The new Shiite Manifesto
by Ahmed Alkatib
In the Name of God, the Benificent, the Merciful  ‘ I desire naught save reform so far as I am able. My welfare is only in Allah. In Him I trust and unto Him I turn (repentant)’. Hood, 88  Allah the Great , the most High is truthful
Introduction:
The time has come for Muslims to unite and free themselves from past disagreements, and to rise up to build their present and their future on a new bases of justice, consultation, science and faith".The charged historic conflicts full of injustice, tyranny and ignorance, have torn the Muslims to fighting sects, and it caused some "religious" theories that weren't brought down by Allah. Despite that, the Muslims have overcome a lot of past conflicts but unfortunately, they are still living some of the conflicts' negative effects until today. This is what pushed a group of faithful young men to reconsider their sectarian heritage and re- read the Prophet's Family doctrine away from exaggerated foreign theories and extremism, hoping for a new beginning for brotherhood and Islamic unity based on sticking to the Holy Qur’an that says : "and resort by Allah's rope and do not separate", Al Imarn, 103 and also : "and this nation of yours is one nation and I am your Lord so worship me". The prophets,92 . The sectarian (Sunni - Shiite) disagreement is a historical and political disagreement that revolved around the constitutional system ,whether it should be consultative? A royal and hereditary one? Military? Religious ? A civil one? Or inherited by a particular family? This controversy has evolved in the Middle Ages, under tyrannical dictatorial regimes, to a religious juristic and emotional one. Time has passed and this controversy has lost its meaning today after great developments took place in Muslims' lives. Small precipitates and a few remains are left that don't represent a serious material to the disagreement, let alone fighting among Muslims . In any case, it is not a deeply rooted radical decade disagreement and it is not an immortal one . Time has come to bury it in the graves of history .
The sectarian disagreements are not fundamental principles of religion nor are they necessities for Islam. A Muslim is bound to the Islamic doctrine mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, everything else is hypothetical, based on personal judgment using the Qur’an and Sunna, and can be differed upon . Whereas there are fundamentals in religion that no two should differ upon, there are also hypothetical and jurisprudential issues that should not be a reason for fighting but should be a reason to an open dialogue and discussion . Hence, the disagreement between Shiites and Sunnis is not about the fundamentals of Islam but is rather related to legal deductions which are based on different interpretations (of the Qur’an) and also on presumptive narrations .  Therefore we don't believe in the presence of constants or necessities in sectarian doctrines since there isn't a single integrated official copy for each doctrine . Some of the doctrines have been subject to addition, deletion, individual opinions, presumptive jurisprudence and the leakage of myths and legends to it. No one has to adopt all of the doctrine, juristic and the historic opinions that the previous men wrote, rather he/she is free to select what they want.
This is confirmed by the criticism course and the continuous reform work since the first centuries, and also the presence of several Shiite and Sunni movements that range between moderation, extremism and exaggeration. Also the claim of each movement to represent the Prophet's Family doctrine or the true Sunna . Therefore the Prophet's Family Imams were calling for the non- acceptance of all that is narrated about them or is attributed to them. They asked people to compare these narrations to the Book of Allah to see if they violate it and if they do to refuse such narrations. Accordingly we believe that the Prophet's Family doctrine did not differ from Islam in a thing, and that the difference was made by the extremists who added a lot of their ideas to the Prophet's Family's heritage. This has given the impression to some people that these false theories were the essence of the Prophet's Family's doctrine and thus became from the constants and the necessities of the doctrine, which is not the case.  Those false exaggerated theories have reflected negatively on the Shiites internally and externally. It led to the emergence of internal tyranny in the name of religion and to the occurrence of tension and conflict with the Sunnis just as some Sunni political theories (autocracy) reflected negatively on their relation with the rest of the Muslims . This is what has pushed us to review the Prophet's Family's heritage and investigate it. We found it to be a free unionist , reasonable and pure Islamic thought. We also found it mixed with negative legendary thought attributed to them arbitrarily under the claim of dissimulation despite its contradiction with the Imams sayings and their biography.  During our study of the development of the Shiite political thought throughout history, we found that it got rid of many of the exaggerated foreign ideas and freed itself from them that it was about to precede some Sunnis in the exercise of jurisprudential deduction , the use of the mind and the commitment to freedom and consultation . Hence, only a small fraction of precipitates from foreign ideas remained of the historic disagreements. While we ask all Muslims of different sects to review their heritage, to criticize it, to refine it, to purify it and to return to the Holy Qur’an, the Prophetic Sunna and the sound mind, we are happy to express the essence of our ideas which is built on our profound reading of the Prophet's Family's heritage away from the theories of extremists. We hope this will represent a new generation of Muslims who may get out of the sectarianism shell to the wide Islam courtyards and who may be content with the label of "Muslim" that was given to them by our father Ibrahim ( peace be upon him ) ( as in verse 78 of Chapter "Pilgrimage" ) . Hopefully they will also abandon the sectarian Sunni/Shiite identities.
