Converting to sunni?...

[sid]

I am a shia, i sometimes think about converting to sunni, but some things bother me which stop me.First of all, Does Allah have a foot or shin?, Second, when i think of converting, suddenly a thought comes in my mind like kill shias kill shias, i hope shia killing isnt allowed because i dont want to kill my own family that is shia.

[MuslimK]

Salam Alaikum,

Welcome to the forum dear member. May Allah bless you.

You are thinking the right thing i.e. embracing the true path. As for your questions then know that Ahl-Sunnah does not permit killing of Shias or followers of any other faith. This goes against basic teachings of Quran and Islam.


As for the foot or shin thing - I am not well versed in this topic, hopefully other brothers will provide better explanation. However, I would like to ask why is this a problem when in the Quran Allah talks about his hands, eyes, face etc?

[Rationalist]

I am a shia, i sometimes think about converting to sunni, but some things bother me which stop me.First of all, Does Allah have a foot or shin?,

The shin is a possession of Allah instead of being an attribute. Ibn Al Jawzi has written a commentary of the hadith. Although the wording of the hadith is wrong, some scholars did not totally dismiss it because its mentioned in the Quran. Strangely, the 12er Shia tafseer explanation of the verse is weak compared to the Sunni one.

Also, Allah does not have a foot. Refer to Aqeeda Tahawiyah.

Second, when i think of converting, suddenly a thought comes in my mind like kill shias kill shias, i hope shia killing isnt allowed because i dont want to kill my own family that is shia.

Any school that encourages killing is the wrong school. In fact, I even question the case for apostasy which many schools are in agreement with. So, there is no killing Shias. If any extremist is saying so, their proofs are based on batil.

[Hani]

Salam,

We do not condone violence rather we condemn it, Shia are deviant Muslims so harming them is forbidden.

You do not have to believe that God Has a shin, foot, hand etc... if you become Sunni. Ahlul-Sunnah have many schools and thinkers with a variety of rich beliefs and theology.

[sid]

Salam,

We do not condone violence rather we condemn it, Shia are deviant Muslims so harming them is forbidden.

You do not have to believe that God Has a shin, foot, hand etc... if you become Sunni. Ahlul-Sunnah have many schools and thinkers with a variety of rich beliefs and theology.

But what does this mean brother when you say we have many schools, does this mean there are many people each with their own thinking of who Allah is, such as one can believe he has actual hands and feet, and other believes he doesnt. Shia school only has one view of Allah SWT,and i am trying to find  the same tawheed in sunni islam. i tried searching for zakir naiks answer but even he didnot satisfy me.

[رشدي السلفي]

I follow the Athari aqeedah.

AFAIK it goes like this: While Allah does have Hands, His Hands are NOTHING like the hands we have, and we are not allowed to imagine how they look like. We just accept that Allah Has Hands, yet at the same time He is definitely different from His creation.

Again, we do not imagine how He looks like, audhubillah. When we know that Allah Has Hands, we just accept it. I hope you understand this post. Sorry for bad English.

[Rationalist]

But what does this mean brother when you say we have many schools, does this mean there are many people each with their own thinking of who Allah is, such as one can believe he has actual hands and feet, and other believes he doesnt. Shia school only has one view of Allah SWT,and i am trying to find  the same tawheed in sunni islam. i tried searching for zakir naiks answer but even he didnot satisfy me.

12er Shia has an evolved view. The chiefs of the Rafidah like the two Hishams believed Allah has a shape or a body. Sharif Murtaza wrote that all Qummis were anthropomorphist except Shaykh Saduq. After that the 12er Shia studied under the Mutazilla and changed their views.

[Hani]

But what does this mean brother when you say we have many schools, does this mean there are many people each with their own thinking of who Allah is, such as one can believe he has actual hands and feet, and other believes he doesnt. Shia school only has one view of Allah SWT,and i am trying to find  the same tawheed in sunni islam. i tried searching for zakir naiks answer but even he didnot satisfy me.

Ahlul-Sunnah have many schools because we're 90% of the Muslims, you expect everybody to think alike and everyone must share the same view? That's not how human being function, even Tashayyu` has a ton of differences as is commonly known from theology to jurisprudence to narrations, here's a quick sample:
http://twelvershia.net/2013/06/28/the-sunnah-are-divided-and-the-shia-are-united/

In the Qur'an God mentions "My Hand" Ahlul-Sunnah have three groups:

Those who believe "Hand" means power/ability (metaphorical)
Those who believe that God Has a Hand that suites His majesty unlike any of the creation and we cannot ask about it.
Those who say "God knows best and it is up to God" they skip this and refuse to discuss.

They all have solid arguments for believing what they believe, you can't force your ideas on people.

People can refuse to convert to Shiasm because Twelvers believe in twelve, Zaidis believe in a different number, Isma`ilis in a different number, Waqifis in a different number etc...

PS. Zakir Naik is a TV personality, we'd recommend real scholars (I also recommend reading).

[Hadrami]

But what does this mean brother when you say we have many schools, does this mean there are many people each with their own thinking of who Allah is, such as one can believe he has actual hands and feet, and other believes he doesnt. Shia school only has one view of Allah SWT,and i am trying to find  the same tawheed in sunni islam. i tried searching for zakir naiks answer but even he didnot satisfy me.

