Question
As we know the shiah sect is about 13 centuries old and obviously is a bad mark over purified face of islam.
I think this is of no use to continue dialogue between the two sects.
Is it not in the interest of Islam to declare this sect as non Muslim so as Islam as religion could be saved from this sect’s bad impression?
Answer
I do not consider it to be within my or any other individual’s jurisdiction to declare any other individual or group, which is considered to be a Muslim, as non-Muslim. For more details on the topic, you may refer to a few of my earlier responses on the topic, which you may find posted in the sub-section titled: “Declaring Someone Non-Muslim“.
You may consider dialogue between the Shiite and the Sunni school to be of no use. However, please keep in mind that this is your personal opinion. A very large number of individuals – both from the Shiite and the Sunni schools – may agree with you. Nevertheless, people should not be declared non-Muslims merely because of the opinions of other individuals. Please excuse me in saying that I personally feel that your opinion regarding the Shiite school is likely to have been completely opposite of what it now is, had you been born and raised in an environment that ascribed to a set of beliefs, which was different from your present set of beliefs.
My dear brother, we should be extremely careful in passing judgments about others. We must not forget that our knowledge is imperfect and the only method of improving our knowledge is to keep the doors of dialogue with all those who disagree with us open. Closing the doors of such dialogue is only indicative of our self-righteousness, which is not a virtue for us, humans, but a vice. Also we must always keep in mind that the objective of dialogue with those who disagree with us is not always to correct them or even to prove them wrong. In fact, a dialogue should primarily focus firstly on developing a better understanding and appreciation of the others’ stance and then to prompt the other party to do the same about ours and secondly to correct our own understanding, where we find a fault. This process must be continued till the end of time.
I hope this would clarify my stance about the issue.
Regards,
Moiz Amjad
May 12, 2002