We summarize our beliefs by what follows :
1-We testify that here is no God but Allah, and that Mohammad is the messenger of Allah .
2-We believe in Allah, the last day, the angels, the Book and all the prophets .
3-We abide by Islam as a belief system and a curriculum with its values, ritual worship, provisions and manners .
4-We believe that Prophet Muhammad is the last prophet as mentioned in the Holy Qur'an: "Mohamed not was the father of one of your men but the messenger of Allah and the last of the prophets and Allah was by each thing knowledgeable" ( Al Ahzab, 30). Also that the Islamic message has ended with Mohammed , divine inspiration has stopped after his death and that people are expected to follow the Qur’an , the true Sunna and the sound mind.
5-We confirm that the Holy Qur’an is free from distortion, manipulation, addition or deletion . Also we believe that Allah has undertaken its keeping where He says : "We have, without doubt, sent down the Message, and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption)", Al Hijr, 9 . We testify that all what was mentioned or came in the previous books were weak Hadiths added by extremists to the Prophet's Family's heritage . Throughout history, Shiite scholars have carried out criticism of those Hadiths and have rejected them . We find it unfortunate for the continuation of some Shiite opponents with the repetition of the legend of the distortion of the Qur’an, and their accusation of it throughout history, and also using it to charge them with disbelief and deviation.
6- We honour the good companions of the Prophet whether they're Muhajiroon, Ansar or members of the Prophet's household and ask for mercy for the virtuous ones. However, we do not believe in their infallibility . We prohibit abusing or insulting them, especially abusing the Mother of Believers Aisha, and we believe in her innocence of the falsehood issue of Ifk because Allah acquitted her of it.
7-We believe that Islam directs , social, economic and political life, on sound moral bases, but it doesn't state a specific political regime. It has advised the consultation principle and left Muslims the freedom of choosing a political regime that suits their temporal and spatial circumstances . Therefore the greatest messenger (pbuh) didn't select a successor after him. The noble Companions used their personal judgment based on the Qur’an and Sunna to choose the five Rightly Guided Caliphs ( Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman, Ali and Al Hassan ) may Allah be pleased with them . 8-We don't believe that the Imamate is connected with prophethood or that it represents an extension to it . We don't consider it a fundamental of religion , nor is it a pillar of Islam since the Holy Qur’an didn't speak about it. It is rather a side issue that may be a part of political jurisprudence . It is based on some narrations that are debatable and on conceited interpretations of the Holy Qur’an .
9-Also we don't believe in the necessity of the infallibility of the Imam ( ie the president ) as for the prophets, nor that he receives divine inspiration from Allah. He has no right acting upon people as he wishes, nor are his orders and prohibitions like that of the messenger's . We don't believe that the Islamic Nation is in constant need of an Imam appointed by Allah, otherwise people would go astray.
