What follows is the Fatwa (religious verdict\/ruling) of one of the Sunni world\u2019s most revered scholars, Shaikh Mahmood Shaltoot with regard to the Shi\u2019a. Shaikh Shaltoot was the head of the renowned al-Azhar Theological school in Egypt, one of the main centers of Sunni scholarship in the world. It should be of interest to know that a few decades ago, a group of Sunni and Shi\u2019a scholars formed a center at al-Azhar by the name of “Dar al-Taqreeb al-Madhahib al-Islamiyyah\u201d which translates into “Center for bringing together the various Islamic schools of thought”.<\/p>\n
The aim of the effort, as the name of the center indicates, was to bridge the gap between the various schools of thought, and bring about mutual respect, understanding, and appreciation of each school\u2019s contributions to the development of Islamic Jurisprudence, among the scholars of the different schools, so that they may, in turn, guide their followers toward the ultimate goal of unity, and of clinging to one rope, as the well-known Qur\u2019anic verse, “Hold fast to the Rope of Allah and do not diverge\u201d clearly demands of Muslims.<\/p>\n
This massive effort finally bore its major fruit when Shaikh Shaltoot made the declaration whose translation is appended below. It should be made unequivocally clear as well, that Al-Azhar’s official position, vis a vis the propriety of following any of the Madhaahib, including the Shi\u2019ite Imami school, has remained unchanged since Shaikh Shaltoot\u2019s declaration.<\/p>\n
Some people who follow pseudo-scholars in Hijaz may beg to differ; that notwithstanding, what you see below is the view held by the overwhelming majority of Sunni scholars, and not just those at al-Azhar. Let it be known to those who strive to divide us, that their efforts are but in vain.<\/p>\n
For the readership\u2019s reference the phrase “al-Shi\u2019a al-Imamiyyah al-Ithna \u2018Ashariyyah\u201d means the Twelver Imami Shi\u2019ite School of thought which comprises the overwhelming majority of Shi\u2019ites today. The phrase “Twelver Shi\u2019ites\u201d is used interchangeably with “Ja\u2019fari Shi\u2019ites\u201d and “Imami Shi\u2019ites\u201d in various literature. They are merely different names for the same school of thought.<\/p>\n
“al-Shi\u2019a al-Zaidiyyah\u201d are a minority among the Shi\u2019ites, concentrated mainly in Yemen located in the Eastern part of the Arabian peninsula. For a more detailed description of the Zaidis vs. the Twelver Shi\u2019ites, please refer to the book, “Shi\u2019ite Islam\u201d written by the great Shi\u2019ite scholar, Allamah Tabataba\u2019i, and translated by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and published by the State University of New York Press (SUNY).<\/p>\n
And as for Shaikh Shaltoot\u2019s declaration:<\/p>\n
Head Office of al-Azhar University:<\/p>\n
Text of the Verdict (Fatwa) Issued by His Excellency Shaikh al-Akbar Mahmood Shaltoot, Head of the al-Azhar University, on Permissibility of Following “al-Shi\u2019a al- Imamiyyah\u201d School of Thought<\/strong><\/p>\n His Excellency was asked:<\/p>\n Some believe that, for a Muslim to have religiously correct worship and dealing, it is necessary to follow one of the four known schools of thought, whereas, “al-Shi\u2019a al-Imamiyyah\u201d school of thought is not one of them nor “al-Shi\u2019a al-Zaidiyyah.\u201dDo your Excellency agree with this opinion and prohibit following “al-Shi\u2019a al-Imamiyyah al-Ithna Ashariyyah\u201d school of thought, for example?<\/p>\n His Excellency replied:<\/p>\n 1) Islam does not require a Muslim to follow a particular Madhhab (school of thought). Rather, we say: every Muslim has the right to follow one of the schools of thought which has been correctly narrated and its verdicts have been compiled in its books. And, everyone who is following such Madhahib (schools of thought) can transfer to another school, and there shall be no crime on him for doing so.<\/p>\n 2) The Ja\u2019fari school of thought, which is also known as “al-Shi\u2019a al- Imamiyyah al-Ithna Ashariyyah\u201d(i.e., The Twelver Imami Shi\u2019ites) is a school of thought that is religiously correct to follow in worship as are other Sunni schools of thought.<\/p>\n Muslims must know this, and ought to refrain from unjust prejudice to any particular school of thought since the religion of Allah and His Divine Law (Shari\u2019ah) was never restricted to a particular school of thought. Their jurists (Mujtahidoon) are accepted by Almighty Allah, and it is permissible to the “non-Mujtahid\u201d to follow them and to accord with their teaching whether in worship (Ibadat) or transactions (Mu\u2019amilaat).<\/p>\n Signed,<\/p>\n Mahmood Shaltoot.<\/p>\n The above Fatwa was announced on July 6, 1959, by the Head of al-Azhar University, and was subsequently published in many publications in the Middle East which include, but are not limited to:<\/p>\n 1. al-Sha\u2019ab newspaper (Egypt), issue of July 7, 1959.<\/p>\n 2. al-Kifah newspaper (Lebanon), issue of July 8, 1959.<\/p>\n The above segment can also be found in the book “Inquiries about Islam”, by Muhammad Jawad Chirri, Director of the Islamic Center of America, 1986 Detroit, Michigan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What follows is the Fatwa (religious verdict\/ruling) of one of the Sunni world\u2019s most revered scholars, Shaikh Mahmood Shaltoot with regard to the Shi\u2019a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7554,7465,7456,7464],"tags":[19686,19689,19684,19688,19685,19669,19687],"class_list":["post-10606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ghadir","category-the-history-of-islam","category-the-infallibles","category-the-offspring-and-followers-of-the-infallibles","tag-al-imamiyyah","tag-al-azhar","tag-al-shia","tag-fatwa","tag-shaikh-al-akbar-mahmood-shaltoot","tag-shia-studies-world-assembly","tag-verdict"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Text of the Verdict (Fatwa)<\/strong><\/h3>\n