follow the commandment of the HolyQur'an: "Oh you who believe, if a transgressor comes to you with news, try to verify it, lest you inflict damage on people unwittingly; then you may consequently regret your hasty action" (ch. 49, v.6) The Almighty commanded us to try to find out whether an accusation is trueor false, and that we ought not to try people and convict them withoutquestioning them. We do not know of any court in the world in which the judge convicts aperson before interviewing him, provided the accused is available andhonors the summons. In spite of the ease with which one can find the correct informationnowadays, we find that those who accuse and spread hatred among Muslims donot take one single step in order to find the truth which may unite theMuslim world. While writing these words, I recollect that the Egyptian government duringthe fifties sent the late Dr. Mohammad Bisar to Washington, D.C., asdirector of the Islamic Center there. I went to visit him and he receivedme kindly and informed me of the knowledge that he had acquired concerningAmerican Muslims. He initiated a dialogue between us, saying: "Some of the Muslims in this country asked me about the various Islamic sects. I declared to them that all Muslim sects are good except the Shiite Ithnashari." I immediately realized that R. Bisar did not know the meaning of ShiiteIthnashari. Otherwise, he would not have been rude enough to say that tome while I am a Shiite Ithnashari (meaning The Twelvers). Thus, we had thefollowing dialogue: Chirri: What is wrong with the Ithnashari? Bisar: They believe in things opposed to Islam. Chirri: Give us an example of their wrong belief. Bisar: They say the revelation came to Mohammad by mistake, and that Ali Ibn Abu Talib was supposed to receive the revelation. Chirri: How did you learn that? Bisar: I read it in the book of al-milal and al-nihal by al-Shahristani. Chirri: Have you asked any Shiite scholar about this subject? Bisar: No, I have not. Chirri: Then you have convicted millions of Muslims and considered them "kafir" without asking any of them about this serious accusation. Did the Almighty command you to do that? And did Egypt send you to propagate such [an unjust] message? A year after our meeting in Washington, I met Dr. Bisar in Philadelphia atan Islamic conference. He informed me that he re-examined the book of al-milal and al-nihal by al-Shihristani and found that what was attributed toShiites, that the revelation came to Mohammad by mistake, was not thebelief of the Ithnashari Shiite school of thought. It was rather, a sectwhich existed and disappeared hundreds of years ago. Hearing that fromhim, I accepted his apology. Yet, I was amazed that it took him a wholeyear to re-read the book and discover the truth. I spent years studying hadith and Islamic history in books which werewritten by Sunni and Ithnashari scholars. I NEVER FOUND IN ANY SHIITE BOOKA HADITH OR A HISTORICAL REPORT INDICATING THAT ALI IBN ABU TALIB WASHIGHER THAN OR EQUAL TO MOHAMMAD. As a matter of fact, I found only theopposite. The Shittes consider Ali to be the best man after the Messengerbecause he was the most obedient to him. One of the hadith which the Shiites pride themselves upon is a hadithattributed to the Messenger of God: The Prophet (PBUH&HF) said to the tribe of Wolai-ah: "Bani Wolai-ah, you must change your attitude, or I shall send to you a man who is from me to punish you severely." Some of the people who were present asked the Prophet "Who is the man you are going to send to them?" The Prophet replied: "He is the man who was patching the sole of my shoes." They looked around and found Ali patching the sole of the Prophet's shoes. Sunni references:- Sahih al-Tirmidhi, v5, p634- Fada'il al-Sahaba, by Ahmad Hanbal, v2, p571, Tradition #966- al-Riyad al-Nadirah, by al-Muhib al-Tabari, v3, p152- Tabaqat, by Ibn Sa'd, v1, p349- Matalib al-'Aliyah, v4, p56- Majma' al-Zawa'id, by al-Haythami, v9, p163 It is inconceivable that the Shiites can be proud of the fact that Ali wasthe patcher of the Prophet Mohammad's shoes and claim that the Imam ishigher than or equal to the Prophet. Therefore, I do not find anyjustification for directing such an accusation at the Shiites who glorifythe Prophet the most. The Shiites say that the highest honor that Imam Ali acquired is that hewas chosen by the Prophet to be his brother. When the Prophet commandedevery two Muslims to become brothers, he held Ali's hand and said, "This ismy brother." Thus, the Messenger of God, the highest Messenger, the Imamof all righteous people, the one who had no equal among the servants ofGod, made Ali his brother. (Al-Seerah Al-Nabawiyah, by Ibn Hisham, part 1,p505). =============Side