['Aalim Network QR] Usul-ul-Fiqh

[Mustafa Rawji <mrawji@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca>]

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|       In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the All-Merciful       |\
|  Greeting of Allah be upon Muhammad and the pure members of his House |\
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Salamun alaykum,

	The reply to the following question was kindly provided by Shaykh
Rasheed.

Wasalam,

Mustafa Rawji
Moderator, 'Aalim Network

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QUESTION:

1. I was reading a book called Usul ul Fiqh published in California. In
the section concerning Imam Jafar, there were some things written about
him and some statements attributed to him which were a surprise to me,
to say the least. Could someone please confirm or provide evidence they
are wrong? They were:

    (a) "He who denies Abu Bakr and Umar is ignorant of the Sunnah" 
            -- Imam Jaffar (or so the book says)

    (b) I can't remember if it attributed this directly to him or
whether they derived from some more statements attributed to him, but
they also said that according to Imam Jafar Sadiq, the doctrine of
infallibility is bogus and was an invention of some group called the
Uttaybiya (or some similar name).

    (c) There was also one incident written in the book in which Imam
Jafar was supposed to have said (concerning some people who spoke ill of
Abu Bakr and Umar) that he would spill their blood just to be closer to
Allah if it were allowed.

ANSWER:

	I've tried to find out something about this particular book to no
avail.  There are a whole slew of books being published by Saudis and
their agents whose sole purpose is to tarnish the image of the Shi'ah
faith to those who might be interested in looking further into it. They
take the sayings from our books and mis-translate them or they take the
views of the smallest minority and project it to be the view of the sect
and many other devious tactics. 

	I suspect that this book is of the same kind. The comment which is
made is totally inconsistent with the view of any scholar, aside from an
Imam.  Therefore, we should refer to the book as a fabrication. If the
specific references can be forwarded, I can try to research the matter in
more detail.

Was-Salaam.

Ali Rasheed