Nasibi propaganda that certain prominent Shia narrators possessed deviant beliefs

Refuting the allegation that Abdullah Ibn Saba had any link to Shiasm

In this chapter we are going to refute an article that has been circulating on different Nasibi websites with the title “RESPONSE TO THE EMBASSY OF IRAN”. The summary of this article is that in an alleged magazine called Al-Rasheed, published an article titled “Abdullah lbn Saba: Founder of Shi’aism” by an unnamed author, to which the Iranian Embassy on the 15th of August 1999 allegedly wrote a letter to the magazine expressing dissatisfaction at its contents. The unknown author defended his article by defiantly writing back to the Iranian Embassy wherein he sought to ‘prove’ his claim, that in summary was as follows::

• Abdullah Ibn Saba existed
• He was the founder of Shiaism
• He attributed traits of God to Ali bin Abi Talib (as)
• Kufa became the place where Ibn Saba’s ideas prevailed
• Three or four prominent Shia narrators of Shia Hadith books halied from Kufa
• These narrators were cursed by Imams of Ahlulbayt (as) for the same reasons

Whilst we don’t know if the article and subsequent correspondences are fact or fiction, our prime interest is the anti-Shia materials cited in the article that has attracted widespread acclaim from Nasabi quarters.
In relation to the first part of the Nasibi article, namely the existence of Abdullah Ibn Saba, we have no reason to deny this, since whether or not he existed does not effect us a single iota. What really matters are the theories attributed to him that are relied upon to draw an inference that Shias adhere to same beliefs that hence proves Ibn Saba is the founder of the Shiasm. The unknown author in his article has tried to prove that the existence and beliefs espoused by Abdullah Ibn Saba have been recorded in both Shia and Sunni books but as usual, these Nawasib merge both authentic and weak reports sp as to portray an image that best supports their evil machinations. We have already dedicated a chapter on on Abdullah Ibn Saba in our article  Who really killed Uthman? when the Pied Piper of Deception, Nasibi author Ibn al-Hashimi sought to shift the blame on those that aided and abetted Uthman’s murder from the Sahaba and Tabayeen to Abdullah Ibn Saba. Hence, our readers are advised to go through that chapter as there isn’t any need to repeat all that here, but we will just repeat the crux of their arguments, namely:

- Authentic texts prove the existence of a Yahud character called Abdullah Ibn Saba who:
a). appeared during the era of the caliphate of Ali bin Abi Talib (as)
b). attested to the divinity of Ali (as)
c). was subsequently murdered by Ali bin Abi Talib (as).

- The weak and rejected traditions [purposely fabricated by the early Sunni and Nasibi scholars] claim that:
a). a Jewish character namely Abdullah Ibn Saba appeared during the era of the caliphate of Uthman
b). claimed that the right of rulership or succession to the Prophet (s) belonged to Ali bin Abi Talib (as)
b). misguided a bulk of the Sahaba and Tabayeen who whist adhering to his footsteps launched a rebellion against the caliph and subsequently assassinated him.

The reason that the early Sunni and Nasibi authorities sought to fabricate such stories was two fold:

1. To protect the esteemed image of those Sahaba and Tabayeen that had co-ordinated popular movement against Uthman that led to his downfall. Faced with this reality, it was incumbent on the later generations of Sunni and Nasibi adherents of the State religion to shift blame elsewhere, since failure to do so would severely puncture their entire belief system that revolved around ‘each and every Sahabi is just’. They desperately needed to apportion all culpability in relation to this rebellion to Abdullah Ibn Saba as this was only means of protecting their canonical beliefs.
2. To attack the Shias of the Ahlulbayt (as) by suggesting their beliefs on Imamate echoed those of Ibn Saba, he was hence their founding father and conveniently everything bad in Islamic history was their fault alone.

Fortunately, those Sunni and Shia readers who are desirous of conducting independent research free from bias and bigotry have successfully distinguished both categories of reports regarding Abdullah Ibn Saba and have arrived an informed decision on the basis of the authentic reports, namely that Abdullah Ibn Saba affirmed belief in the divinity of Ali bin Abi Talib (as) a belief that cannot be attributed to the Shias of Ahlulbayt (as) whose belief in relation to the Ahlulbayt (as)’s legal entitlement to Imamate (leadership) was with Ahlulbayt (as) can be evidenced from the Quran and Sunnah.

Refuting the allegation that Kufa was heavily influenced by the Ghulat beliefs propagated by Abdullah Ibn Saba who subsequently fabricated beliefs and attributed it to the Imams of Ahlulbayt (as)