10-We believe that the Prophet's Family believed in the consultation system, they were not aware of the theory of "Divine Imamate" which is based on vertical inheritance in a specific lineage and they didn't claim to be infallible or have a knowledge of the unknown . They were scholars and narrators of the prophet's Hadith , were not appointed by Allah, had no knowledge of the unseen and did not have any legislative or formative rule, as the extremists claim .
11- The opinion of the presence of a clear caliphate text by the messenger of Allah (pbuh) on Imam Ali arose in the second century A.H and had not existed previously. Also the dispute about it is barren and doesn't turn the clock back in time . As for Imam Ali's virtue, it cannot be denied and it doesn't lie in a divine text on him . However, it is represented in the Imam's curriculum, actions, biography and manners by believing in God and His messenger, by making sacrifices for Islam, by his commitment to truth, justice and equality between Muslims, by his renunciation of the world, by his modesty and by his consultation and respect of the nation's will . He had become an Imam and a ‘prince of the believers’ when the Muslims pledged allegiance to him voluntarily, after the killing of the caliph Othman Bin Affan .
12- Imam Ali left the the selection of a caliph after him up to Muslims as the messenger of Allah did (pbuh). He did not appoint his son Al Hassan a Crown Prince, but the Muslims chose him voluntarily to be their Imam . The people of Kufah did the same thing with Imam Al Hussein, who didn't appoint a caliph after him or impose anyone on the Shiites . The rest of the Imams, from Al Hussein's progeny, didn't commit to , appoint or impose any of their sons on the Muslims .
13 -We believe that Imam Al-Hasan Al-Askari died in 260 A.H without offspring, without choosing someone after him to be the next Imam and without pointing out to the presence of a hidden son , as it is apparent from his life .
14 -Therefore : We don't believe in the presence of an absent twelfth imam by the name of (Muhammad Ibn Al-Hasan Al-Askari ) who would be more than eleven hundred and fifty years old today. This is an presumptive saying and has no historic or legal evidence . It is, rather, a philosophical assumption put forward by an Imamate sect whose beliefs came to a dead end with the death of Al Askari without a son .
15-We don't believe in a universal government for all of the believers, this world is a place appointed by Allah for enjoyment and stability to both the believers and the infidels . There is no definite evidence on the appearance of Imam Mahdi in the future .
16-Accordingly : We don't believe in the private deputy( the four deputies) or the public deputy ( the scholars) regarding the absent Imam Al Mahdi who was never born for him to disappear. We believe that these are hypothetical propositions that some people claimed without legal evidence in an attempt to solve some of the problems they faced due to the absence of leadership since they believed in the presence of the twelfth Imam who went into occultation.  17-We don't believe that there is in Islam such a thing as a religious institution used for reference, such as the church, but that Islamic scholars are the ones to go to when necessary. Therefore we don't believe in the necessity of the imitation of the scholars for a lifetime, or the restriction to a single scholar in everything . On the contrary, we believe in the prohibition of imitation and believe that it is an innovation . We call upon all capable competent scholars to exercise jurisprudential deduction, to think and review the fundamentals of religion as well as the branches just like sheikh Al Tousi who urged his followers to study different opinions and to pick the good opinion out of them .
18 -Also we call upon "mujtahids" not to restrict their studies to jurisprudence and fundamentals but to also include the study of Islamic doctrine and history, especially the theory of "Divine Imamate" and what branched out of it such as the proposition of the presence of the twelfth Imam .
19 -We believe in the necessity of watching the scholars, questioning and criticizing them since not all they give a legal statement on is right and consistent with the Sharia . A lot of the scholars fall in suspicions and life affairs and end up prohibiting what Allah has allowed and vice versa (as their belief in the necessity of the khums, and the un -necessity of Friday Prayers ).
20-Therefore we can see that the fatwas of the scholars are not bound to the Sharia or the law, unless it took over a constitutional nature agreed upon by a people elected Consultation Council .
