Need some Guidance

[TheBalkanicSaracen]

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Salam Alaykoum Wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuhu

First of all , i want to say that i do not want to create any polemic nor to insult anyone's belief, i just want to find peace within my soul

So basically as my name indicates i am from the balkans and i was a christian before converting to shiism some years ago . I really attached myself with that religion because growing up i saw sunnism as the religion of the turks who ''oppressed us '' and i found shiism as an alternative to be a Muslim but to not hold the ''religion of the turks'' . So i became a really practicing shi'i and i felt like i finally found the truth . BUT i had some doubts from the beginning about the mahdi's birth and the first time i saw chest beating in muharram i felt like this was a strange ambiance that scared me .Anyhow i kept on reading and reading and i can say without any arrogance that i have read more than the average shia and the average sunni .i have read the whole of Al-Kafi, parts of Biharul Anwar, Kitab Sulaym IbN qays, Kitab Irshad etc. so i went from normal shia who supported unity etc to a full fledged rafidhi( as i was pridefully calling myself) who cursed abu bakr , umar ,uthman and aisha after every prayer according to Imam Sadiq's ''sunna''. I was also borderline akhbari so i accepted everything in al-Kafi without Rijal because i knew that even according scholars if we use rijal in Shia Tradition not even 10 % remains Sahih . So i started to believe in Tahreef , which is found in Al Kafi and various books of Ulama such as Al Majlissi et Mufid.  I was so anti-sunni and i felt that they were sheeple and that they were following tyrants. I did want to leave shiism two years ago but i couldn't accept abu bakr and umar as sahaba just as the brother Ebn Hussein says in his video with brother Muhammad Hijab . So ,time went by and i tried to absorb all those beliefs ( tahreef, mahdi in occultation , most sahaba being kuffar , shiism being so persian-centric etc ) but i realized that i had adopted a victim mentality and i became so aggressive and angry with everyone including those around me and i had lost any peace in my heart .  I then asked myself why am i following this ? is this really different from christiannity ? as someone from the balkans i can just return to my ancestral religion and leave all these beliefs behind me . But i cannot . There is no Tawhid elsewhere but in Islam . Sadly i have not understood Tawhid properly even if as a Shia i prided myself of having the purest tawhid and i was laughing at sunnis whom i have been taught believed in antromorphism. I must admit that in my Duas i called more on the Mahdi, Ali ,Abbas and Hussein than on God himself and i know not every Shia does that but this is something like Ibn Hussein mentionned that is not condemned by any great mar3ja they even encourage this . I want to get closer to God and i think that Shiism cannot offer me that and let me list here a bit more why:

-God seems unreachable and can only be attained by Tawassul through Ahlul-Bayt
-Even if most shias of Today do not believe in it , Tahrif is a part of Shia beliefs that great shia scholars promoted  so if the Quran is changed and the Mahdi is gone in occultation , who is going to guide us ?
-Why is it that Shiism revolves around Iran ? In Hawza they teach you persian instead of arabic and they seem to focus so much on Iran and you see it by the lack of diversity in Shiism
-Since only Imams can apply Sharia with the mahdi in occultation , there is no way of forming an islamic government or doing jihad since only a Masum can do that . (Khomeini is an exception in shiism and most shias disagree with him )
-All Sahabas except three are kuffar but abu bakr and Umar and Uthman did conquer almost half of the world for Islam
-If there is a conflict between two people why should one go to hell ? Joseph Brothers sold him but Joseph forgave them . In shiism when a sahaba do a mistake he goes to hell but marjas differing on issues of aqeeda are ok and we say they both go to jannah MashaAllah .

There is a lot more i can mention but i don't want to make the post too long as the thing i really need is some guidance on the truth about the Sahaba . If Brother Ebn Hussein or another knowledgeable brother would be kind enough to provide me with the links he read on the Sahaba (abu bakr ,umar ,abu hurayrah etc ) before he left shiism so i can know the truth about them . i felt ashamed because i use to curse them after every prayer and hate them so much but now i guess i finally got past my prejudice and i want to know the truth

JazakhAllah Khair
Ps: Sorry for my long post

[MuslimK]

Walaikum Salam wr wb,

Praise be to Allah, He guides whom He wills. May He bless you.

Welcome to the forum brother. Thanks for sharing your story with us.

