A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Nur ad-Din Abu ‘Ubadah ‘Ali ibn Juma’ah wrote that the Zaydis follow Imam Zayd ibn ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn ( r.a. ), and are the Shi’ah denomination most similar to the Sunnis.   They agree with the Sunnis, as opposed to the Twelver Shi’ah that the question of the imamiyyah is a branch of religion which does admit rational interpretation, and is likewise subject to independent judgement.   The Twelver Shi’ah hold their opinion to be established through express textual support, that is, authentically-narrated reports indisputably indicating the person of the imam .   Zaydis recognise texts indicating the person of the imam , but hold them to be less definitive both in their transmission and their signification, and to describe the attributes of the imam , but not specify him by name.   Further distinctions between the Twelver Shi’ah and Zaydis are logically entailed by these differences, in that the former hold that one w...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is taken from “The History & Sources of Islamic Law” by Shaykh Nur ad-Din Abu ‘Ubadah ‘Ali ibn Juma’ah .   As a religion which includes doctrine, law and ethics, Islam forms a complete and comprehensive worldview for human life.   Fiqh , Islamic law, for its part, is the means by which we are capable of producing appropriate rulings through derivation from the revelatory foundational texts.   Such foundational texts come in two forms: “recited” - the Qur’an, and “not recited” - the pure Prophetic sunnah .   After its initial period of direct legislation in the time of the Prophet ( s.a.w. ), Islamic law has undergone many stages, each of which has its own distinctive features and impact on its current form.   It is appropriate, then, that there be a study of these stages, which is not simply a description and explanation of the past, but which also serves the present by contributing to greater expe...