21-We appreciate the fundamentalist school (Usooli) which opened the door to jurisprudential deduction, and returned to Shiism its moderation and balance while it refused many of the Akhbari myths and legends. We ask the scholars to exercise more jurisprudential deduction based on the Qur’an and Sunna in the fundamentals, the branches, the men of Hadith and in the Hadith. Also we ask them to fight the extremists who attribute to the Prophet's Family's imams deity qualities, exaggerate about them, give them high ranks, above human roles and divine tasks such as as the management of the universe and the creatures under the cover of the theory (Creation Management ) .
22- We appreciate the efforts of the Shiite scholars, especially the fundamentalists, who carried out the study of the Hadith and the science of men and weakened four fifths of "Al Kafi". We call upon them to continue with the study and investigation of the remaining Hadiths and to reconsider the reliability of many of the narrators who have been viewed as trustworthy by the predecessors. The problem with the Akhbaris comes from trusting some extremists that succeeded in slipping themselves among the narrators and accepting their narrations. This is what makes us distrust the validity of ninety nine percent of Al Kulaini's "Al Kafi" and we consider it a reason for the continued disagreement with the rest of Muslims.
23-We don't believe in the government of the clerics or in the theory of "Guardianship of the Jurist" that is based on the proposition of "Public Deputy on behalf of the absent Imam Al Mahdi". This theory gives the scholar absolute authority and places him above the nation and the law and also allows him to surpass the constitution and cancel any legitimate agreement he holds with the nation. We consider the theory "Guardianship of the jurist" a big positive development in the Shiite political thought (compared to the negative thought of waiting for the Hidden Imam) towards "the liberation of the theory of "Divine Imamate" which is based on the stipulation of infallibility, text and the Husseini Alawi lineage. We believe in the legitimacy of consultation and election and that the theory of "Guardianship of the Jurist" is man made and is not backed up with evidence from the Sharia. The scholar investigators didn't believe in it because it gives the ruler ( the scholar ) a religious quality, and adds to him a sacred halo that prevents him from being watched, criticized, questioned or replaced and it makes him a tyrannical dictator . Therefore we call for the development of the theory towards the better and to base it on election and we also call for the adherence to the authorities' limits granted by people.
24-We believe in the openness to the other Islamic doctrines and in respecting their jurisprudential deductions. We also call for more jurisprudential deduction operations to be done together between the Sunnis and the Shiites and the return to the Holy Quran and its consideration the first legislative source and the highest of all other legislative sources .
25-We respect all Hadith sources of the Shiites and the Sunnis, but we demand to purify the sources from the weak Hadiths attributed to the most generous prophet, especially the ones violating the Quran and the sound mind.
26-We call for merging the religious institutes of Sunnis and Shiites regarding programs, students and professors, and the creation of an unionist environment open for dialogue, comparison and free thinking .
27-Also we call for the cultural openness to others and providing a free media to all, and the non- imposition of censorship on any producer with a different opinion.
28-We believe in the unity of the Islamic World and refuse sectarian discrimination. We work for the reinforcement of the internal national unity in every country, and the political participation among all the sects, on the basis of citizenship, freedom, justice and equality .
29-We believe that the radical solution to the sectarian problem lies in carrying out constitutional organizations, democratic systems and the peaceful transfer of power, which we believe that it prevents the explosion of the conflict in a violent way, and doesn't allow the compulsory seizure of power by the military .
30-We call for stopping the barren sectarian controversy, and refraining from provoking others by attacking their religious symbols, especially the Companions, the Prophet's Family and the Imams of different sects .
31- In this occasion, we salute the historic "Al-Najaf Conference" which was held in Shawwal, 1156 A.H coinciding with December, 1743 A.D. It included a group of the greatest scholars of Shiites and Sunnis from different backgrounds such as Arabs, Persians, Turks and Afghans. It was headed by Iraq's Sunni mufti, sheikh Abdullah Al Sowaidi, the Afghans mufti Al Molla Hamza Al Qalngani , Iran's mufti Al Molla Bashi Ali Akbar and the great Karbala reference (marji') Al Sayed Nasrallah Al Haeri who issued a unified statement from Sunni and Shiite scholars refusing the insult of the Companions . Sunni scholars acknowledged the Shiites and everyone expressed their reconciliation and their commitment to the freedom of having different opinions on some Islamic branches. They also prohibited shedding the blood of Muslims on both sides.
