A Mercy Case

For the Sunni, to question the Sahaba is to question the transmission of Islam to the following generations.

For the Imami Shi’i, to question the Imams is to question the transmission of Islam to the following generations.

Each community is passionately concerned about the preservation of the religion of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him and his family. But each has a different historiographical vision of how that happened.

For the Sunni, the political consolidation of the nascent empire under Abu Bakr/’Umar/’Uthman, the introduction of unified communal Ramadan prayers by ‘Umar, the codification of the Qur’an by ‘Uthman, and other such events are crucial to ensuring Islam’s survival.

For the Shi’i, each one of those situations is a slip away from prophetic guidance. ‘Ali was the best to lead in political matters. ‘Ali rejected ‘Umar’s innovation in matters of worship. ‘Ali was the most learned in the Qur’an and engaged in his own process of ensuring the integrity of the Qur’anic text, and so on.

The Shi’i hadith literature puts all guidance in the mouths and actions of the Imams. The role of the Sahaba and later generations is simply to support and learn from the Imam of their time. The Sunni hadith literature puts all guidance in the mouths of the Sahaba, as transmitters of the words/actions/approvals of the Prophet, upon him and his family be blessings and peace. As such, the Imams are just a few of the many righteous teachers from the early generations.

Later scholarly attempts to systematize the religion are built on this foundation. In Sunnism, something of the law is taken from this route, something of theology is taken from another route, and something of spirituality is taken from yet another route. For Imami Shi’ism, everything is taken from the Imams – law, theology, and spirituality.

Until one understands this, one can never begin to understand the Other.