Comments=============A Wahhabi mentioned that: There was a sect that claimed Gibreel (Alaihi Alsalam) erred in delivering the message. This sect were called the "Sheeah Ghurabiah". They might no longer exist by that name -- and they are a different sect than the Twelvers sect. ... Dear friend, the Ghurabiyyah and similar sects are fictitious sects createdby some story tellers such as al-Shahrastani and Abdul-Qahir Ibn Tahir al-Baghdadi, etc. Nonetheless, we do not deny that there existed some extremist sects (al-Ghulat) who departed from the body of Shia, who believed Ali is God, orthose who believed in incarnation (Hulool). The reason was that they foundso many virtues in Imam Ali, and by their narrow-minded-brain, they couldnot believe that a human can possess all such virtues. As a result of that,they believed in the deity of Ali. Surely they have gone astray. Thanks toGod that they have perished in the course of History in a great deal.However the leaders of such extremist groups and other deviated groups fromShia (whose leaders falsely claimed to be Imams) were not as simple mindedas their followers. Those leaders were agents of the tyrranical rullers andtheir activities were purely political. The Imams of Ahlul-Bayt and their followers disassociated themselves fromthese groups who were being established by the governments of each era todeviate the followers of Ahlul-Bayt and to destroy their path by keepingthem away from the Imams and moving them toward the puppets of governments.But these groups were melting down few months after their appearance, sincepeople soon recognized the falsehood and ignorance of their leaders andtheir connection with the rulers, and thus people did not subscribe tothese groups. A group without followers can not live for long, and itsleader becomes out of business shortly after. Allah, Exalted He is, said inQuran: "... and in this way, Allah strikes the examples of truth and falsehood. Then, as for the bubbles, it passes away (like disappearance of scum/foam upon the banks), while that which is for the good of mankind, remains in the earth..." (Quran 13:17) What remained from these artificial groups was just a history written bythose officials (who created those groups in the first place) which alsoincludes fictitious stories. We do not call such bankrupt groups Shia. From the demise of Prophet tilltoday, the followers of Imam Ali (AS) are The Twelver Shi'ites. There arehowever few Zaydis and Ismailis around the world. Although the majority ofscholars believe that they are Muslims (except those of them who abandonedthe Islamic practices), yet we consider them out of the circle of Ahlul-Bayt. All other groups such as Alavi (or Nudhayri), etc. are NOT Shia forsure, and their emergance did not have anything to do with the Shia. To bea Shia one should meet all the following specifications: 1. Believing in all the articles of faith. These are comon amongst Muslims.2. Believing that Imam Ali is the immediate successor/executor of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HF), appointed by Allah.3. Believing that one should follow the genuine Sunnah of Prophet, and this Sunnah is transmitted by Ahlul-Bayt who are pure and sinless according to Quran. Furthermore, the instructions of the twelve Imams of Ahlul-Bayt are binding since they are in fact the instructions of the Prophet (PBUH&HF).4. Believing that Imam Mahdi (AS), the son of the 11th Imam is the Imam of our time and is living (contrary to the majority of Sunnis who believe he will be born later). If any of the above conditions is missing for a person, he is notconsidered to be a Shia. Also in contrary to the rumors, to curse any ofthe companions is not a part of our belief. The wahhabi contributor further mentioned: The muslims who say one of the beliefs of shia is the above are not wrong; therefore, because the Ghurabi sect is a part of the shiaah herecy throught the history - but to attribute this claim to the Ithnaasharis "official" beleifs is not just to say the least. It is interesting to see that the above writer forgot that many deviantgroups departed from the body of Sunnis such as Nation of Islam who believeGod was a human, yet I haven't heard of any Shia to say: The muslims who say one of the beliefs of Sunni is the above are not wrong, because the Nation of Islam parted from the Sunnis - but to attribute this claim to the "official" beleifs of Sunnis is not just to say the least. You may replace the "nation of Islam" with "Ahmadis", "Qadianis", ... andthe followers of Muhammad Ibn Abdil Wahhab, and you can see how silly theabove statement is going to be. Thanks to God that Shia do not attributesuch things to the four Sunni schools.