32-We believe that criticizing, insulting, cursing, charging of disbelief and the accusation of apostasy and hypocrisy (of the companions), was - unfortunately - a secretion of the great turmoil that devastated the Muslims . It is necessary to turn over that page since it doesn't do us any good to let that terrible history remain an open wound until Doomsday .
33- It is necessary turn over the page and to refrain from dwelling on some events of the far history except for learning a lesson from it.
34-We believe that *Shiism carries many positive principles such as the principle of justice, the spirit of defending Islam, working for the cause of Allah and revolving against the oppressors. These qualities are needed today for Muslims in order to advance and liberate themselves from the tyrants and the foreign occupiers. However, we refuse the controversy of the theory of "Divine Imamate"and the claim of the specification of the imams by Allah because it is a barren dispute with no practical benefit. It's more harmful than beneficial, leads to unwanted consequences and may instigate some Muslims against eachother.
35-We believe in the necessity of Zakat and we call for the adherence to it without differentiating between a Sunni and Shiite when paying it because Allah didn't define its payment to people of a specific religion but imposed it in favour of all the poor in the world.
36-We do not believe in the necessity of the payment of "khums" that came only for war spoils and was not practiced by imam Ali Bin Abi Taleb during his rule . Shiites reliable narrations and the fatwas of the previous scholars confirm its permissibility in the so-called "Occultation Era". Definitely we don't believe in the necessity of giving "kums" to the scholars or their deputies. This is also a new opinion that was not known to the previous Shiite sheikhs such as Al Mufid, Al Murtada and Al Tousi who expressed their confusion about it, and passed on a fatwa that said to bury it or store it until the day of Al Mahdi's appearance . We call on the scholars to work at the request of jurisprudence, guidance, and preaching instead of immersing themselves in collecting money and making themselves subject for suspicion and rumors .
37-We call for the collection of financial donations by charity organizations . This money should be used to cover social and cultural projects such as taking care of the mosques, religious schools and religious scholars. The charities should also be under reckoning and supervision and should deploy detailed lists of their accounts and budgets .
38-We believe in the necessity of performing Friday Prayers by all capable individuals and we applaud the Shiites for carrying out Friday Prayers since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon and the rest of the region. We urge all to perform Friday Prayers in a general manner and to adhere to it accurately and regularly . We consider Friday Prayer a great occasion to encourage piety and learn about Allah and do not believe it's a political occasion to pray for the oppressors and justify their actions .
39-We refuse the addition of the so-called third testament (shahada) during the call to prayer, which says : "I testify that Ali is Allah's wali" . We believe that this addition is *the doing of the extremists (Al Mufaweda) as sheikh Al Sudooq says in his book "The One Who's not Attended by a Scholar". It is an innovation and a reason to separate between Muslims .
40-We refuse the practice of dissimulation (Taqiyah) in that deformed image, as we refuse to believe the popular narration of imam Al Sadek that says : "Taqiyah is my religin and my parents' religion, and there is no religion to those who don't practice Taqiyah" . We believe that narration is fabricated and fraud and there is no logical or historical justification for it, how can "Taqiyah" be a part of the religion ? When did the imams practice it? And who did the imams fear ? Therefore we believe that this narration was fabricated by the extremists as a cover to pass their deviant theories in the name of the Prophet's Family who renounced it publicly . This is what invites us to the exoterical reading of the Prophet's Family thought and their heritage as was apparent by their actions and to refrain from accepting any esoteric interpretation of their sayings and actions . While we demand the provision of freedom and security for all individuals to express their opinions, we believe that the "Taqiyah" era has passed and that the Shiites no longer have anything to hide or avoid expressing in front of others. Also there is no one who will prevent them from expressing their opinions especially when the Shiites have strong governments and also live in many free democratic countries where they express their opinions freely with courage and honesty . We should keep in mind that not every Shiite who denies a certain belief is exercising "Taqiyah" since not all Shiites believe in everything that's mentioned in the previous books . Scholars do criticize and renounce many of the narrations mentioned in their ancestors' books.
