From the selected words of the Sunnī thinkers quoted, it becomes clear that the Wahhābīs do not know the Shī‘ahs, and a wide gap appeared between the Wahhābīs and Sunnīs for no cause other than the Wahhābīs’ mistake in identifying the Shī‘ism and mixing it up with the Extremism.
The following points clarify why I ever insisted in bringing the issue to light and in quoting Sunnī thinkers, I want to explain:
1. The extraordinary impact of the problem in diffusing the differences between the Shī‘ahs and Sunnīs on the one hand, and the Sunnīs and Wahhābīs on the other.
2. The significant role the problem has in the emergence of deviations and in the failure of the Wahhābīs’ studies of the Shī‘ahs.
3. The effect of the solution of the problem on these three sects in reaching an understanding and in stopping the tension.
4. The Imāmiyyah’s real visage.
The most recalcitrant external opponents of the divine religion are the pagan, atheistic and materialistic thoughts that intensify the counter-religious points of doubt. The worst internal enemy of any religion that questions both the existence and the identity of the religion, I believe, is the mixing of reality with delusion. It produces an untrue and incorrect sense of the religion and the sharī‘ah, and portrays an inverted and crooked image of the religion. All these make man’s intellect flee from religion and gravitate towards atheism. The mixing of the Shī‘ism with Extremism is a kind of mixing realities with delusions.
5. The radical reason for the Wahhābīs’ linking the Shī‘ahs with the extremist Sūfīs.
The main reason for such a belief stems from identifying the Imāmiyyah with the extremists, whereas the Shī‘ah ‘ulamā’ excommunicate these extremist Sufis.
All the explanations given so far are constituents of the first stage of Knowing the Shī‘ahs.
In stage one of knowing the Shī‘ahs, a recall can be made of the following two basic factors as causes for the emergence of error and deviation among the Wahhābīs.
1. The Wahhābīs’ lack of knowledge;
2. The Wahhābīs’ method of study.
The first factor itself stems from three other causes:
a. Lack of knowledge of what the Ghulāt means;
b. Lack of knowledge of what the Twelver Shī‘ism means;
c. Being unaware of the Imamiyyah’s position towards the Extremism and the extremists.
The second factor, too, stems from two causes:
a. The Wahhābīs’ mode of thinking;
b. The Wahhābīs’ breaking away from the Sunnīs’ approach of treating the Twelver Shī‘ism.
We do not desire to conduct a lifeless research, but we desire that the reader be on guard against the danger that takes shape at this stage and not fall prey to it.