Bro, you wont find any Sunni who believes that Allah come down to this earth to visit a grave or that He put His hand on someone's head, except shia. Yes, shia scholar prob wont admit it & will try to twist or reinterpret it to save face. All those thing in your head trying to prevent you to leave shiaism are devil whispers

[MuslimAnswers]

^

Though I think the original questioner is simply making fun of us, if one wishes to study the Islamic sciences properly there are a number of places such as Madina Institute or Seeker's Hub where one can either attend or take online classes; as far as the experiences I have with their scholars' lectures they will give a proper explanation of 'Aqeedah and the matter of violence against others has never been supported.

[sid]

^

Though I think the original questioner is simply making fun of us, if one wishes to study the Islamic sciences properly there are a number of places such as Madina Institute or Seeker's Hub where one can either attend or take online classes; as far as the experiences I have with their scholars' lectures they will give a proper explanation of 'Aqeedah and the matter of violence against others has never been supported.

First of all i am not any type of joker, i am serious about what i am asking. yes i have gone on websites, but i didnt find satisfactory answers, if your so confident then give me th names and websites or lectures of the people who could provide me my answer.

[Farid]

Brother, your questions have been answered. Hani is an admin here. He doesn't believe in a shin nor a foot.

None of the mods or admins here believe that you shouĺd kill Shias either.

[Hadrami]

^

Though I think the original questioner is simply making fun of us, if one wishes to study the Islamic sciences properly there are a number of places such as Madina Institute or Seeker's Hub where one can either attend or take online classes; as far as the experiences I have with their scholars' lectures they will give a proper explanation of 'Aqeedah and the matter of violence against others has never been supported.

First of all i am not any type of joker, i am serious about what i am asking. yes i have gone on websites, but i didnt find satisfactory answers, if your so confident then give me th names and websites or lectures of the people who could provide me my answer.

I think he thought you were a joker, because it seems like you are ignoring all the replies. So you dont want to leave shiaism because you think Sunni is worse whereas none of Sunni ever believe that Allah came down to visit a grave or He has a hand which he use to pat someone's head like what shia belief (but hide it under the carpet as usual). I think that is worse than any misconception you have about Sunni, don't you think?

[Sheikh]

Asalaamu alaykum brother,


A couple of thoughts: 


1.) With regards to Allah (swt) having body parts, there are not any Sunnis that believe Allah (swt) has body parts in the way that humans do. When I was a Shia, I read a (Sunni) narration about how Allah (swt) has a right hand and two left feet, or something absurd like that. This type of thought is simply not found in the Sunni school. Even those Sunnis that "anthropomorphise" (i.e. affirm Allah's attributes in their literal meaning) do not believe that Allah (swt) has parts like we humans do, they believe that he has parts that are befitting of his majesty. And, I would guess that even this is a minority opinion, in that I have yet to meet somebody that I know openly professes this view. Most Sunnis either interpret the physical attributes of Allah (swt) in non-physical ways, or refuse to do taweel at all, and profess that only Allah (swt) knows the meaning of these verses. This is my position. To give an example, we have explicit ahadeeth from the Prophet (saws) in regards to the Angel Gabriel (as). He (as) has 600 wings and when the Prophet (saws) looked around, no matter what direction he looked, Gabriel (as) was filling the horizon with his "body". Now, to any rational person, this does not make sense. An angel with 600 wings, okay, no problem. But his presence is always filling the horizon in all directions?  That would mean that Gabriel (as) is in the shape of a circle, with his body cut out in the middle. Despite this being the only logical physical explanation, do you see anybody that professes this view?  I don't. Rather, people affirm what has been said about Angel Gabriel (as) and leave the details up to Allah (swt) because our tiny brains can't comprehend the true nature of these other beings, let alone the true nature of Allah (swt) who created Gabriel (as).


2.) Killing of any innocent person is absolutely forbidden and a major sin. The Qur'an references the law of Musa (as) and says that taking one innocent life is equal to destroying all of humanity. The killing of a Muslim is even worse.


3.) Avoid Dr Zakir Naik. I am sure he is an excellent physician and a sincere Muslim, but at the end of the day, he is only a lecturer, and (in my humble opinion), not the best one to be listening too. There are real scholars that have lectures on YouTube, if that is your preferred method of learning. A better way is to read the words of the scholars, for which there are many websites.

[MuslimAnswers]

^

First of all i am not any type of joker, i am serious about what i am asking. yes i have gone on websites, but i didnt find satisfactory answers, if your so confident then give me th names and websites or lectures of the people who could provide me my answer.

That is the main problem, the answers to deeper questions about 'Aqeedah are not found through arguing with others or clicking on random websites. If you wish you should take a course, not only look for one-off answers, from Institutes I have mentioned, or through the help of people like Shaykh Ali Laraki (https://www.facebook.com/shaykhali.laraki.3, director of the Meem Institute) or Shaykh Isa Johansson (https://www.facebook.com/isahusayn, lecturer at Madina Institute, who could definitely arrange for teaching of Aqeedah and Fiqh as necessary, and as I understand he even has polite relations with a Shia cleric of the Shirazi circle, so all may be welcomed if they come to 'Ilm properly).

[kernel]

I am a shia, i sometimes think about converting to sunni, but some things bother me which stop me.First of all, Does Allah have a foot or shin?, Second, when i think of converting, suddenly a thought comes in my mind like kill shias kill shias, i hope shia killing isnt allowed because i dont want to kill my own family that is shia.

I'm no expert on all of the theology but shia killing is haram for Sunnis and same goes for sunni killing. Try to give dawah to your family instead. Not all shia are kafir.