41-We refute many of the supplications and visitations fabricated by the extremists and we call on the scholars to revise and refine them . We refuse the visitations attributed to the Prophet's Family imams such as "Al Jami'a Visitation" , "Ashura Visitation", "Al Kasa' Hadith" and all other visitations and the supplications that show negative attitudes towards the Companions and that contain exaggerated ideas distant from the spirit of Islam and the Prophet's Family doctrine which were clearly fabricated by the extremists .
42-We don't believe in the intercession of the imams on Doomsday which expressed in many foreign rituals and habits such as visiting the imams' cemeteries, weeping for Al Hussein, and self-flagellation and slapping on the chests. On the contrary, we believe in imam Jaafar Al Sadek's saying about the imams :" They will be held accountable for their actions before Allah and will be questioned".
43-We refuse calling the imams for help and making a vow for them and we consider such actions polytheistic ones . In any case, this is only practiced by the ignorant and the simple minded. As for Shiite mainstream, they usually visit the graves of imams and sheikhs to seek forgiveness and mercy from Allah to them or to derive lessons from their lives and their struggle for the sake of Allah .
44-We call on our brothers for the non- practice of extremism during the ceremony of Ashura and the avoidance of the innovated un-Islamic rituals that deform the Shiites image in the world .
45-We strongly refute the extremists' sayings who claimed that Allah created the universe for the five people mentioned in "Al Kasa' Hadith". Truth is He created all the creatures of the world so that He can test them and have mercy on them.
46-We call on everyone not to exaggerate the partial disagreements that took place between the Companions such as the disagreement between Lady Fatima Al-Zahra' and Abu Bakr about "Fadak". Abu Bakr considered it public money and hence took it back from Lady Fatima while she said that the prophet gave it to her as a grant. The disagreement was a small, partial and personal one and we can't do anything about it.
47-Also we call on our brothers to reject the legend of the attack on Lady Fatima Al-Zahra's house, and what is said about Omar raiding Imam Ali's house to force him to give his pledge to Abu Bakr. Also what accompanied that such as threatening to burn Fatima's house with whoever was in it or actually burning the house door, beating Al Zahra' , squeezing her behind the door and causing her to miscarry ( Mohsen ) which led to her death. We also call on our brothers to stop bringing up that story every year and to stop setting up memorial services where the slapping of one's face, weeping, cursing and emotional excitements take place. It is a myth that was not proved in history, its occurrence is illogical, and it offends Imam Ali's character before it offends Umar Bin Al-Khattab's.
48-We call for lifting the sectarian character off of Allah's mosques, and opening them for all Muslims to perform prayers together behind Sunni and Shiite imams . Also to pray in all of the mosques with no exception, and to refuse the narrow sectarian fatwas that prohibit performing a prayer behind an imam of another sect.
49-We call for breaking sectarianism and separation between Muslims by spreading interracial marriages between the sects and by canceling illegitimate fatwas that prohibit interracial marriages between Muslims .
50-Also we call on our Sunni brothers and all other Islamic sects to open up to their Shiite brothers, to get to know them more and to differentiate between the moderates (mainstream Shiites ) and the extremists . Also to avoid judging them based on the extremists and the predecessors, to take a look at their new reality, to observe their radical intellectual and political development that took place and is taking place in their lines and to support their positive activities and their enormous sacrifices that they made to liberate their countries from colonies and occupation.
And our last prayer is to thank God the Lord of the Worlds, we ask him to guide us to the service of His religion, to unite the Muslims, honour them and liberate them from the tyrants and the occupiers . He is the Hearer, the Responsive.
Ahmed AlKatib
1 Muharram 1430 H
29/12/2008