As for the books about the Sahaba then the books by Ali Salaabi are a good source of information. Here is the link to the book about Abubakr Siddiq. You will find links to other Sahaba's biography on the same website.

http://kalamullah.com/abu-bakr.html

[iceman]

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Salam Alaykoum Wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuhu

First of all , i want to say that i do not want to create any polemic nor to insult anyone's belief, i just want to find peace within my soul

So basically as my name indicates i am from the balkans and i was a christian before converting to shiism some years ago . I really attached myself with that religion because growing up i saw sunnism as the religion of the turks who ''oppressed us '' and i found shiism as an alternative to be a Muslim but to not hold the ''religion of the turks'' . So i became a really practicing shi'i and i felt like i finally found the truth . BUT i had some doubts from the beginning about the mahdi's birth and the first time i saw chest beating in muharram i felt like this was a strange ambiance that scared me .Anyhow i kept on reading and reading and i can say without any arrogance that i have read more than the average shia and the average sunni .i have read the whole of Al-Kafi, parts of Biharul Anwar, Kitab Sulaym IbN qays, Kitab Irshad etc. so i went from normal shia who supported unity etc to a full fledged rafidhi( as i was pridefully calling myself) who cursed abu bakr , umar ,uthman and aisha after every prayer according to Imam Sadiq's ''sunna''. I was also borderline akhbari so i accepted everything in al-Kafi without Rijal because i knew that even according scholars if we use rijal in Shia Tradition not even 10 % remains Sahih . So i started to believe in Tahreef , which is found in Al Kafi and various books of Ulama such as Al Majlissi et Mufid.  I was so anti-sunni and i felt that they were sheeple and that they were following tyrants. I did want to leave shiism two years ago but i couldn't accept abu bakr and umar as sahaba just as the brother Ebn Hussein says in his video with brother Muhammad Hijab . So ,time went by and i tried to absorb all those beliefs ( tahreef, mahdi in occultation , most sahaba being kuffar , shiism being so persian-centric etc ) but i realized that i had adopted a victim mentality and i became so aggressive and angry with everyone including those around me and i had lost any peace in my heart .  I then asked myself why am i following this ? is this really different from christiannity ? as someone from the balkans i can just return to my ancestral religion and leave all these beliefs behind me . But i cannot . There is no Tawhid elsewhere but in Islam . Sadly i have not understood Tawhid properly even if as a Shia i prided myself of having the purest tawhid and i was laughing at sunnis whom i have been taught believed in antromorphism. I must admit that in my Duas i called more on the Mahdi, Ali ,Abbas and Hussein than on God himself and i know not every Shia does that but this is something like Ibn Hussein mentionned that is not condemned by any great mar3ja they even encourage this . I want to get closer to God and i think that Shiism cannot offer me that and let me list here a bit more why:

-God seems unreachable and can only be attained by Tawassul through Ahlul-Bayt
-Even if most shias of Today do not believe in it , Tahrif is a part of Shia beliefs that great shia scholars promoted  so if the Quran is changed and the Mahdi is gone in occultation , who is going to guide us ?
-Why is it that Shiism revolves around Iran ? In Hawza they teach you persian instead of arabic and they seem to focus so much on Iran and you see it by the lack of diversity in Shiism
-Since only Imams can apply Sharia with the mahdi in occultation , there is no way of forming an islamic government or doing jihad since only a Masum can do that . (Khomeini is an exception in shiism and most shias disagree with him )
-All Sahabas except three are kuffar but abu bakr and Umar and Uthman did conquer almost half of the world for Islam
-If there is a conflict between two people why should one go to hell ? Joseph Brothers sold him but Joseph forgave them . In shiism when a sahaba do a mistake he goes to hell but marjas differing on issues of aqeeda are ok and we say they both go to jannah MashaAllah .

There is a lot more i can mention but i don't want to make the post too long as the thing i really need is some guidance on the truth about the Sahaba . If Brother Ebn Hussein or another knowledgeable brother would be kind enough to provide me with the links he read on the Sahaba (abu bakr ,umar ,abu hurayrah etc ) before he left shiism so i can know the truth about them . i felt ashamed because i use to curse them after every prayer and hate them so much but now i guess i finally got past my prejudice and i want to know the truth

JazakhAllah Khair
Ps: Sorry for my long post

I can tell you the other side of  it. This won't take long. All the things you've mentioned have got nothing to do with Shiaism or the Shia faith. I am a Shia and I can say this out loud, I don't beat myself, I don't curse anyone, I don't believe in Tehreef, I respect all Sahaba what ever the differences were between them etc etc etc. Cursing certain individuals after every prayer has never been Imam Sadiq's Sunnah and the birth of Mahdi and all the rest of it you need to discuss.

All you've mentioned is 'I don't like this and I'm not happy with that and not comfortable with the other. I haven't seen anything positive or constructive apart from the usual complaints propagandists usually raise. No offence to you.

[Noor-us-Sunnah]

Iceman due you believe that Ali(ra) is superior and better than all the Prophets of Allah except Muhammad(saws).

[muslim720]

Wa alaykum as-salaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatahu,

Guidance comes from Allah (swt) but if you want my two cents, let us imagine if you were a zealous, extremist Sunni.  At worst, you would have considered a 10 - 15% of the Muslim population to be kuffar.  Also, it would have been said that you believe in anthropomorphism (though this is a charge against Salafis and Wahabis mostly without any substance).  While those are grave sins, they are nothing compared to the extremist Shi'i beliefs you had especially considering the fact that the second one is mostly a charge against Salafis and Wahabis.

The point I am trying to make is this: the highest level of misguidance in Sunni Islam is better than the lowest level of misguidance in Shia Islam.  Extreme Shi'i misguidance makes polytheists feel at home.