The Primary Discourse

The Primary Discourse

All praise belongs to Allah; we glorify Him and from Him we seek help and beg forgiveness; in Him we take refuge from the evils of our soul and wrongdoings of our behavior; anyone who is guided by Allah will never go astray; and anyone whom God lets go astray will have no patron beyond Him.

I testify that there is no god except Allah, the One, the Unique, and that Muhammad is His faithful servant.

“O you who believed! Observe your duty to Allah with right observance, and die not save as those who have surrendered unto Him.” (3:102)

“O People! Be careful of (your duty to) your Lord, Who created you from a single being and created its mate of the same kind and spread from these two, many men and women; and be careful of your duty to Allah, by whom you demand one of another (your rights), and the ties of relationship; surely Allah ever watches over you.”(4:1)

I believe that it is impossible to reach an understanding and maintain a peaceful symbiosis among Muslims unless a fair dialogue is conducted in the best manner. The earlier manners of argument, if not framed scientifically, will not produce a mutual understanding, but will widen the split still the further.

The scopes of the dialogue among the religious schools of thought that need to be developed are:

1)      A strife-free discussion is the only correct manner to an understanding among the Islamic sects. It can solve many of the Muslims’ problems.

2)      The dialogue prevents divisions of the Islamic ummah.

The present book is, in fact, an attempt to remedy the negative outcomes of improper talks among the religious schools. My twelve-year-long discussions with the Wahhābīs, my previous experience of this sect, the instructions I received from eminent Wahhābīs in Yemen, my trip to Saudi Arabia where I became so biased that I wrote a book “Al-Sillatu bayn al-Ithnā ‘Ashariyyah wa Firaq al-Ghulāt”[1] accusing the Shī‘ahs of heresy, and my later conversion to the Ithnā ‘Asharryah School of thought and the book “Rihlatī min al-Wahhābī ilā al-Ithnā ‘Ashariyyah”[2] which I wrote to explain the facts and distinguishing factors of the latter school of thought, all justify my assertion that I know the best manner of argument, for I am familiar with the Wahhābī community, of which I was formerly one of the most biased members.