Atributes of Shias
The central part of volume 65 of Bihaar Anwar deals with attributes of a Shia and how necessary it is for us all to read this part and discover what vital responsibility has been laid down upon this sacred name of "Shia-e-Ahlulbayt" [ peace be upon him ]. It does not suffice to be Shia by mere claim. Likewise if one’s parents were, or are Shia i.e. since my mother and father were Shia, so am I. It does not suffice to consider oneself as Shia. Being Shia has a comprehensive purpose and meaning as well as a number of duties which fall under attributes of the Shia. As explained fully by the Imams, [peace be upon them].
Muyassar bin Abdul-Aziz was one of the prominent companions of Imam Baqir [peace be upon him] and he has been commended and described in the "Ilimu--rijaal" [distinguished men]. Imam Baqir [a.s] made a statement about him when he said: "O Muyassar! Death has on several occasions nearly claimed your life, but the Lord delayed it for the reason that you excelled in keeping up the bonds of friendship and that you helped alleviate people’s problems."
Imam Baqir narrated a hadith to Muyassar: "Should I explain to you who our Shia are? He [Muyassar] replied : May I be your sacrifice your hounor, you may. The Imam went ahead and said: They are strong castles, they are trustworthy, they are possessors of sound Logic, they are not rumour mongers, they do not divulge a secret and the not harsh [fanatical] and violent nor hypocritical, they Rae monks of the night and lions of the day."
Explanation
This is a short hadith in which characteristics of the Shiite devotees and a sphere of a subject and responsibilies have been distinguished. The phrase probably means that the shia are those people who are unaffected and resistant to the enemy’s propaganda, while the cultural situation of the world has assumed a dangerous shape in that it is posing a dramatic danger to the welfare and security of the young generation, " have we found a way to inspire and up lift the youth? If we can not eliminate the microbes, let us empower and shield ourselves. Bare this point in mind that during the time of the Imams one of the complaints of the Imams was that some of our Shia [fellows] have a tendency of divulging [publicize] our secrets and in this context the phrase "divulgence of secrets" denotes that it was not advisable to bring to light all extra-ordinary ranks held by the Imams before anyone without reservations, the Imams’ knowledge of the unseen, intercession on the day of judgment, trust ship of the prophet’s knowledge [i.e. Prophet Muhammad [s a w] said : I am the city of knowledge and Ali [a s] is the key], witness and oversees at the deeds of their followers [shia]. These are issues that ordinary people and those opposed to these issues could not spare any room for forbearance and tolerance.
Some simple minded shias went everywhere and were ready to reveal everything and this could create nothing but friction and tension. The Imam said: Our Shia [followers] possess hearts that are trustworthy, they are not inconsiderate in whatever they reveal, they do not create differences between sides, worst still is the newly invented misnomer comprising dirty contents attributed to the Imams under the pretext of "Wilayat" [guardianship] to such extents that the Imams [peace be upon them] are displeased with them. We ought to be watchful of these new misrepresentations. They themselves suffer two defects, the first one being that they are destroying themselves as they assume that if the ascribe some of God’s attributes to the Imams, or Hazret Zainab or mention the events of Karbala, then this is part and parcel of "Wilayat" the worst of defect is that our time is an era of media propaganda. If this morning a piece of information is released, within an hour it will reach all corners of the world. They publicize these exaggerated words and unfolded statements from one area to another in this way they taint the true image of shiaism with ease. Tomorrow they will publicize on different materials in various countries assigning Kufr" [unbelievers] to shiaism and later in the day the will resort to killing the Shiite Muslims in those respective countries. These ignorant people are quite uninformed that their accusations will prompt the killings of some shias in other parts of the world. Woe be to those friends of the ignorant. Woe be to the time that allows illiteracy, uninformed and ignorant individuals to take the opportunity to convene and hold meetings. Let the Ulamaa of the Ummah [Islamic Scholars] preside and handle the affairs.
Yet another character of the Shia which as been mentioned here is that they are not harsh [fanatic].A Shia is very kind and compassionate. He possesses or depicts the souls of Ali bin Abu Twalib [as]. Imam Sadeq [a s] and the rest of the Imams [peace be upon them] and a shia is also kind and respectful to their enemies [i.e. Imams’ enemies] they are not hypocrites. Shias exhibit two different phenomenal; if someone witnesses their nightly worship he will remark; these are the devotes of the times and they are good people and he will notice that they are as lions entering a social scene.
Shias and Muslims can be divided into five groups;
[1] Geographical Muslims or Shia:
Are those born in Iran other Islamic lands. Iran, for example, from the geographical point of view is a mainly Shiite populated country. When they were collecting statistics on Shiites, names were also noted. Now whether I’m a believer or not, informed or not or whether I am able to memories the names of the Imams or not. These are entitled to a geographical Shia. The same may apply to other Islamic land where people will be counted to be Muslims even when they know nothing about Islam just because they are geographically speaking in an Islamic land: Or just because they the dress that the Muslims wear.
[2] Hereditary Shia or Muslims
A person whose mother and father were Shia and was born in their household. But they do not endeavour to take in Islamic knowledge.
[3] Shias or Muslims by title [e.g. in name only]
Self-styled Shias who claim to be followers of Ali bn Abu Twalib [peace be upon him] but fail to prove themselves when it comes to action and deeds.
[4] Superficial Shias or Muslims
Shias or Muslims with actions that are feeble in the works but are not deeply noted in main stream shiaism, how is it possible to tell that those people who only know something about the gatherings and processions of Azaadari [a kind of mourning observed by Shia Muslims noted for Imam Hussein [a s] are Shias? Since during Ashura they took part in the lamentations of hitting or slapping of the chest with an open hand and they also go to Jamkaran Mosque [Mosque in Qum, Iran] attributed to Imam Mahdi [A.J]. I am not trying to say that they are unimportant, but that this is what they grasped and understood from Shiaism and nothing more or less. But they do not posesse any kind of Shia attributes, such as those described earlier on: i.e. possessors of sound logic, trustworthy etc.
[5] Real Shias or Muslims
People who are conversant or familiar with the religious teachings and follow them and the schools of [Ahulul-Bayt]
